Success Stories
Megan and Emmy

My name is Megan Mitcham and I am thirteen years old. I live in Lenoir, North Carolina. I was born with cerebral palsy which causes me to have muscular incoordination and speech disturbances. I am not able to walk and have to spend moist of my time in my electric wheelchair.

When I drop something it is impossible for me to pick it up. I attend regular school and depend a lot on other people to help me get through the day.

I would like to tell you how I met Ann-Marie and Karen with New Life Mobility Assistance Dogs.

I contacted the "Make a Wish Foundation" on the web. They sent a man named Mike Green out to talk to me and my mom about my wish. I told Mike I wanted to go to Disney World and he was going to make this wish come true. But before we got to go, the events of September 11 took place. Since then my family and I have been afraid to travel.

Mike asked me if I had a second wish and I asked him if he could help me get a service dog. That's when he put us in contact with Karen. I, my family, and my aide all went to NLMAD and I met two dogs, Rio and Cookie, and then they picked Emmy to be my assistance dog. I was so excited and from that day on Karen and Ann-Marie have been teaching me how to use an assistance dog. My dog will be able to pick up the things that I drop, help me make new friends, and be my constant companion everywhere I go. I am really happy!

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Megan and Emmy graduated in November 2002 when Megan as 14. We worked Megan with several of the dogs we had at the facility, but all were just a little too much for Megan to handle. While visiting the shelter one afternoon, we saw Emmy sitting quietly and calmly in the front of her pen, looking at us as if saying, "God put me here so you could take me and train me for Megan." She was a joy to train.