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A service dog to the rescue

Stricken by cerebral palsy, N. Bellmorite gets a little help from a furry friend

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As a teenager, Brian Arnold often awoke in the middle of the night, screaming and shaking. He was afraid of falling and being unable to catch himself before his face hit the floor.

His fear was understandable. The North Bellmorite had already fallen and shattered his jaw in three places.

The night terrors, as they are called because of the extreme fear they cause, continued unabated until Arnold was 19. Then he received a service dog from the national nonprofit organization Canine Companions for Independence, and overnight the terrors went away.

Arnold, now 31, has cerebral palsy, which resulted from early damage to his developing brain, leaving him unable to control his muscles, explained his father, Bill, a retired UPS industrial engineering supervisor. Brian weighed 2 pounds, 6 ounces when he was born three months premature.

His service dog, a black Labrador-golden retriever mix named Arrow, performs the daily tasks that most people take for granted but are trying or impossible for Arnold –– handing a cashier a credit card, picking fallen coins off the ground, opening a door.

More than that, Arrow offers unconditional love, said Brian’s mother, Louise, a special education teaching assistant in the Syosset School District. “You say it’s just a dog,” she said. “No it’s not. This is his life.”

After 12 years of service, Arrow recently retired because of his advanced age, but he still lives with the Arnolds, who have made their home in North Bellmore for 38 years. A new Canine Companions service dog, Ozzie, also a black Lab-golden retriever mix, took over Arrow’s duties.

Getting Brian into the world
One in 500 babies is diagnosed with CP, according to the Cerebral Palsy International Research Foundation. The symptoms range from mild to severe, and Brian’s are severe. At 18 he endured 10 hours of back surgery to correct debilitating scoliosis that resulted from CP. The curvature of his spine was so pronounced that it compromised his ability to breathe, his father said. Brian, who is now in a wheelchair, had to have three rods and pins inserted in his spine to correct his posture.

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