A great experience.

This week it was not possible to manage my walk along the Thames due to the unusually hot weather. However I want to tell you about an event which took place in a lake near my home. This was an afternoon dedicated to help people with MND experience being totally emersed in water and swimming with Newfoundland dogs. 

The event was offered by Pete Lewin's Newfoundland Emotional Support and Swimming Therapy dogs. Pete and his group of volunteers offer their dogs to support different charities where this therapy is badly needed. The experience is offered to Cancer charities, MS groups and other organisations where mobility and emotional support is essential.  All together there were six dogs present and whilst I was present  two men with MND took up the opportunity to swim with these wonderful dogs, their partners relatives and carers also. 

Pete's trailer    One of the dogs.

The preparation was detailed with every safety aspect covered. The team of volunteers who undertake this work are professional emergency ambulance staff who are either retired or do this in their spare time, They are experienced in moving and assessing the help required. The group erected a tent for the swimmers to change and to get into their wet suits with safety harnesses . Time was taken to prepare P who was the first person to take to the water. They carefully helped him, giving his space and dignity to manage the situation and then to help him put on the safety harness. The next task was to place a carrying mat on P's chair before he sat down. He was then wheeled to the edge of the natural slipway where the group of four people gently taking the edges of the mat moved him from the wheelchair  down the slip way and placed him in the water. When P felt comfortable in the water he was gently towed out to a spot approximately 30 metres from the bank. The volunteer in charge of the first dog called him and waved a treat. The dog swam to where P was floating in the water, turned so P could hold onto the dog's harness and allowed himself to be gently towed back to the bank. When P returned from the first trip he was elated. P was able to move his legs freely in the water which he was unable to do on dry land. P spent almost an hour in the water following the same routine of being helped out to where one of the dogs would then swim to him and tow him back. It was amazing to watch.   

 Going in


                                     Being pulled back by one of the dogs.

Then A arrived. A began the organisation, MND Challenge. A member of this group Alice signed me up on the spot. She also took a lot of photos of the event. It was A's turn to be helped into a wet suit and harness. Al's son was also with him plus another friend who all changed into wet suits and went into the water with him. Again witnessing the pleasure, elation of movement that the freedom of water gave A was mind blowing, he was able to swim independently.



Enjoying the sun.

Throughout this procedure which took several hours the dogs were either in the water paddling with their handlers, or under shades that had been erected and sleeping peacefully. The dogs were totally amazing, gentle, intelligent, calm dogs who knew what was expected of them.

I was told that this is the only organisation in the world where this therapy experience is undertaken. Pete and his team are clearly known in the States as when one of the dogs died a group from Indiana USA donated a puppy and paid for transportation for him to join the group and be trained to do this work.

I was so pleased to find where this event was taking place and was made welcome by the team who explained everything they did and the history of Pete's Newfoundlands. One of the volunteers had warm drinks to offer around and gave one to my sister in law who had accompanied me.

At the next MND Meeting I attend, I intend to tell them of my experience and suggest that Pete and his dogs are a resource that the Association could access whenever possible for the benefit of the members of the group which includes cares and relatives as well. 


PS My next walk will be Monday 23rd June starting just before Walton and walking to Staines. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
  Maureen's Walk for MND Elizabeth is my daughter who sadly died last May with MND. She was a great walker and lived in London close to the Thames. She liked nothing more than walking the local area with her dog Olive. To pay tribute to Elizabeth’s life I am intending to walk the Thames Path from the Barrier to the source accompanied by friends along the way. I am hoping to raise £3000 pounds for MND research and also to contribute to the MND Association to help local branches who offer advice and support to people living with MND. I intend to walk two days a week starting on 30th April and hope to have completed my walk by 30th August 2025, I will follow the sections advised in the Thames Path Walk book, hopefully achieving approximately 20 miles per week. I will log my progress, and post an update weekly on my Just Giving page, to let people know where I am, inviting walkers to join me in support of MND. I will also alert walkers to the sections that are wheelchair friendly and a...
Read more
Image
Blog No 3. Hi everyone, I managed to walk from London Bridge to Putney last Friday. I learnt a few lessons along the way which I will tell you about later.    First of all it was a sunny day with a cool breeze so not as hot as the first week. What is more important is that I had company. Elizabeth's close friends Dominic and Juli joined me at the Golden Hinde and we walked together to the Covid Memorial Wall just past Westminster Bridge. More of this later. My skills of photography are sadly lacking and so Tower Bridge still does not feature particularly well in my collection. Fortunately Juli took pictures for the part of the walk accompanying me.  We passed the Globe Theatre, where Dominic and Elizabeth saw Andrew Logan's Alternative Miss World 2018.     I remember Elizabeth saying we should go and see a Shakespeare production but we did not get around to doing it. Looking across the river Dominic pointed out St Brides Church which has a tiered tower and ...
Read more
Image
Hello everyone, I began the walk on Wednesday,30th of April, it was the hottest day of the year. I travelled from Oxford to Paddington, on to the Elizabeth line and got off  at Woolwich and walked to the Woolwich footbridge.      I am not at all familiar with this part of London and was impressed with the space, the signing for Thames Path and just how clean, litter free and how well maintained the whole of the area right the way through to the Thames Barrier.   From the Thames Barrier I made my way to the O2 Arena but did not manage to get a good picture of it, worried also I would run out of battery before getting home. Seeing 02 Arena reminded me of all the gigs Elizabeth managed to get ‘door passes’ for me to see her playing her saxophone for all different pop groups. One I remember at the Camden Garage a punk group absolutely packed. Often found myself at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford, notably the early days of Primal Scream. Elizabeth managed to get me...
Read more