Hero dog saves life of owner's son after scratching door when teenager suffered stroke
Gabriel Tanner along with pooch Axel
AMANDA TANNER
A hero dog has saved the life of its owner’s son after scratching their door after the teenager suffered from a stroke.
The Border Collie, named Axel, woke Amanda and Daines Tanner up at around 5am on a Saturday in August.
The pooch led the couple to their son Gabriel’s bedroom.
The 17-year-old was found slurring his words and he was later rushed to an emergency room.
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Gabriel is undergoing physical and speech therapy after suffering from severe brain damage.
“Therapy has helped quite a bit with all of his recovery,” Amanda told The Daily Mail.
“His speech is still the hardest to recover fully, and most people can tell something is wrong, but all other functions affected are pretty well. On its way to full recovery.”
She added: “I would have never thought a teenager could have a stroke and would have thought he needed more sleep if anything had Axel not alerted us to the issue.”
The dogs efforts were championed by neurosurgeon Sabih Effendi who claimed Gabriel might never have recovered if Axel had not awaken his owners in time.
Doctors believe the strike happened sometime overnight after the 17-year-old felt a numbness in his arm and fell on the floor.
Gabriel is making significant progress just two months after the incident.
He walked around the hospital to the applause of medical staff on September 6.
Amanda Tanner (left) and Gabriel Tanner (right)
The 17-year-old is taking classes from a homebound teacher and partaking in both physical and health therapy.
Axel, whom the Tanners had rescued, is now tasked with following Gabriel everywhere.
“He's now sleeping with Gabriel more, and Gabriel's doors are open so he can go in and out,'' Amanda revealed.
“He's always been very sensitive to everything and everybody's emotions at home.”