Service dog helps predict seizures, offers comfort for New Jersey man
EVESHAM TOWNSHIP, New Jersey (WPVI) -- It's in the otherwise silent moments where 20-year-old Giovani Corporan could be having one of his, on average, 78 seizures a day.
He says life has been like that since he was 14.
"We didn't know what to do. Seeing him change colors, I had to stick my finger in his mouth and give him CPR," said his dad, Nick Corporan. "Our biggest fear is when you hear him hit the floor at 3 in the morning."
Those fears are starting to go away because now Gio, as his family calls him, has a new partner, his service dog, Wrangler.
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"The bond these guys developed in such a short amount of time is beyond shocking to me," Nick Corporan said.
Wrangler came to Gio through a program called New Hope Assistance Dogs, which places dogs with people who need help, including veterans or children with special needs. The dogs help people gain independence.
"The chemical in the body, the dog is picking up on it," explained the president of New Hope Assistance Dogs, Tammy Rogers. "The heartbeat change, overall just the system itself."
Rogers has been training dogs since she was young. She says helping people this way is her life's passion.
"To know that a seizure is coming on, if that's enough to sit, to get a safe place and not fall or hit your head, that could be a life or death difference."
The Corporan's say since their son got the service dog, his number of seizures seem to be decreasing.
