Bella

  
 

     My dog Bella is my hero. She is my friend and service dog that helps save my life daily.

   My name is Sherry and I’m 32. I have a rare genetic defect that causes me to lose consciousness and convulse in syncopatic episodes without much warning.

    Since Bella was a small puppy, her and I had an amazing bond. She connected with me immediately and quickly the trainers and I realized that she was no ordinary German Sheppard. Berlin-born of world champion hounds, Bella has by far surpassed any expectations and achievements that her breeders or lineage could have imagined.

    The little girl dog is so fine-tuned with my bio-rhythms that she can actually “tell” when my heart rate and blood flow is becoming sporadic. Which for someone with pure autonomic failure is, as both the Saint Mary’s Pastoral team and the Rabbinic teachers in Dayton temple proclaimed, a miracle acting-agent of God. Bella is a blessing because she’s given me new life.
 
     Bella can signal me, when an episode is about to occur. She is able to sit me down on the floor and protect me in an emergency.

     At the hospital, it took the intricate experience and years of training of several nurses and doctors to shield my unconscious body from harm. In minutes, I’m told, Bella learned that she was more able than the medical practitioners to help me. According to my friends account, Bella observed the fiasco, leaped on the hospital gurney, put her front paws on my shoulders, lowered her hips, secured herself and neutralized the danger for both of us.

    My powerful puppy could not only check the bath water for temperature, but she also could extricate me from the watery depths of doom--in full seizure activity.

    Besides it being way cool that my life-saving dog is allowed to go everywhere with me, Bella’s intricate talents have given me a new breath of life.

    She enables me to have freedom and confidence in her… and therefore in myself. Her ability makes me more aware of my own capableness, versus my disability.

    My little friend gives me hope, where I didn’t believe that there was any. Thank-you Bella, you are, without a doubt, my hero.