Cameras recently captured the touching moment that a 4-year-old boy with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity met his new service dog for the first time — an encounter that his family had been anxiously awaiting for the past two years.
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Margaret Ng of New Vernon, New Jersey, said that she wanted the moment that her son, Ethan, met his dog to be a special one, so she asked local New Jersey fire departments to come together to help deliver the pooch, and they complied.
Firefighters also helped raise the money to purchase the the a Golden Retriever, who is named Yazzie, as the cost for a service dog can reach $60,000, Inside Edition reported.
Ng said that she’s hopeful the dog will help Ethan sleep at night; currently, Ng or her husband has to wake up every 90 minutes, making for some sleepless nights and creating some barriers that Yazzie could help fix.
“It steals your patience,” she said. “It steals your temper, your ability to be in a marriage with somebody fully.”
In the end, in addition to Yazzie helping Ethan, Ng said that she believes the dog will also assist the entire family.
“So for me, this dog is here not just for Ethan,” she told WCBS-TV. “He’s here to help put my whole family back together again.”
Watch the little boy’s smiles as he meets his newfound friend for the first time: