Boy with rare disease at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital surprised with therapy dog

A family with a young boy who is very sick just received a special gift at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.This gift won’t get him better just yet, but it will heal his heart and give him a much-needed friend during a tough time.Seven-year-old Olly has a smile on his face, despite spending 800 of the last 900 days in the hospital.Olly has an extremely rare disease in his immune system. For years, his symptoms were so baffling that doctors didn’t know how to treat him.“Basically, his immune system attacks things that it shouldn't, but it also doesn't protect things that it should,” Olly’s mom, Megan Henry-Wilson, said. “So typical things we do like eating, Olly can't do because his body sees that as something to attack.”Finally, a doctor at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital gave Olly’s parents hope.Megan and her husband spent two years traveling from Pennsylvania to Cincinnati, praying the hospital team could fix their boy.“He's hooked up to various lines that run 24/7 that just keep him going,” Henry-Wilson said.They have now moved their life to Cincinnati. Most days, home for Olly is in a hospital room, connected to endless machines and away from his two big brothers, with mom and dad sleeping next to him.“Being here in the hospital so long for so many months, years of his life, really, it means that he doesn't get to have friends,” Henry-Wilson said. “He doesn't get to go to school.”Rosie needs a friend, too. She was a shelter dog that was abandoned inside a cage in a parking lot.When the founder of Pets for Patients heard Olly needed a buddy, she knew she had the perfect match with Rosie.“I think it's just going to be a moment of joy and happiness for him,” Carol Bonner with Pets for Patients said. “This is going to be his dog. I mean it's the family’s dog, but this is really going to be his dog.”The hope is that Rosie will encourage Olly to keep fighting. For his family, giving Olly a friend while he is fighting so hard means everything.Olly is scheduled to come home from the hospital in July. In the meantime, he and Rosie will be visiting each other. When Rosie finally joins him at home, Olly is renaming her Eily.

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