My golden boy: Assistance dog wakes owner before her seizures happen

A DOG named Scout is always prepared when it comes to helping his owner, Laura Ellis, stay safe.

Laura, 33, has nocturnal epilepsy – which causes her to have seizures while she sleeps and forced her to leave her job in the army.

The young mum used to suffer seizures several times a week but since she got assistance dog Scout she no longer has the attacks.

She’s so happy to have him that the young mum is giving something back by cycling more than 500 miles for charity in May.

“Scout prevents me having a seizure by waking me before one begins, due to the serotonin my body releases beforehand,” said Laura, from Blackburn, West Lothian.

“It’s a chemical smell that’s undetectable to humans. But it wakes him and he’ll jump up and put his paws on my chest. If that doesn’t stir me, he’ll lick my face. I’m no longer taking medication for the condition thanks to Scout.”

The golden retriever, who turns two in May, also helps Laura with tasks around the house since she was diagnosed with rare spinal condition, Cauda Equina, last year.

“I was moving a bedside cabinet last February when my back clicked,” Laura explained.

“The doctor told me it was a sprain but two weeks later I couldn’t feel my legs. I went to the Western General in Edinburgh and was rushed into surgery.

“The L4 and L5 discs were squashing my nerves. Now I can’t feel anything from the incision in my lower back to my right knee, and from my knee to my toes I have pins and needles.

“Scout will fetch my shoes, the remote control, my mobile phone – things I can’t bend down to reach myself.”

Laura, mum to Rebecca, 14, Samantha, 12 and three-year-old Esme, and step-mum to Jamie, 10, and nine-year-old Rory, joined the army in 2008.

“I was in The Royal Artillery and did a tour of Afghanistan in 2009/10.

“I was also a drummer in The 19th Regiment Royal Artillery’s pipe band and did public duties at Holyrood for the Queen, was part of the Royal Military Tattoo in Edinburgh and performed in tattoos in Luxembourg and Holland.”

Her epilepsy diagnosis came in January 2012 and Laura had to leave the army later that year.

She used to be a keen cyclist but her back problems meant she was no longer able to ride.

Then at the beginning of the year, charity Help For Heroes provided Laura with a recumbent trike to allow her to get back on the road, and now she’s about to repay their generosity.

Laura and her friend, fellow veteran Patrick Medhurst-Feeney, will undertake a 518-mile cycle from Edinburgh Castle to Exeter over 10 days in May.

They aim to raise £6000, with half going to Help For Heroes and the other half heading to Veterans With Dogs, the organisation that helped train Scout.

Laura added: “Veterans With Dogs receive hundreds of applications every week, and £3000 will train a dog for a year.

“I’m out training every day just now and we’ll be doing around 70 miles per day during the challenge.

“My partner, Martin, thinks I’m nuts but he knows I can do it and is really supportive.

“I just want to do something to help.”

Laura’s fundraising page is at mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/thetriketour17 and their progress can be followed on Facebook by searching for Trike Tour 17.