Without Molly, Kiri Lee wouldn’t have moved out of home, met her husband or had a child. “Molly has given me a life,” she says of her epilepsy assist dog.
Kiri, who was a premature baby with scarring on the temporal lobe of her brain, started having seizures when she was nine. They strike at random and she can go for two weeks without one, then have several in a day.
“Before Kiri got Molly, she couldn’t walk down the road on her own,” says her mum Glenn. “She lived at home and I had to drive her to and from work every day. We lived in the country and Kiri had quite a restrictive life.”
Molly, a black labrador, was bred as a guide dog, but had minor cataracts, so failed the eye-sight test. It took just three months to re-train the pup for her new purpose.
When she was placed with Kiri, life changed for the whole family almost overnight. Molly became Kiri’s constant companion, offering comfort and security after a seizure, as well as being a signpost for the public in her labelled ‘epilepsy assist’ jacket. For Kiri, that spelt independence and peace of mind for her parents.
Before long, Kiri was ready to live on her own. Once settled in their new house, Molly appointed herself another role: matchmaking her mistress with the bachelor next door.
Kiri explains, “Whenever Nick walked down the drive to get the mail, Molly would jump on the fence to say hello.”
This story is from the December 14, 2020 edition of New Zealand Woman's Weekly.
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This story is from the December 14, 2020 edition of New Zealand Woman's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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