My Life Before Dillon

I served as a paramedic in Ottawa and had a really bad first year on the job.

During the first couple of weeks at my job, we responded to a call where a mom and her daughter were hit by a gravel truck. Both died in the accident and the impact was so severe that we did not know who the driver was and who the passenger was.

The same year, I lost my grandfather in a rollover and went on to have my own rollover on my way home. My car had gone off the road and I hit a hydro pole that started sparking. Two police officers pulled me out.

With all these accidents, my brain didn’t have time to get things settled and I got diagnosed with PTSD. It later got to a point where I was unable to leave my house. I either had to have my kids or my husband take me everywhere or I would have a panic attack.

I remember distinctively the shooting that happened at the Parliament of Canada in 2014 where Corporal Nathan Cirillo was killed and my husband was on that call. That caused a panic attack in a grocery store where someone took a photo of me and posted it on the Internet.

I realized it was time to do something.

A New Beginning

I knew I wanted a dog, but the wait list was probably about 3 years.

While waiting for a dog to come into my life, I raised two dogs for the Canadian Guide Dogs for the Blind, which helped me get comfortable in public and get used to towing around a 80lbs dog! I learnt how to say no when people want to pet the dog, because they’re working dogs. You also get a lot of criticism - some people are afraid of dogs.

When I finally got to meet Dillon, I was sitting on a bench waiting for him to be brought out. Dillon came flying at me and jumped right up on the bench, tackled me and I just started to cry - I was so happy to meet him. He had then gone on to change my life. He has allowed my kids to be kids and not have to worry about me. My husband can go to work without having to worry about me having a panic attack because Dillon interrupts all of that. I knew I could trust him and it’s like a switch just flipped.