{"id":1115,"date":"2012-10-21T13:26:48","date_gmt":"2012-10-21T12:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/up\/wordpress\/2012\/10\/21\/a-dog-saved-my-life\/"},"modified":"2022-10-29T14:35:49","modified_gmt":"2022-10-29T13:35:49","slug":"a-dog-saved-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.egeve.com\/en\/a-dog-saved-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"A dog saved my life"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sharon Le Noury, 41, was so worried about her deaf mum she got a specially trained dog to help her. But it was she who cried out for the Labrador cross when she couldn\u2019t breathe…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Blinking back tears, I watched as my mother Lynne stroked the new dog in her living room. She let it nuzzle her while patting its soft ears and kissing its head. \u201cI\u2019m so glad you\u2019re here,\u2019 she whispered to the dog. \u201cWe\u2019ll get along fine, me and you.\u2019 I was glad too. This Labrador cross was more than a new pet for Mum \u2013 she would be her ears and give her back her life. At 61, Mum was profoundly deaf. She had gone deaf slowly when I was a child and my dad Derek had taken care of her. If the doorbell had gone, he\u2019d answered it. If the phone rang, he\u2019d get it and he always took Mum to the shops, smiling as they went out and about. But a few months earlier, he\u2019d died of motor neurone disease. Now Mum was alone.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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I went round to see her as often as I could but, without Dad, Mum couldn\u2019t live as full a life as before. She couldn\u2019t hear the doorbell buzz or know if the phone was ringing. She couldn\u2019t go out as much because she couldn\u2019t hear traffic at the roadside. It was hard enough grieving for my dad, but seeing Mum housebound was too much to bear. But now, at last, all that would change. Mum had been matched with a trained assistance dog \u2013 a hearing dog \u2013 to be her ears. She named her Wilma and I was just as relieved as Mum that she was there.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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As the weeks passed, Wilma settled in. I\u2019d go round to visit and was amazed at the two sides to her: in the evenings, she was a cuddly, home-loving dog who loved to nuzzle up to me on the sofa. But when she was \u2018working\u2019 she was every inch the professional. She\u2019d bark if the doorbell rang, run to the phone if someone called. She would stand at Mum\u2019s side at the roadside until it was safe to cross. \u201cI can\u2019t believe I coped before without her,\u201d Mum said one evening, kissing her. \u201cShe\u2019s adorable,\u201d I said, stroking her.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Wilma didn\u2019t fill the gaping hole Dad had left when he\u2019d passed away. But she did look after Mum. It meant I could sleep easy knowing Wilma was looking after Mum all night. A few weeks elapsed. Then I started feeling tired. As the days passed it was more like exhaustion. Then I was in the kitchen one day when I fell down. I stumbled a few days later as well. Soon I couldn\u2019t even get out of bed. I lived alone and it was terrifying. I went to my GP but he seemed uninterested. \u201cAre you depressed?\u201d he asked, raising an eyebrow. He even hinted that maybe I was lonely and needed counselling.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I went back again and again. By now I was so exhausted I couldn\u2019t even prepare a meal \u2013 not that I even had an appetite. My doctor suggested everything from anorexia to ME. But every test or suggestion came back negative. \u201cWell, it\u2019s a mystery,\u201d my doctor said, baffled. Soon I was bedridden. I felt terrible because I couldn\u2019t even summon the energy to drag myself round to Mum\u2019s. I comforted myself with one thought: Wilma was there to look after her.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Then one day Mum came round. She took one look at me \u2013 thin and languishing in bed \u2013 and shook her head. \u201cRight, that\u2019s it,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re coming to live with me.\u201d I opened my mouth to argue but Mum put a finger to her lips. I was too weak to disagree. Mum and a friend helped me move temporarily to my mum\u2019s house. I was so weak I spent the days and nights on her sofa. I couldn\u2019t even feed myself. Mum would make me liquid feeds and help me shuffle to the toilet. \u201cI just wish someone would believe me… I wish I knew what was wrong,\u201d I\u2019d groan.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I had heart palpitations I was so frail. One evening Mum got me comfortable on the sofa and placed a glass of water and painkillers at my side. Then she went to bed. During the night, I couldn\u2019t sleep. I was in so much pain and felt so weak. I got into a position and then, suddenly, terror hit me. I couldn\u2019t move. I felt my body in spasms and my face was pressed against the sofa. I couldn\u2019t breathe, yet I couldn\u2019t move. I thought: I\u2019ll suffocate… and I can\u2019t cry out because Mum can\u2019t hear me…<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I tried to scream. But I was pressed against the sofa in agony. It was no use anyway. Mum would never hear my cries. In the darkness, I began to despair. What life did I have anyway? I was becoming more and more frail, more ill and exhausted by the day. I was too weak to fight… Then a name popped into my head. \u201cWilma…\u201d I croaked into the darkness. Seconds later, I felt something at my side \u2013 a wet nose and a soft, furry face.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Relief washed over me. Then another feeling: the will to survive. \u201cWilma,\u201d I gasped, \u201cplease… get Mum… Help me…\u201d She understood immediately. She left my side and I heard her pacing to Mum\u2019s room where, barking frantically, she managed to wake her up. I heard Mum get up and race to my side. \u2018Oh, Sharon!\u2019 she cried. She lifted me just in time and moved me so I could breathe again.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Guard duty<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As I took great, desperate gulps of air, tears rolled down my face. Mum turned the lights on and I was able to explain to her. \u201cWilma…Wilma saved me…\u201d I wept.  Then the dog was at my side, rubbing her head against me, checking I was OK. \u201cThank you, Wilma,\u201d I cried. \u201cThank you.\u201d From then on, Wilma stood guard next to me all through the night. She\u2019d do her duties for Mum, see her to bed, then come and watch me. If I ever needed the loo, Wilma would stand there as I steadied myself. If I needed painkillers, she\u2019d trot off and get Mum. She\u2019d even nudge my glass of water nearer or pick up my blankets if they fell. \u201cYou\u2019re my doggy Nurse Nightingale,\u201d I said, stroking her.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Meanwhile, though, I was getting worse. I was so frail, I could barely sip water. Finally a friend brought another doctor round. He took one look at me and immediately called for an ambulance. \u201cThis woman needs to be in hospital. Now,\u201d he said. I was rushed to hospital where they ran tests. At last, after months of not being listened to, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition that causes muscle pain and extreme fatigue. But that wasn\u2019t all. Doctors ran tests on my heart which showed I had a heart infection and that a valve was blocked. That had been what was causing the palpitations and the falls. \u201cYou could have died,\u201d one doctor said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I was kept in hospital on antibiotics and drips and had regular scans to monitor my heart. Finally three long months later I was allowed home. Now, a year on, I am still recovering but feel better. I am on medication for my heart and fibromyalgia and I see a heart specialist every six months. Coping with exhaustion and pain for so long almost made me too frail to carry on. But the night I nearly suffocated taught me how much I longed to fight. And thanks to Wilma, I am still here to do so.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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I can\u2019t thank Wilma enough for caring for me. Not only is she Mum\u2019s ears, she was my carer when I needed nursing, bringing Mum whenever I needed her. She truly is a doggy Nurse Nightingale and she saved my life.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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