Make-A-Wish comfort dog a new pal for 18-year-old

The sun came out, the coats came off, and warm smiles spread across the faces of the crowd in this Mundelein driveway as 18-year-old Dani Lococo celebrated her newfound friendship with Marli, her Make-A-Wish Illinois comfort dog.

“When Marli wakes her up in the morning, she has a big smile on her face,” Shari Lococo said of her daughter. Marli, a 5-month-old Australian labradoodle, isn't a service dog trained to do tasks. She's here to snuggle and be a best buddy for Dani.

Under a SpongeBob SquarePants banner reading “Best Day Ever,” Dani and Marli posed for photos with her parents, Mike and Shari Lococo; sisters Niki, 24, and Sammi, 22; and Make-A-Wish Illinois “wish-granters” Bonnie Bodenheimer and Shirlee Nickow of Lincolnshire.

“How lucky were we to get this family?” Nickow said, as the vaccinated-and-masked participants shared hugs.

Relatives, friends and trucks from the Mundelein Fire Department and squad cars from the Mundelein Police Department drove by to complete the affair.

Diagnosed with Rett syndrome at age 3, Dani Lococo can't talk and generally uses a wheelchair, but she can walk with someone supporting her. The incurable neurological disorder overwhelming affects girls. Boys with the genetic syndrome rarely survive childhood, but female patients have been known to live into middle age. One of the symptoms is a nearly constant wringing of hands.

“She needs help doing everything,” Shari Lococo said.

“We take her everywhere,” Mike Lococo added, pointing to a wheelchair-accessible van.

Dani understands that Marli is for her, and the teen, a senior at Mundelein High School, generally seems happy, her parents said. The family started The Dani Lococo Foundation a decade ago and have raised money for Rettsyndrome.org with golf tournaments and other fundraisers.

The idea for a comfort dog came after Sammi Lococo worked a summer internship with Make-A-Wish and realized that her younger sister was eligible.

“Pawsitively Best Friends, Dani and Marli” reads one of the many homemade signs in the yard. And that is the hope of everyone in attendance. Except, perhaps, for Sophie, the family's “Shih Poo,” a small Shih Tzu-poodle mix. The much larger Marli sometimes bowls over the smaller dog, and they'll need more time to bond.

“Sophie?” said Mike Lococo. “She's scared out of her mind.”