Dog refuses to move until family noticed teen athlete son having a stroke
A dog named Axel is getting a medal attached to his collar, says the owner, after it turned out that the dog saved the family's teenager from brain damage.
Inside his bedroom, 17-year-old Gabriel was trapped in his own body. The boy's right side was numb, and he was slurring his speech. When the family took him to the hospital, they learned that the healthy teenager had suffered a stroke.
That's when the doctor informed them that the heroic actions of their dog had likely saved the teenager, as time makes a huge difference during a stroke. That morning, the dog, a one-year-old border collie that the family had adopted and named Axel, stood in front of Gabriel's door and refused to move.
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Dog alerting parents to teen's stroke made 'massive' difference when saving his life (Amanda Tanner)It caused the parents to open the door and check in on the child. Normally, they would have let the teenager sleep in. But the “massive” difference in Gabriel’s outcome was due to the attentive pup, says Dr. Sabih Effendi, a neurosurgeon and stroke medical director at Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center, who treated the teen.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
“It’s very amazing that their dog alerted and started this whole process of getting everyone awake and going downstairs,” Effendi tells TODAY.com. “When somebody’s acutely having a stroke, the neurons are dying. … If he was not found and another three or four hours went by, there would have been more and more and more brain injury.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in seven strokes in adolescents and young adults. Experts think younger people are having more strokes because more young people have obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Gabriel's family says he is a healthy kid, and his stroke was random.
Gabriel told TODAY that he didn't feel sick. He explained that he had a headache the night before, felt better, played some video games, and went to sleep. “There was no pain,” the teen says, but says his vision got “really fuzzy” and “zoomed in.”
“It was scary. I remember Mom (was) very distraught and our team, too, so worried about him,” Effendi recalls. At one point, the doctor mentioned that Gabriel might need 24/7 care after a stroke of this magnitude.
“He’s senior year. He’s (in) varsity soccer. And I’m like, what just happened? A whole life of planning and it all looks different now,” says Amanda Tanner, 44, the boy's mother. She said that the dog was trying to get her out of bed at 5 a.m. on Saturday, and only after did they realize why Axel tried to desperately to get her owner's attention.
Strokes are caused by a dissection, or tear, of an artery that delivers blood to the brain. When a piece breaks off it blocks the flow of blood, triggering the symptoms that come with a stroke. That's what happened in Gabriel's case, according to Dr Effendi. He was treated with blood thinners.
“We wouldn’t have thought to go into Gabriel’s room and wake him up. He’s a teenager. It was a Saturday morning. We went to bed late. We wouldn’t think to go in there until maybe noon,” Tanner says.
“The longer that went by without being on a blood thinner, his stroke would have been worse and worse, to the point where he may have been paralyzed on his right side for the rest of his life or unable to speak at all,” Effendi adds. “Being found earlier because of the dog … that significantly improved his outcome.”
The family says that Gabriel has been recovering brilliantly over the last two months, working with doctors and continuing to study from home. As for the dog: “He’s now tasked with following Gabriel everywhere,” says mom. “He’s now sleeping with Gabriel more, and Gabriel’s doors are open so he can go in and out. He’s always been very sensitive to everything and everybody’s emotions at home.”
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