Framingham Girl's GoFundMe Helps Buy Service Dog

FRAMINGHAM, MA — A Framingham girl's Christmas wish is now a reality thanks to some generous donors to her GoFundMe campaign. Patch brought you Emma Bianco's story of her journey through life with narcolepsy and cataplexy back in December. She was raising money to afford a service dog. It's been eight months since then and she got that dog and her life has changed since.

Bianco raised close to $4,500 with her campaign and used the funds to adopt a puppy with the goal of training him to be a service dog — a cheaper alternative since a fully trained dog could cost $25,000. Bianco said her GoFundMe received lots of anonymous donations and donations from strangers — she said she thinks the donors read the Patch article about her story.

Adopting dogs to train them as service dogs can be tricky, Bianco said. Service dogs need to have obedient and patient personalities, so Bianco was hoping she found the right fit. Enter Arthur.

Arthur is an eight-month-old lab mixed with what Bianco believes is Great Dane, since his paws are so big. Arthur is a rescue from Alabama and Bianco said as soon as they met, they clicked. "I'm in love with him, I'm just so thrilled," she said, gushing over the pup, trying to find the right words to describe him.

Bianco was lucky — she found Arthur online through a pet finding site and picked up Arthur all the way in Connecticut to adopt him. If he wasn't the right fit, it would've been a long ride home. As a puppy, Arthur is mastering obedience training but will soon move on to service dog training once his instructor thinks he's ready. Bianco takes him to classes at All About My Dog, a training center in Natick.

Bianco said she chose All About My Dog for training because the trainer, Lisa Rockland, has experience with service dogs. In fact, another girl in Bianco's class is training a service dog to help with PTSD. "It's also just nice, having someone else there my age who is also training a service dog," Bianco said.

While Bianco can't wait for Arthur to get some in-depth training under his collar, she said he's already giving her the comfort she needs to keep her episodes at bay. Narcolepsy is a neurological disorder that causes persistent sleepiness, while cataplexy is muscle weakness triggered by strong emotions. When Emma laughs too hard or gets too anxious or upset, her body loses muscle tone and, at its worst, can momentarily go into a full body paralysis. Emma also has Generalized Anxiety Disorder as well as Social Anxiety Disorder which make dealing with cataplexy episodes much harder. An anxiety attack or immense amounts of stress can throw her into an episode in minutes and last hours so it's crucial she's able to stay calm.

With Arthur around, Bianco said he already can sense when she's upset or anxious and fights for her attention to distract her and cheer her up. "The other day I was upset and I was crying and he pushed through my hands to lick my face," she said. Arthur is already trying to put his skills from obedience class to work, "He just learned paw so while I was crying he kept pawing at me," she said. When Bianco gets particularly stressed, like right before an episode, Arthur has started to bark, alerting those around her of what's happening and grabbing Bianco's attention.

Bianco's treatment has become a bit more consistent these days. She said she's still figuring out the right balance of medications but has felt more energized lately. It's been almost two years since she was first diagnosed, but Bianco said since the onset of her symptoms, she's been a totally different person. Now that she's creeping closer to the right dosage of medicines and has Arthur by her side, Bianco said she can finally see bits of herself coming back.

"I'm slowly starting to feel like the Emma I used to be," she said, "Every now and then I'll get a glimpse at the old Emma."

She's worked around her perceived lack of independence — she lost her license and her job after being diagnosed as narcoleptic with cataplexy. Bianco now works from home, dog sitting for friend's and neighbors and has grown content to sit in the passenger's seat of her boyfriend's car, until she is allowed to drive herself.

But some things just aren't the same, "I really miss just blasting my music in the car and driving somewhere — I can do it in his car but it's not the same," she said.

Bianco hopes that in another two years, Arthur will be fully trained and her doctor will deem her fit to drive alone. She envisions cruising down the roads of Framingham, belting her favorite songs, with Arthur by her side.

Read the original story about Emma Bianco's journey.