[Jkpal]

Try as he might, the HIV-positive doctor could not heal himself, at least not emotionally; ultimately he decided to get a dog...it was a little Yorkshire terrier he named Fred. And everything changed.
"I had this little bundle of, like, pure joy," Garofalo says. "He made me re-engage with the world." But I'm not exaggerating when I say that he saved my life," says Garofalo, who'd considered suicide after his HIV diagnosis.His journey back to life started with simple things. He had to leave the apartment where he'd isolated himself to buy food for Fred. He had to talk to the many people who wanted to stop and pet the little dog. Even now, Garofalo gets emotional when he tells the story of coming downstairs to find his mother cradling the dog. "My mom was telling him that he was a miracle," Garofalo says, his eyes reddening, "because he had brought her son back."

HIV- positive doctor says his dog saved his life...When Dogs Heal: About - When Dogs Heal