LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — They say a dog is man’s best friend, and for one child in Richmond, the need for a furry friend could mean a more comforting life and could help with his daily challenges. “Noah is four, he’s about to be five in July, and he is super fun, super playful, super adorable,” says Chloe Messina, Noah’s mother. She adds, “when he was 2, almost 3, he was diagnosed with autism, global development delay, ADHD, severe receptive expressive communication disorder, and OCD.” Noah’s journey is shared by at least 1 in 36 children in the U.S. who have autism. And in Kentucky, there are more than 80,000 autistic people. “He’s about to be five, but he’s more on, like, the level of two and a half, maybe three,” adds Chloe. She says the main challenges came after Noah’s results, “in Noah’s case, if we do try to go out somewhere, you know, even to, like, the grocery store or just out to eat or something, which we really don’t try to do that just because we know how it could potentially be anything could trigger his sensory deficiency.” As the challenges continued for the Messina family, Chloe started looking into what could help her son as they navigate the diagnosis. “A big thing he had, he had self-injurious behaviors. He would slam his head down every time he got upset because he couldn’t communicate,” said Nick Messina, Noah’s father. A year later, after taking him to applied behavior analysis, Noah has began to communicate, but for his family, “whatever we can do to help him, we are doing. We’re trying to,” added his father. So Chloe started looking at way to continue helping Noah, “they do train dogs for autism, and I was like, oh, my goodness, my mind was blown. We were fortunately able to find an organization that works through the prison system, it’s called Pawsibilities Unleashed,” said Chloe. The next step, acquiring the funds for the service dog, his family has set up a GoFundMe to help finance it. “I want him to know is we have done everything we can as parents to make his life as normal as possible,” added Nick. Meantime, not a day goes by in which his family doesn’t take anything for granted. “One of the best things about Noah is that his imagination is infinite,” said Landon Messina, Noah’s older brother. “I just want him to know that he has taught us so much, and it kind of sounds silly, but I really look up to him,” said Chloe. To donate and read more of Noah’s story, click here. Categories: Featured, Local News, News Tags: autism, Autism Awareness, Kentucky, messina family, noah messina, Richmond ...read more read less