“Emma is a twin,” said Alexis Brown. “Her brother Bentley was diagnosed with Autism at about age 4. But Emma didn’t have autism and instead was diagnosed with a reading disability and a touch of ADHD (attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder).”
Emma was rubbing her eyes and was suffering from chronic headaches. Then she told her mother that she couldn’t see anything but black out of her right eye. Her parents rushed her to Dayton Children’s.
“We explained what was going on and they took her back immediately,” Alexis said. “The doctor told us that her right eye was no longer working. She was diagnosed with a form of lazy eye called amblyopia.”
This disorder tends to result in the brain favoring one eye over the other. Children with lazy eye are often treated with eye patches, in order to “train” the eye that isn’t functioning properly to work again.
In Emma’s case, she had completely lost vision in her right eye, and the condition is permanent.
“It was overwhelming for us to hear this,” Alexis said. “We worried how this would affect Emma’s future.”
Results of an MRI confirmed that Emma has no signal from her brain to her right eye. It was time for Emma’s parents to explain to their young daughter that her right eye would never get better.
“After we told her, Emma was more clumsy, not as energetic and forgetful,” Alexis said. “She worried about her eye all the time and was just really sad.”
The family relied on faith and the power of prayer to get them through the ordeal. They were told it is rare for children with this condition to lose vision completely. But it does happen.
“It definitely changed things at school and Emma had to wear patches for a bit of time,” Alexis said. “She had to be moved to the front of the class so she could see better and some of the kids at school bullied her.”
Emma’s personality changed — she was no longer spontaneous or happy. Her parents wanted desperately to get their daughter back.
“We heard about a company called Dogs Inc. through a coworker of my husband who has PTSD,” Alexis said. “We read about it and signed up and waited to hear from them.”
Dogs Inc. is a nonprofit organization that offers guide, service, therapy and skilled companion dogs free of charge to people who need them. They serve veterans healing from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, people from patients to healthcare workers who need comfort and healing and people with vision loss.
For Emma, a skilled companion dog made the most sense.
Two weeks after the Brown family reached out, Dogs Inc. contacted them, and they talked via Zoom and phone. They soon received a call saying that there was a dog available that could be a perfect match for Emma — Sloane, a black Labrador who was 2 years old.
“Dogs Inc. took care of everything, from flying Sloane to us from Florida and providing food and toys,” Alexis said. “The first time we met him was in March of this year.”
Since then, Emma and Sloane have become inseparable. The Brown family already has two dogs, but Emma was excited to hear that Sloane would be just for her.
“They made sure it would be a good fit before selecting and pairing a dog,” Alexis said. “We spent an entire day together learning some of Sloane’s special commands and ensuring he and Emma were connecting well.”
As for Sloan, the Brown family says he seemed to know right away that Emma was his “person.” From the very first night, he slept in his crate next to Emma, providing emotional support and comfort.
“Sloane isn’t a seeing eye dog, so he doesn’t go to school with Emma,” Alexis said. “But he is there for her right after school for anything she needs.”
Dogs Inc. trains puppies that are sponsored, so there is never a cost to the receiving individuals. These dogs help prepare children with vision loss for seeing eye dogs, if they are needed later in life. But for Emma, Sloane is simply her best friend.
“Emma is not so focused on her eye anymore,” Alexis said. “She is now focused on reading a book to Sloane or taking him on walks. He has really helped take the edge off and driven her to focus on the positive.”
Contact this contributing writer at banspach@ymail.com.
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Dogs Inc. provides guide, service , therapy and companion dogs. Get more information online at dogsinc.org.
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