Alhanna Butler, 21, and her fiancé Ricky, 25, live in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, with her son Lincoln and their dog, Keola.
Were it not for Keola, an American Akita, Alhanna and her son would probably not be around today.
When Alhanna was pregnant with Lincoln she began to experience sharp pains in her lower back.
She went to hospital, but doctors told her not to be concerned. They said it was a side effect of her pregnancy and nothing to be overly worried about.
So Alhanna returned home and continued with her daily life. She knew, however, that not all was right with her body. And she wasn’t the only one; Keola obviously felt the same.
The Akita began to act strangely when at home. Sometimes she would just sit, staring at Alhanna. Other times she would stick close to her owner and grow concerned and agitated when Alhanna left the house.
It was a sort of behavior that Alhanna had never seen in her beloved dog.
Things went up a notch when Keola began to nudge Alhanna’s stomach and whimper constantly. Eventually, Alhanna listened to her dog’s warning and went back to the hospital, according to British newspaper the Daily Mirror.
“My mum phoned and said ‘listen to your dog, she is trying to tell you something’,” Alhanna said.
Once back in hospital, Alhanna was given further consideration. After a careful examination, she was rushed immediately to intensive care.
There she learned that she was extremely close to dying.
It turned out that Alhanna had a double kidney infection, and a rare one at that. She also had an antibiotic-resistant bacterium that was slowly killing her from within.
Doctors told her that if she’d gone a few more weeks without treatment, she could have died. As it was, for two weeks she fought for her life in hospital, while doctors did everything they could to save both her and the child within her stomach.
The doctors were also forced to create a new antibiotic in the laboratory, one engineered especially to treat Alhanna’s infection.
In the end, fortunately, she was saved, and her delivery went according to plan. Her son Lincoln was born without any complications.
Strangely, dogs have been known to have the ability to detect some cancers and diseases. There are certain dogs that have been trained specifically to detect skin cancer simply by smelling skin injuries.
Some studies have also shown that dogs can detect prostate cancer by smelling a patient’s urine.
Perhaps Alhanna’s story is just a fortunate coincidence, but there’s also a good chance Keola actually smelt something was wrong. The ability of dogs to do as much is truly incredible – Keola is just another example of this.
Alhanna, who herself works in care, is sure this is the case.
“I have absolutely no doubt that both me and Lincoln would not be here today if it wasn’t for Keola,” Alhanna said.
The young mother also claims this isn’t the first time Keola has exhibited a sixth sense. The Akita was apparently the first to alert her to the fact that she was pregnant.
“We did test after test but with no luck. They just kept coming up negative. One day I had binned a negative test and gone out shopping,” Alhanna explained.
“When we returned, Keola had gone through the bin and had got the pregnancy test out of the bin. She had never touched the bins before so it was very odd. She was sat with it in front of her like she was trying to tell us something.”
When baby Lincoln was born, healthy and strong, he and Keola developed an inseparable bond.
Several years later, Keola and Alhanna are still best friends!
Maybe that’s not so strange after all, given the circumstances.
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