A Lehigh County family is thanking everyone who donated money to help their son get to his new service dog.
Aileen and Walter Klingensmith and their eight year-old son, Richard, are settling in at their Upper Saucon Township home with their new addition, Roper.
Roper is a one year-old Goldendoodle.
69 News first brought you Richard's story in December, when the family was raising money online to help them travel to Ohio to get Roper and train with him for two weeks. They were unable to afford those expenses on their own.
Richard faces several challenges including cerebral palsy and seizures.
"Every day after the newscast it was a surprise, every couple hours a donation would come in," said Walter.
They exceeded their goal and raised more than $7,000. With that money they were also able to install a fence to help keep Richard and Roper safe outside.
Walter and Aileen said they have seen a noticeable difference in their son with Roper now by his side.
"Richard is able to go out in public more, he doesn't get his anxiety attacks, he doesn't get scared of other people," explained Walter.
"He's really good at disrupting his meltdowns," Aileen said.
The dog is also trained to detect up to two hours before when Richard will have a seizure.
"He'll lick Richard's feet or hands and then he'll come nuzzle us to say come check him out," said Aileen. "Now we know that they're coming so we can have him in a safe place."
"It's a major relief," said Walter. "We're not waking up two, three, four times a night just to check on Richard, make sure he's okay, make sure that he hadn't had a major seizure."
They are grateful to everyone who donated to their cause and have a message for those who helped.
"To thank everybody that actually supported us and we really appreciate it," said Aileen.
Walter said, "There's a lot of good people in this world, a lot of nice people in this world, a lot of generous people in this world."
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