Kym Stretton’s progressive health conditions mean that lately she has found it difficult to dress and undress herself in her Forest Town home.

But thanks to her newly-qualified support dog Essi, Kym doesn’t have to lean on her family for help — the super-clever Red Fox Labrador helps her to take off her clothes.

The 62-year-old was born with hypophosphatemic rickets (osteoamalacia), meaning she cannot absorb calcium and is resistant to Vitamin D.

In recent years, wheelchair user Kym has also developed spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal, and she has now lost 50 per cent of movement in her neck and shoulders.

“Essi gets my coat off, or any tops I wear,” said Kym, who lives at home with her husband, Ray.

“That’s one of the big things she does for me. It’s fantastic that each support dog is individually trained for a client’s needs, and if anything changes, you can contact Support Dogs and say ‘I need this…’.”

Essi is the sixth support dog Kym has had from the national Support Dogs charity, which trains and provides specialist assistance dogs to help autistic children, as well as adults with epilepsy or a physical disability, to live safer, more independent lives.

Essi follows in the pawprints of Kym’s previous support dogs, after the charity trained her pet dog Zeta in 1997, then pet Zoe, and later provided and trained her third and fourth support dogs, Baxter and Marley – who could help her up and down stairs — and her fifth, Blade, who retired.

It seems sixth dog Essi has a sixth sense because she intuitively helps Kym, often before she even realises she needs help.

“Essi loves to be doing something – she’s really focused on work,” Kym added. “She’s just like Baxter. I always say Baxter sent her.

“When I come in from outside and need to take my shoes off, I don’t have to ask her for help.

“There are a lot of things I don’t have to ask her to do. I didn’t know I had dropped my keys in the supermarket, I looked down and she was holding them.”

Essi and Kym’s recent graduation as a successful Support Dogs partnership marks 28 years of the charity’s lifechanging aid for Kym.

And it’s not just a benefit for her. The help has massively impacted Ray, a retired PAT tester.

“Before I had my first support dog, he used to phone me all the time from work, asking if I was okay,” said Kym.

“Then it was like he relaxed. Before having support dogs, I’d had falls when I had to phone him and say ‘I’m on the floor’.”

Kym’s support dogs have helped with her balance and can fetch help from her parents, Iris and Alf Greene, who are her nextdoor neighbours.

A Support Dogs trustee for 12 years and chairman of trustees for six, Kym seen the charity grow beyond recognition.

There was no fundraising manager when she first got involved, and she and a band of other clients helped to raise vital cash.

She has made some good friends over the years, including fellow client Toni Brown-Griffin, whose dual epilepsy seizure alert/guide dog was trained by the charity. Kym is godmother to one of Toni’s daughters.
Kym can’t wait to see Support Dogs move into its new national centre of excellence in Sheffield ahead of a capital funding appeal.

“This charity has meant everything to me for so many years,” said Kym. “I’ve watched it grow so much, it’s lovely to see. It’s been a big part of my life. The charity means a lot not only to me, but also the difference I’ve seen it make to other people — Toni’s daughters are 25 and 19 and have never seen her have a seizure.

“I can also remember the first autism dog we trained, thanks to Rita Howson, the chief executive pushing the idea. That young client was non-verbal, but now he can speak two languages!”

To find out more about the lifechanging work of Support Dogs, go to www.supportdogs.org.uk or call 0114 2617800.