Most parents can’t fathom being unable to hug, kiss, or snuggle with their child — but many parents of autistic children live with this painful reality every single day.
It was a way of life for Shanna Niehaus and her five-year-old son, Kainoa, until a “tornado” changed their lives — as in, Tornado the dog. The animal swept into their lives with the help of a global nonprofit group in Xenia, Ohio, known as 4 Paws for Ability.
The group provides service dogs to disabled children and veterans. Niehaus had applied for a dog through the group and had been waiting for two years when she finally got the call that one was available for her son, the BBC reported.
After Niehaus traveled from Japan to pick up Tornado, she shared the life-changing addition of Tornado to the family on the Facebook page “Love What Matters.”
“See this moment? I’ve never experienced a moment like this,” she wrote beneath a photo of Kainoa leaning on Tornado.
“This picture captures the face of a mother who saw her child, who [sic] she can’t hug, wash, dress, snuggle and touch freely lay on his new service dog of his own free will, with a purposeful, unspoken attachment,” Niehaus wrote. “As a mother, I have seen countless challenging and painful moments my son has encountered and cried countless more. Yesterday however, I cried for a different reason,” she added.
“It is a feeling that is indescribable. This is the face of a mom who has seen her son experience countless failed social interactions on the playground in an attempt to have a friend. Any friend. Any kind of connection. She has sat with her son while he has cried at night for months because he has no consistent connections outside of the family no matter how hard he tries and no matter what he works hard on in his autism therapies,” she wrote.
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She added, “It doesn’t transfer to the natural occurring world for him. And now [this mom] is sitting behind her son silently watching this moment, with the air sucked from her lungs, and no words to say.”
The post by Shanna Niehaus has more than 200,000 shares so far, and many parents who struggle with autism replied to it with their own experiences with service dogs.
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Facebook user Candace Caldwell posted a picture of her own son snuggling with their family’s dog. “The dog who gave my son words … big hugs to this momma. We prayed for this moment … and God sent us a dog.”
Autism is a spectrum of complex disorders characterized by difficulties with social interaction. The condition varies from mild to severe. People with autism can experience the world as a chaotic place with no clear boundaries or meaning.
“It’s worth every fight for services for my son, every diagnosis, every new provider, every dollar spent, every paper filled out, every school meeting, every shed tear, every step forward, every step back, and every wonder of the unknown future,” wrote Niehaus.
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“Somehow because of this — because of Tornado — I know everything will be okay,” she wrote. “As a mother, I have seen countless challenging and painful moments my son has encountered and cried countless more. Yesterday however, I cried for a different reason. It is a feeling that is indescribable.”
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