'Getting my support dog was life-changing'

Amanda Davidson's career as a police officer was cut short when she was 29

Amanda Davidson was looking forward to her 30th birthday and enjoying her career as a police officer when her life changed completely.

After sustaining an injury in the line of duty she was forced into early retirement before she then contracted the autoimmune disease lupus. By the age of 38, she had also suffered a stroke.

Now 57, Mrs Davidson has a number of health challenges and uses a wheelchair but said her support dog Chris, and his predecessor, Jupiter, had "returned me to being who I am".

"I joined the Metropolitan Police when I was 19, so that was way back in 1988," Mrs Davidson, who now lives in Barnsley, recalls.

"I went to south London, which was a bit of a shock to the system, but I quite enjoyed it."

Her job involved response driving and investigating sexual offences, but it was an armed robbery that led to officers, including Mrs Davidson, being shot at.

"Twenty shots were fired at police and I ended up subsequently wrestling one of the chaps for a gun while someone else was trying to shoot me, which injured my neck and my shoulder.

"Then a couple months later, I was involved in an assault whilst detaining a mental health patient."

The latter incident led to injuries to her back and her retirement from the force.

She was then diagnosed with lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease where the body's immune system mistakenly attacks healthy tissues and organs.

By this time, she had two young children, yet was dependent on a wheelchair.

Eight years later, her puppy, Jupiter, had been trained to act as a support dog.

"I found out what the term life-changing really meant then," Mrs Davidson says, adding that before having a support dog she felt "invisible" and describes how people would ignore her and speak to her children instead.

"At the time, I didn't know how hard it was," she says.

"It isn't until you look back from the position of having a support dog and how they help you, that you realise how much you were struggling.

"I spent a lot of my time too exhausted to cope."

Amanda Davidson climbed Yr Wyddfa, also known as Snowdon, in her wheelchair

Jupiter could even load and unload the washing machine, but ill health forced him to retire after seven years of providing assistance.

Mrs Davidson was left without an animal for 18 months before she got Chris from Sheffield-based charity Support Dogs, which trains the animals to help people with epilepsy, autism and physical disabilities.

Chris can perform a number of household tasks and has even helped her to take part in parasports and activities.

"The time in between having Jupiter and Chris was psychologically devastating. It was like losing a part of you.

"The dogs have returned me to being who I am. I don't have to think everything through, about whether it's feasible; we just do it."

Mrs Davidson is now a case worker for the Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman, and Chris helps her not only negotiate her commute via Meadowhall Interchange, stabilising her wheelchair when she unloads it from her car, but also helps by pushing access buttons, for instance on lifts and trains.

Mrs Davidson also says having her support dogs helped her achieve some remarkable feats, including climbing Mount Snowdon in her wheelchair, breaking Paralympic national records in archery and wheeling a marathon.

Mrs Davidson became part of Team GB's Paralympic potential archery team

Mrs Davidson says: "When I came across what would have been a challenge, I'd look at my dogs and I'd see what we were doing in comparison to what I've been doing without the dogs.

"And I'd go 'oh, well, actually there's a challenge there - we can make it work'."

She adds: "And I prefer the positivity I get when I've got the dog there.

"One of my bosses says everywhere I'm lucky, because with one of my dogs with me, I am met with smiles from everyone and I think that's a lovely thought."

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