Advertisement

A boy befriended a dog with the same rare skin condition as him

Photo credit: © Instagram.com / white_eyed_rowdy
Photo credit: © Instagram.com / white_eyed_rowdy

From Prima

It was a happy day when 8-year-old Carter Blanchard met a 14-year-old labrador retriever named Rowdy. You see, Carter and Rowdy both suffer from vitiligo - an incurable skin condition that causes the loss of skin colour in blotches.

Blanchard, who lives in the US, was diagnosed with the disease in December 2014, when he was in nursery school.

'He was at a big school with a lot of kids and his face was transforming very quickly,' his mother, Stephanie Adcock told ABC News. 'The first thing he'd tell me when he got in the car is that he hated his face and hated the way he looked.'

Around the same time, in another part of the country, Rowdy's owner, Niki Umbenhower, started to notice that there were white spots popping up over his black fur. At first, they thought he was just getting old, but then they found out it was vitiligo.

One day, Adcock was scrolling through Facebook when she came upon Rowdy's Facebook page. She began emailing back and forth with Umbenhower, and Rowdy began to teach Carter to love his skin.

'Vitiligo is a very rare condition and he was very upset that he had it but now he is proud that he was chosen to have vitiligo and this is the way he is and he wouldn't have it any other way,' Adcock said. 'He thinks that everyone else's skin is boring.'

After their heartwarming story was featured in KATU, an anonymous viewer donated $5,000 (£4,000) to help fly Blanchard and his mum fly out to meet Rowdy last weekend. It was an emotional and incredible moment for everyone involved.

'When we walked in I didn't feel like we were walking in for the very first time, they were family already,' Adcock said. 'Carter hugged him and petted him for two hours straight and they've been together ever since.'

On Sunday, Rowdy suffered a seizure. Though he appears to be stable now, the latest update says that it's still unclear if this was an isolated incident or a precursor to something more serious, so if you want to donate to help cover medical costs, you can do so through his GoFundMe page.

From Good Housekeeping

You Might Also Like