Boy Embarrassed Of Vitiligo Meets Dog With Same Skin Condition

March 23, 2017

8-year-old Carter Blanchard of Searcy, Arkansas, isn't feeling so alone since meeting a dog halfway across the country with the same skin condition.

Photo credit: Sit! Stay Pet Photography

Carter was first diagnosed with Vitiligo in kindergarten and lost confidence as white patches appeared around his eyes.

"He was at a big school with a lot of kids, and his face was transforming very quickly," his mother, Stephanie Adcock, said. "The first thing he'd tell me when he got in the car is that he hated his face and hated the way he looked."

Life was tough for Carter, but help came in the form of Rowdy, a 13-year-old purebred black Labrador retriever in Oregon who was diagnosed with vitiligo the same year as Carter.

When Stephanie first found pictures of Rowdy on Facebook, she quickly shared them with her son.

"I read that Rowdy had vitiligo, and I was blown away," she told KATU. "When I showed Carter, he was so excited to see a dog that was famous for his vitiligo."

Carter and his mom reached out to Rowdy's owner, Niki Umbenhower of Canby, Ore., and built a long-distance friendship.

That relationship became closer this past week after KATU viewers donated money to bring Carter and his mom to Canby to meet Rowdy.

"It couldn't be any other person that made him feel better. It had to be Rowdy. It had to be a dog," Stephanie told KATU.