Kildare's County Champion For Dogs For The Disabled On Living With Parkinson's And Finding Her Assistant Dog

Thursday, 7 November 2024 15:22

By Hannah Kelly

Nicola describes her assistance dog, Nemo as "not just an assistance dog but a loyal friend who brightens every day"

Dogs for the Disabled, a charity that train specially bred dogs to assist disabled children and adults to help them achieve greater independence in their lives, have launched their nationwide "County Champions" campaign.

Included in the list of 26 ambassadors, who represent each county, is Kildare's Nicola Kelly-Paquin, from Two Mile House and who now lives in the Coughlanstown area of Ballymore Eustace.

Speaking on this morning's Kildare Today show, now 49-year-old Nicola described being diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at the age of 44, and how she has learnt to live with Parkinson's and "tries to live a positive life as much as possible".

Having spent 25 years as a neuro rehabilitation nurse, Nicola said she was aware of how important it was to seize every opportunity to maintain mobility and independence.

Discovering a research project by the Dublin Neurological Institute, in collaboration with Dogs for the Disabled, that looked at how effective an assistance dog would be for mobility issues, something which those with Parkinson's have.

Nicola applied for the project, and was soon as accepted.

Visiting Dogs for the Disabled in Cork is when Nicola met Nemo, who Nicola described as being "uncannily like me, he's even stubborn like me I have to say".

Nicola and Nemo

Nemo helps Nicola loosen her stiff muscles by starting their walks slowly, and then picking up the pace.

In her County Champions message, Nicola described Nemo as "not just an assistance dog but a loyal friend who brightens every day".

Dogs for the Disabled's new campaign is to help raise funds to renovate a period house on 11 acres, as their new fit-for-purpose National Training Centre and Headquarters, which can be read about here.