Boy Writes Book About his Dog
KAYE: I want to share a story now about a young author with a rare genetic disease. He's raising money to help other kids who are just like him. Here's Dr. Sanjay Gupta with today's "Human Factor."</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Nine-year-old Evan Moss is a boy who seemingly only cares about one simple thing.</s>EVAN MOSS: All of these, al filled with Pokemon cards.</s>GUPTA: Unfortunately, his life isn't so simple.</s>LISA MOSS, EVAN'S MOM: When Evan was just a couple weeks old, he started having these little shaky movements. It was one arm that would just twitch a little bit. And it would last a few seconds.</s>GUPTA: Robert and Lisa took their son to dozens of doctors' appointments. Evan was eventually diagnosed with tuberis sclerosis complex, a rare genetic disease that causes nonmalignant tumors to grow inside the brain and on other vital organs. Evan's TSC includes one of the hallmark symptoms -- potentially life threatening seizures that can happen at any moment. Since Evan's parents can't watch over him all the time, they began to look for an extra set of eyes, ears, and a nose.</s>ROBERT MOSS, EVEN'S FATHER: We were also finding out that not only did these dogs respond to seizures -- [ bark ]</s>EVAN MOSS: Good dog.</s>ROBERT MOSS: But they had the capability to alert you, to tell you that the individual might have a seizure, might soon be having a seizure.</s>GUPTA: As you might imagine, these types of highly trained service dogs, dogs that can sniff out chemical changes in the body leading up to a seizure, don't come cheap.</s>LISA MOSS: A service dog generally costs anywhere from $22,000 to $25,000. They ask for each recipient family to fund-raise $13,000 of that to offset the cost. And as part of the application, they asked for something from the child receiving the dog. He said, can I write a book?</s>EVAN MOSS: "My Seizure Dog." My dog tells me when I will have a seizure. We will be best friends.</s>GUPTA: Big sister aria suggested their parents self-publish Evan's book on Amazon, where it quickly shot to the top of one of the site's best central lists. A book signing followed at a neighborhood coffee shop. The turnout was overwhelming.</s>LISA MOSS: We did end up raising around $45,000 and helped about seven additional children complete their fundraising.</s>GUPTA: Mindy rarely leaves Evan's side during the day, at school, on the bus, in the backyard. And never leaves his side at night.</s>EVAN MOSS: My seizure dog will sleep with me. If I have a seizure during my sleep, the seizure dog will tell my parents.</s>MOSS: Mindy Moss, family pet, parents' security blanket, and Evan's best friend. Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.</s>KAYE: What a beautiful story. And be sure to watch "Sanjay Gupta M.D." today at 4:30 p.m. this afternoon eastern time, and Sunday, tomorrow, 7:30 a.m. eastern. Beaten and bruised. A man with Down syndrome recovering after a sheriff's deputy pepper-sprayed him and hit him with a baton. Now authorities are trying to defend their actions. Antonio Martinez and his sister join us with his story.