Image: Stand Tall For Dwarfism/Instagram.
Mr. Rogers famously told us all to look for the helpers in times of great stress. Well, this is a time of great stress and I found a helper — specifically, a little dog in Australia who is helping this boy.
BarkPost tells the story of a child named Quaden Bayles who was diagnosed with achondroplasia, the most common type of dwarfism, when he was just three days old. Since then, the five year old has undergone multiple hospital stays, faces bullying and teasing in person and online, and never, ever, ever, wanted to talk about dwarfism.
Enter Buddy.
A family friend who is also a veterinarian asked them if they wanted to take in a 9-year old Shih Tzu named Buddy.
Kids and dogs are always a magical mix, after all, but this one was even more magical. You see, Buddy has dwarfism, too.
Quaden’s mother Yakarra says that Buddy has changed all of their lives, but Quaden’s the most of all. “Quaden now proudly accepts that he’s got dwarfism, because Buddy’s given him that reason to think that it’s cool,” Yarraka told Today. “So he tells everyone, ‘My dog has dwarfism like me,’ and it’s the first time we’ve ever, in Quaden’s five years of life, heard him say the word, because we are not allowed to say dwarfism or achondroplasia.”
You only need to look at the photo of Quaden and Buddy posted on the family’s Stand Tall 4 Dwarfism Facebook page to see that it’s true love. Buddy is truly the kind of helper we all need to look for: unconditional love like that will save the world.
