Sonia’s New Lead on Life

A Strabane mum who lost her sight and her hope is now looking to a future full of opportunity thanks to a very special dog.

By Mandi Millar

The day Sonia Maguire didn’t even recognise her own daughter in the street marked an all-time low for the mum of four.

“I could not be consoled…” admits the Strabane woman, who was diagnosed with Type One diabetes aged 22 and now lives with sight loss as a result.

“That day I’d been shopping with one of my daughters and she started chatting to someone with a wee’un in a buggy.

“I asked the girl what age her baby was. But she said, ‘Mummy, do you not know me?’ It was one of my own girls with my wee grandchild…” recalls Sonia (45), who was in her thirties when the diabetes started affecting her eyes.

“My sight had been getting progressively worse until about five years ago, when big patches started appearing across my vision that wouldn’t go away. Then one Mother’s Day I woke up with no sight at all.

“I didn’t leave the house. It was like my life had stopped and my brain had shut down to such a degree that I hadn’t even known my own daughter and grandchild that day.

“Everything I’d known had been ripped away from me. My life has always been about being a mummy. Now that was gone and I had to rely on my girls for everything.

“I’d hoped to maybe strike out for myself once they were up, but when I lost my sight all that changed. I thought, well that’s never going to happen, this is how my life is now.

“It was hard. I couldn’t even see to make myself something to eat or take my insulin. I couldn’t find my own back door from the back garden. I was falling up kerbs, walking into walls, constantly moving in fear, so I’d bad falls and injuries.

“The depression was even worse. I felt I couldn’t walk with my head up any more for there was just nothing left in me.”

However, just when the future looked hopeless for Sonia, her youngest daughter Aimee ran into some people from Guide Dogs NI visiting her university campus.

When she told them about her mum, they sent one of their team to visit Sonia, initially to help with cane training and practical things like cooking.

“Even that made such a difference, because you wouldn’t believe how your brain can’t process even basics when you’ve no sight. Also, I’m affected by neuropathy so I don’t have much sensation in my fingertips to feel my way,” she continues.

“I asked about a guide dog, but it’s a huge commitment from both sides and the whole process took about two years, as Guide Dogs NI has to make sure the dog and you will be a good fit.”

When she finally learned there was a dog available, Sonia’s overriding reaction was trepidation.

“It was so surreal. Although I’ve a wee bichon, Mia, who’s 10, I knew nothing about guide dogs and my confidence was so low I thought I’d never learn,” she confesses.

However, nothing could have been further from the truth. Sonia and her trainer from the charity worked for weeks so she learned to properly handle the harness and communicate with her dog.

“We’d be out round Strabane in all weathers, with the trainer walking at the harness end like a dog and me giving him commands, ‘Good boy, walk on.’ People must have been looking at the pair of us and wondering what are they at!” laughs Sonia.

When the momentous day finally came for Sonia to meet her dog Pat, things couldn’t have gone better.

A subsequent two-week residential for the pair, with other visually impaired people training with their new dogs, was another chance to build confidence.

“The friendships I made there have also been life-changing, for until then I’d known no one in a similar situation and I’d felt so isolated,” says Sonia, who’s relieved Pat and Mia are also the best of buddies. She admits that initially it was still hard to trust her guide dog.

“I was so scared because of my falls, but I quickly realised Pat was actually stopping me at kerbs and steering me around obstacles like bins and even puddles.

“He’ll take me to the traffic lights and position me so I can reach the button to press for the crossing. You put all your faith into a guide dog,” continues Sonia, who’s noticed people are more interested now in meeting Pat than her when they’re out and about.

“Pat’s just such an elegant big dog with such a presence about him and he loves everyone, though as soon as he takes off his harness that’s him off duty and he’s just like any other dog, full of fun.

“But it’s incredible the difference he’s made for me. We do everything together, use the bus, go to the hospital, the doctor’s, the shops.

“Every day is still a challenge. I have good days and bad and still don’t have a lot of faith in myself, but Pat’s helping with that. He’s my lifeline.

“He and Guide Dogs NI are rebuilding me so I can even start thinking again about the future and hope to maybe work with both them and RNIB to help other people like me.

“Pat’s given me so much. Because of him I’m finally able to take back something from everything I’ve lost.”

For more information about Guide Dogs NI and to get involved, visit guidedogs.org.uk/volunteer.