Five-year-old Quaden Bayles has faced more life hurdles than most kids his age have. He has a form of dwarfism called achondroplasia. Dealing with the challenges of the condition left the boy angry and depressed. That is, until a special dog named Buddy came into Quaden’s life.
According to Today.com, Quaden’s struggles aren’t just physical. People also say cruel things to him and about him when he’s out in public. He hates to attract attention to himself or his condition and even told his family not to speak any words related to his condition out loud. But then Buddy arrived.
Buddy is a 9-year-old Shih Tzu rescue dog who also has achondroplasia.
“Quaden now proudly accepts that he’s got dwarfism, because Buddy’s given him that reason to think that it’s cool,” his mom, Yarraka Bayles, told Today.com. “So he tells everyone, ‘My dog has dwarfism like me,’ and it’s the first time we’ve ever, in Quaden’s five years of life, heard him say the word, because we are not allowed to say dwarfism or achondroplasia.”
Read more about Quaden and Buddy.