Power sickness shattered this teen's life. Her service canine helped get it again

Lilla Lanivich and her service canine, Lopez, do every part collectively. Whereas Lilla works, paints, sleeps, and learns, Lopez sits quietly and attentively at her ft.

Her rainbow-dyed hair and colourful nails match his rainbow-dyed tail and cream-colored fur.

“I do rainbow make-up, I do rainbow outfits, I like shade,” Lilla says. “I believe that it makes me in a position to present my character a little bit bit.”

Lilla talks about how Lopez has helped her take care of a number of power diseases in her podcast Lopez the Rainbow Tailed Service Dog, this yr’s Grand Prize winner for center faculty in NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge.

Our judges praised her story for its open and sincere portrayal of an adolescent going through the challenges of debilitating sickness and ache.

“Whereas Lilia’s friends are beginning to experiment with new types of independence and privateness, she is having to forgo quite a lot of that,” says Jonaki Mehta, one in every of our contest judges this yr and a producer on NPR’s All Issues Thought-about. “And I cherished how she confirmed that Lopez helps her regain a few of that independence again and a few of that privateness again.

Lanivich and Lopez each sport rainbow-dyed hair. “I do rainbow make-up, I do rainbow outfits, I like shade,” she says.

Emily Elconin for NPR

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Emily Elconin for NPR

The Student Podcast Challenge, now in its sixth yr, has concerned greater than 90,000 college students from all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. Lilla’s podcast, together with our highschool Grand Prize winner, to be introduced in September, was chosen from practically 2,000 entries from 45 states.

“That summer season, that sooner or later modified every part”

In her podcast, Lilla describes a time when Lopez saved her from falling throughout one in every of her non-epileptic seizures:

“One time, I used to be standing within the kitchen about to place away groceries. Lopez pawed me and I jumped on the sofa. Earlier than I knew it, I used to be waking up after passing out.”

Lilla, a 13-year-old who lives in Rochester Hills, Mich., north of Detroit, has been identified with POTS, PANDAS, lyme disease, a connective tissue disorder, and long COVID.

“Lilla’s been sick since she was born,” says her mother, Margaret Lanivich, who has been managing her daughter’s well being for Lilla’s entire life. “It simply looks like each time that one factor would get higher, we might simply get swamped with one other bunch of stuff after which must sort of kind via that.”

Lopez went via two years of coaching to have the ability to detect Lilla’s seizures earlier than they occur.

Emily Elconin for NPR

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Emily Elconin for NPR

Lilla had surgical procedure when she was 7 to attempt to assist, however different points saved popping up. When she was 9, Lilla recollects, she wakened sooner or later and will not stroll. The medical doctors weren’t in a position to inform her why.

Her dad, Iain Lanivich, remembers it vividly. “I’ve video of her actually the day earlier than,” he says. “Lilla used to play sports activities … used to have interaction in quite a lot of various things. After which swiftly it was simply gone.”

She misplaced mobility for 55 days, and suffered one other episode that lasted 70 days just a few months later.

Lilla’s been homeschooled since 2019, utilizing a wheelchair more often than not, and her dad and mom monitored her continually — she says she could not even brush her enamel by herself. She had misplaced her independence in a single day, and was quickly dropping social shops.

Her dad and mom turned to on-line help teams, searching for something that would assist their daughter regain some normalcy. One reply got here up over and over: Get a service canine.

Lopez joins the Lanivich household

Lilla tells how, as soon as they chose a pet, they needed to discover a coach and endure virtually two years of intensive coaching with Lopez. The primary yr of his life was simply fundamentals, then they graduated to extra superior issues, like seizure detection.

The Lanivich Household: Drexel Lanivich, 12, mother Margaret, Lopez, Lilla and pa Ian Lanivich in Rochester, Mich.

Emily Elconin for NPR

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Emily Elconin for NPR

Lilla describes putting a sterile gauze pad in her mouth simply earlier than and through her seizures, then the coach would introduce them to Lopez.

Now, Lopez can odor when a seizure is coming and, when that occurs, he paws her, telling her to go sit down whereas he will get assist.

“As a child and nonetheless to this present day, Lopez loves resting his head on my wheelchair,” Lilla says in her podcast. “He is very goofy, snuggly and playful. We turned finest pals so rapidly.”

Having Lopez in the home has modified, not simply Lilla’s life, however her dad and mom’ as effectively. “It is every part,” says Lilla’s mother, Margaret. “It is the entire purpose … why I wished to strive the service canine factor to start with: So she would have freedom and she or he may have privateness.”

Not on daily basis is similar, however with the assistance of Lopez, Lilla says that this summer season, she’s studying to understand the intense spots each time they occur, and provides she’s feeling nice.

“I have been in a position to do issues the previous few weeks that I by no means would’ve thought I would have the ability to do once more,” she says. “Like stroll the Detroit Zoo! I used to be in a position to try this which continues to be loopy to me.”

And this fall, she’s again at school for the primary time in 5 years, one other factor she will be able to’t fairly imagine but: “All the things simply appeared so out of attain for me. However I even have hope now, which is unimaginable and loopy.”

She says she’s taking it day-to-day. And Lopez shall be proper by her facet, each step of the best way.

Edited by Steve Drummond
Audio story produced by Janet Woojeong Lee
Visible design and improvement by LA Johnson