Tom Wilemon

twilemon@tennessean.com



Four-year-old cancer patient Kaylee Molina completely forgot about having been stuck with a needle when she placed her head on Swoosh and said "soft like a pillow."

Swoosh, a friendly Pomeranian, gives Kaylee something to look forward during the hour-and-a-half drive from Tullahoma to Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt for weekly treatments.

While the hospital has offered pet therapy for years, it is now trying to determine how well the doggy time relieves anxiety. The Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt is one of five in the country participating in the Canines and Childhood Cancer Study. It's a scientific study sponsored by the American Humane Association with help from Zoetis and The Pfizer Foundation.

"We are really looking to see if, indeed, meeting a dog once a week when a child comes in for chemotherapy can decrease the stress and anxiety that the child and family experience," said Mary Jo Gilmer, the Vanderbilt professor of nursing who is supervising the study.

The therapy dogs involved also include a golden retriever, a yellow Labrador and two mixed breeds that have been certified by Pet Partners as part of a "registered therapy animal team." They and human volunteers spend time with children combating lymphoma or acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Michelle Thompson and Swoosh, both of Franklin, have been been volunteering at Vanderbilt for two and a half years.

"I've got to share him," Thompson said. "He's so good with everybody."

The stress level of children and their parents are checked before and after treatments. Another group of patients who receive the exact same medical care without the involvement of therapy animal teams is also monitored. That way, researchers can determine how much difference, if any, the animal-assisted therapy makes.

The stress level of the dogs is also monitored by checking the cortisol levels in their saliva.

So far, seven children have been enrolled in the study at Vanderbilt. Gilmore hopes to have 20 signed up by the end of the year. The other hospitals participating in the study are St. Joseph's Children's Hospital in Tampa, Randall Children's Hospital in Portland, UC Davis Children's Hospital in Sacramento and UMass Memorial Children's Medical Center in Worcester, Mass.

Reach Tom Wilemon at 615-726-5961 and on Twitter @TomWilemon.