Paul and I met Kevin, his wife Lisa and Bella at the St.
Augustine Light House. We found a perfect spot to take Bella's pictures on the
front porch of the Light House keepers home.
It was a gorgeous morning the day after hurricane Sandy moved up the
coast and the skies were blue.
Kevin and Bella, a beautiful 10 month old golden retriever,
had just graduated from K9sFor Warriors. Bella had been purchased as a puppy by
three women who had to reluctantly surrender her and chose K9s for Warriors.
She went for four months of training before being assigned to Kevin. Although
they had only been together a short time, Bella had already made a significant
difference in Kevin's life.
Kevin had gone into the army in 1988 going straight to jump
school after basics and became a specialist in long range reconnaissance, came
out in 1991 and like others, felt the calling to go back in after 9-11-2001. He
was sent to Iraq, injured several times, requesting each time to be returned to
his unit.
Kevin was diagnosed with PTSD in 1990 and had battled
symptoms without success until being matched with Bella some 22 years later. The
day he arrived at K9s For Warriors, Kevin said is a time he'll never forget. Amidst all the people and dogs in the yard,
Bella ran right directly up to him as if she knew they were meant for each
other. Kevin said the training was fantastic, putting he and Bella and the
other warriors in their class into every environment to test out different
situations. By the way Kevin told us that the three women that surrendered
Bella, came to their graduation.
Today Bella is always there to help with his anxiety's,
helps him with crowds and forces him to talk to people. He said because Bella
is so beautiful, people just want to know their story and he is getting used to
telling it. She is always there to remind him to calm down, keeps his
nightmares "at bay" and constantly watches his back and gives him
"cover".
We learned so much from this wonderful couple that morning
and can't thank them enough for being so generous with their time. We also really enjoyed our time with them and
hope we can stay in touch. This is one of those situations when we just marvel
at the difference that is made so quickly when a service dog is brought into
someone's life. It is truly amazing.
