A beloved rescue dog saved a Texas high schooler from a near-fatal stroke by refusing to budge from outside his bedroom door – much to the disbelief of the teen’s parents, who never would have suspected that something was awry.
Around 5am August 26, Amanda Tanner was jolted awake by the family’s one-year-old border collie, Axel.
‘He wouldn’t let up. He kept really jumping with both paws on me, making sure that I was up,’ Tanner, 44, told Good Morning America.
Her husband, Daines, went downstairs and opened the sliding door to let the dog outside, but Axel stopped in front of their son’s bedroom and refused to move.
Unbeknownst to the couple, 17-year-old Gabriel had suffered a stroke after getting up early in the morning and collapsing as after he headed back to his room.
Axel, a rescue border collie, alerted the family of 17-year-old Gabriel as the boy was suffering a stroke in his room
When Gabriel’s parents found him, he was unable to raise his right arm and had difficulty speaking
The one-year-old border collie sat outside the teen’s bedroom door and refused to budge, raising suspicion that something was wrong
‘I was on my way to go back to my room. I just felt like everything was around me, like, moving around me,’ Silva said.
Tanner said she never would have thought to check on the teen as she expected him to be sleeping in, like any teenager.
Gabriel had just taken his senior photos the day before. He was an avid soccer player who was soon to graduate high school. But when Daines entered the boy’s room, he quickly realized that something was wrong.
Gabriel was suffering an ischemic stroke. A blood clot had formed in his brain, preventing it from getting the oxygen it so desperately needed and rendering him nearly non-verbal.
‘He got to a point where he couldn’t get any words out when he was on my bed with me,’ Tanner said. ‘He started crying.’
The family rushed him to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Texas – only to learn that Axel might have saved his life.
Neurosurgeon Dr. Sabih Effendi was on the team that treated Gabriel. He said the dog’s instincts made a ‘massive’ difference in the high schooler’s outcome.
Doctors said Axel’s instincts greatly improved Gabriel’s outcome, as there would have been more significant injury if he had been found later
By the time he arrived at the hospital, Gabriel was having trouble speaking and understanding words
The 17-year-old had taken senior photos the day before the stroke, and went to bed feeling normal, aside from a headache that subsided
His mother, 44-year-old Amanda Tanner, said she never would have thought to check on the teen, an otherwise healthy soccer player
‘When somebody’s acutely having a stroke, the neurons are dying,’ Effendi told TODAY.
‘If he was not found and another three or four hours went by, there would have been more and more and more brain injury.’
In hindsight, Gabriel said he had no symptoms other than a headache the night before, which subsided. He played video games and went to sleep.
WHAT ARE SIGNS YOU MAY BE HAVING A STROKE?
The following symptoms occur suddenly:
-Numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body
-Confusion, trouble speaking, or difficulty understanding speech
-Trouble seeing in one or both eyes
-Trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance, or lack of coordination
-Severe headache with no known cause
Source: CDC
When he saw his father the following morning, Gabriel was unable to raise his right arm. He wasn’t aware he was slurring his words. And while he felt no pain, his vision was fuzzy.
Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. suffer a stroke each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 15 percent of these strokes occur in people under the age of 40.
Up to 25 percent of strokes in young and middle-aged people are due to a dissection, or a tear in an artery that delivers blood to the brain.
Arteries have thick walls made up of many layers. A layer can break off – sometimes spontaneously, as in Gabriel’s case – and reduce the flow of blood to the brain or completely block it.
By the time Effendi saw him, Gabriel was struggling to speak and understand words. An X-ray showed that he was suffering a left-sided stroke that caused weakness on the right side of his body.
The doctor suspected that Gabriel might need constant care even if he recovered. Since then, Gabriel has made ‘amazing’ progress, Effendi said.
He has been taking classes from a homebound teacher and receiving physical, occupational and speech therapy.
‘I feel like as I was before,’ the teen said.
Axel is now ‘tasked with following Gabriel everywhere,’ Tanner said.
‘He’s now sleeping with Gabriel more, and Gabriel’s doors are open so he can go in and out. He’s always been very sensitive to everything and everybody’s emotions at home.’
Tanner told Good Morning America: ‘I am beyond grateful for whatever sensitivity Axel has to tell us what’s going on and to have moved that so fast’
The border collie now keeps watch over the high schooler, sleeping in his room and following him everywhere
The teen has made impressive progress, and is taking classes from a homebound teacher and receiving multiple types of therapy
Days after her son’s stroke, Tanner wrote a Facebook post where she expressed her shock at the events that transpired.
‘Gabriel, at 17-years-old, being athletic and considered healthy had an unexpected and unexplained stroke,’ she wrote.
‘Our entire lives stopped in time for a bit and basically exploded. I saw these things in movies and testimonials but never thought I’d ever experience such a thing. No one signs up for this!
She added: ‘I felt often in these days that my life had ended because of what happened to Gabriel, but the joy that comes through this healing and the love and support that come from those who know us or have just met us through this struggle makes this journey a bit easier to bare (sic).’
The teen has adopted a new perspective on life and no longer plans to ‘dwell’ on things that make him sad.
Tanner expressed her gratitude for Axel’s intuition.
‘I am beyond grateful for whatever sensitivity Axel has to tell us what’s going on and to have moved that so fast,’ she said.