Just before I started high school, I applied to MIRA for a guide dog and I was accepted and trained in Canada for a month with my new guide dog, Navy. I can’t imagine my life without him now. Navy has enabled me to be my own person. He gives me so much confidence and life is so much better with him.

With Navy, people are more likely to come up and talk with me, even at first if it is to ask questions about him. He brings contact with others, especially teenagers, that I did not have before. Having a guide dog opens so many doors, not only enabling more contact with people but in giving a sense of independence to me so that I feel confident and able to do things on my own.

I love to write and I have finished a young adult novel that I hope to have published. I have had so many interesting experiences and love to talk about them in person and in print.

As for Navy, it is very important to me to have gotten him at an early age. It gives us the opportunity to bond well together and I really do have more independence. Having Navy gives me a chance to dream of life when I go to college and beyond. Life with Navy is truly a team effort and I trust him totally. He is my door opener in many ways but mostly to a new and independent life.