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Jonny Hickey was an eight-year-old boy with autism who had trouble socially interacting with others.
The only people he would feel comfortable around were his family members; being in new environments with people he didn’t know caused him a lot of anxiety and would silence him.
At the same time, a puppy named Xena was rescued after she collapsed in a backyard in Georgia. She was extremely emaciating, weighing just four pounds, and it was obvious just by looking at her that she was dying.
Chrissy Kaczynski, founder of Canine Caravan Rescue, brought Xena home with her and wasn’t even confident that she’d make it through the night. But Xena proved to be a fighter and refused to give up.
With proper medical attention and a lot of TLC, Xena began to recover. It was a true miracle! Everyone was so amazed at Xena’s strength, that her story began to go viral.
That’s when Jonny’s mother, Linda, heard about her story. She decided to take her family to a fundraising event that Xena was going to be at. That is the moment that changed both Xena’s world as well as Jonny’s.
The two of them bonded immediately and it was obvious that they had a special connection. It didn’t take long before the Hickey family decided to adopt Xena!
From that moment on, Jonny began opening up and acting in a way that his family had never seen before. He gained this new-found confidence and was so much more outgoing than ever before.
Xena had helped Jonny rid of all of the anxieties that even expensive therapy couldn’t help.
For April is Autism Awareness Month and Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month, Jonny and Xena made a video together (scroll down to watch the video). Due to Xena’s courage and bravery, she won ASPCA 2013 Dog of the Year!
“I really believe God had a plan,” Linda told TODAY. “These two were destined to be together — to save each other at a level that humans just can’t understand.”
