An eight-year-old boy who suffers from vitiligo has met a dog with the same skin condition – and forged a special bond.
Carter Blanchard, from Arkansas, has white patches around his eyes and across his body, due to a lack of the skin pigment melanin.
Carter’s mother, Stephanie Adcock, says the appearance of Carter’s skin had shattered the young boy’s confidence…but his meeting – after a year of correspondence – with fellow sufferer, Rowdy the labrador, has given him a huge boost.
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Hey buddy! Carter Blanchard, 8, from Arkansas, was diagnosed with vitiligo – a lack of melanin in the skin in 2014. After his confidence dropped, his mother, Stephanie Adcock, spotted fellow vitiligo sufferer Rowdy the black labrador online and struck up a friendship with his owner Niki Umbenhower, from Oregon
The pair met for the first time on Saturday and forged a special bond: Rowdy’s owner, Niki Umbenhower, said the pair were immediately happy in each other’s company
Carter’s mother Stephanie with her son. Right: Niki Umbenhower with her ‘beautiful creature’ 14-year-old Rowdy. Both Carter and Rowdy were diagnosed three years ago
The heart-warming meeting came about after Stephanie spotted a photo of 14-year-old Rowdy online and contacted owner Niki Umbenhower, who lives in Oregon.
They built a long-distance relationship but only met for the first time last Saturday after donations from the public funded the trip.
Niki, 48, said: ‘In all honesty, it was as if they had known each other forever. Carter walked right in, took off his jacket and just knelt down and started petting him.
‘He was on the floor playing and Rowdy just kept walking around him and laying down by him and he even was barking and hoping around because of all the energy and excitement in the air.’
WHAT IS VITILIGO?
Vitiligo occurs when the cells that produce melanin, the pigment that determines the color of skin, die or stop functioning.
This causes slowly enlarging white patches of irregular shapes to appear on the skin over time.
Vitiligo affects all races, but may be more noticeable in people with darker skin.
Model Winnie Harlow, who suffers with vitiligo, has spoken out frequently about living with the condition in a bid to raise awarenes
The exact cause of the condition is unknown, although many experts believe that it is an autoimmune condition in which the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys certain cells.
There is no cure and the goal of treatment, which can include ointments and skin grafts, is to stop or slow the progression of pigment loss.
Rowdy was diagnosed with vitiligo in 2014 – the same year as Carter – and Stephanie and Niki decided to share photos to help Carter deal with his diagnosis.
Niki explains: ‘Stephanie always shows Carter stuff I’ve posted online.
‘I do some stuff on all his social media sites and he sees it then makes comments and Stephanie will email or text me what he said. We do Facetime as well.
Carter and Rowdy’s story has since gone viral. The boy’s mother says he’s ‘done a 180’ in terms of how he now views his skin
The meeting between the two women was entirely natural, because they’ve talked so much online.
Says Niki: ‘Because of how close we have grown over the miles, when they walked through the door it honestly felt like they had met a million times over.
‘In all honesty, it was as if they had known each other forever. Carter walked right in, took off his jacket and just knelt down and started petting him…
Niki Umbenhower, Rowdy’s owner
‘This story has been an incredible journey. At first it started with people seeing Rowdy in person and stopping us on the street and asking questions and if they could take a picture with him.
‘Then when he aired on the news because I submitted a photo to the local station, he went pretty viral at that point – all over the world.’
Rowdy’s social media presence has ‘snowballed’ with his Instagram account now having in excess of 5000 followers.
Niki says: ‘It all changed for me and I had an ‘ah ha’ moment as to what I could do with this unique creature of mine – when a mother reached out to me and shared her story about how my dog was changing the way her son was looking at his own skin.’
Rowdy has his own Instagram account and has starred in plenty of videos helping children suffering with vitiligo to feel comfortable with their condition
Niki adds: ‘I wanted to do whatever I could to continue helping Carter see himself like people saw Rowdy.
‘So I would post a photo his mom would send me along side a photo of Rowdy and put an inspirational quote or congrats for getting straight A’s or something of that nature.
‘We’ve helped that little boy do a 180 in the way he views his skin and we want to do that for as many kids and people as we possibly can.’