Sherry Omiecinski was afraid for her son's life.
Diagnosed with Stage IV non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at age 3, Cason Omiecinski lay in a bed at VCU Medical Center, where an eight-month course of aggressive chemotherapy was not only attacking the cancer in his bloodstream, it also was taking the fight out of him.
"They had to give him blood transfusions because his blood was so toxic from all the chemo," his mother recalled Wednesday, pausing to regain her composure. "He stopped walking, stopped talking. He basically (regressed) to a 1-year-old. He forgot his colors, numbers, letters. He was pretty much catatonic."
And then Peanut entered the picture.
The small, friendly mixed breed was part of Dogs On Call, Virginia Commonwealth University's therapy dog program designed to provide a boost for the hospital's patients.
Every Friday, Peanut would visit Cason.
"Peanut was his only fun the whole time he was in the hospital," Omiecinski said. "He would perk up when he knew Peanut was coming. He would sit right up — for nothing but that dog. Every Friday, he knew."
Cason pulled through his treatments and eventually earned a clean bill of health, and now, five years later, he plans to be in Richmond's Monroe Park on Saturday for the inaugural Hounds for Healing Dog Walk.
The event, a fundraiser for the VCU School of Medicine's Center for Human-Animal Interaction, runs from noon until 3 p.m. and includes a 1-kilometer walk beginning at 1 p.m., as well as a blessing of the animals, Richmond police canine demonstrations, an "honor parade" of VCU's therapy dogs, face-painting and other family entertainment. Dog-walk participants can register on site.
Cason can not only walk these days, he's quite the runner as well. As his 10th birthday approaches next month, Cason is an honor-roll student at Twin Hickory Elementary School in western Henrico County who enjoys movies and pitching for his baseball team.
"He's awesome," his mother said. "You'd have no idea if you looked at him. He's just perfect. Blond and blue-eyed and funny and full of freckles."
And Cason's quite the dog lover. In fact, he still keeps a picture of Peanut.
Peanut, who died last year, was one of the original participants in the Dogs On Call program, which in 2010 provided more than 500 visits to patients and staff at VCU Medical Center.
"We can't meet the demand," said Sandy Barker, director of the Center for Human-Animal Interaction.
One of the center's missions is studying the relationships between humans and animals, and research has shown that dogs provide physiological and psychological benefits to patients. In short, they can help reduce a patient's stress.
"We've had patients who were afraid to undergo medical procedures," Barker said. "But with the dog by their side, they were more comfortable with these things."
VCU's therapy dogs, which include everything from Great Danes to Chihuahuas, also help address two main concerns associated with modern medicine.
"They're low-cost," Barker said. "And there are no side effects."
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