AR-News: (MA) The healing power of pets

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http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/local_regional/healingpets10122003.htm

By Kathy Uek / News Staff Writer 
Sunday, October 12, 2003


While sitting in Ghiloni Park in Marlborough with her son, Adam, more than 10 
years ago, Debby Foley noticed a young autistic child who couldn't go up the 
ladder and down the slide. Foley sent Bandi to the rescue. 
With Foley's guidance, Bandi, her Sheltie Carrin mix dog, showed the child 
how to enjoy the slide, the see-saw and everything else the playground had to 
offer. 
"The little boy was stuck, so I took Bandi and put him in front of the child 
and said 'Bandi, up,' and Bandi went up the ladder. By showing him what to do, 
the child followed him," said Foley. 
The Marlborough resident knows firsthand what animals can do for children 
with disabilities -- they are wonderful therapy for her 17-year-old severely 
handicapped son, Adam. 
"His bunny soothes him every day when he comes home from school," said Amy 
Brown, Busy Bee 4H club leader. "Debby has noticed that Adam's caring for his 
bunny has helped him to grow in ways he wasn't progressing previously. Debby 
also found that the animals helped to soothe her when she had a bad day, which 
happens more frequently than most can imagine." 
Working with children and animals, Foley branched out to 4H clubs. 
"After the Columbine tragedy, I got disgusted," said Foley. "I thought 
there's no compassion and no respect for life. People weren't taking responsibility 
for themselves and that's not the way it should be. The 4H supports life 
morals and makes you a better person. It's all about how you live your life with 
other people." 
"Pet therapy benefits the kids in so many different ways as well as the 
animals and the patients they visit at the nursing homes," said Brown. "By working 
with the animals, the children connect better with their families and friends 
and they become more understanding of older and handicapped people." 
For a 4H project, Foley also helped her son give a four-page visual 
presentation at the 4H club on how to feed a bunny. Last year Adam won a blue ribbon at 
the local Busy Bee 4H club. 
Foley also signed on as a special needs teaching assistant while Adam 
attended Assabet Collaborative program and Bandi helped there, too. 
"I knew that animals and children went together because my son thrived at 
home with animals," said Foley. "Adam overcome a lot of tactile problems by 
holding his pet mouse and bunnies." 
Foley cares as much about the pets as she does about humans. She takes in 
animals no one else wants, that have been abused or have bad habits and gives the 
animals love and modifies their behavior. 
"With kids and animals it's the same -- whether it's a barking dog or a 
screaming child," said Foley. "You isolate the problem, find out what happened 
right before that and come up with a solution." 
In addition to Bandi, Foley has lots of other animals including her spud 
McKenzie dog, English Bull Terrier, Ketzy, who is best friends with her son, Adam. 
Her rabbit, Onyx came next followed by ferrets, turtles, fish, birds and an 
iguana, to name only a few. 
For her pet therapy services, Foley charges a minimal fee to cover her 
expenses including transportation and yearly vet visits. 
Petting animals helps the elderly relax, so Foley began bringing her pets to 
nursing homes such as the Carlyle House in Framingham and assisted living 
facility, New Horizons in Marlborough. 
After the patients gather in the main hall, Foley and her assistants 
circulate among the clients letting them pet animals. For the patients who can't get 
out of their room, prompted by Foley, Bandi goes down the hall, greets the 
people and gives them a paw and kiss. 
"It's great when you have a person that's immobile and recuperating from a 
stroke, it brings them to life," said Foley. "It's a way to increase a person's 
quality of life." 
Kaitlyn Sullivan helps Foley with her pet therapy at nursing homes. 
"Debby devotes her time to kids and animals and goes to nursing homes and 
lets the patients pet her animals," said Sullivan, a junior at Westborough High 
School."I don't know how she does it. She has a handicapped son and she takes 
care of him and that shows a lot about her. I basically grew up in her house 
playing with the animals and learned about caring and taking care of animals." 
Foley also brings her iguana to the Forest Avenue school in Marlborough. 
"Debby is fabulous," said Brown. "She makes everybody brighten up. We bring 
her into my son's classroom with her iguana and the kids crowd around her and 
call her 'Miss Fizzle,' the school teacher in the Magic School Bus series. 
"She's an unbelievable person because she has this disabled child who can't 
talk and walk. Even when she's feeling miserable, she's right there for the 
children. She is amazing. She knows so much and wants to share it all and it 
makes everybody love her so much." The main thing is to see her with her son. 
because she is so loving to him and she always makes sure that he looks cool. He 
always has a baseball hat on." 
Foley has more than her fair share of worries. Due to a severe bone disorder 
she may have to soon be in a wheelchair like her son, Adam. 
In the interim, she enjoys her children, Kerianne and Adam along with her 
husband, Glenn and all her projects involving pets. 
"In addition to my family and my sense of humor, the animals keep me going. 
My critters are a hoot," she said. "When I get a migrane, I grab a bunny and 
lay on the coach."
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