Lady Without Physical Disability Explains How Service Dog Helps Her Cope With Son’s Death

Judgment. Where do I start?

So for starters, judgment’s pretty rampant in this society, and I’m not even talking about those Afro-haired individuals seated on large-ass podiums.

No, I’m talking about routine judgment. Judgment you get on the streets.

So if you’ve ever been something less pleasant than societal rules would expect, you might’ve been on the receiving end of a nasty remark, or perhaps even an accusatory side-eye or two.

And really, that’s just how humans are, generally. If something goes off the societal radar, it’s like a trigger sets off in their entire system.

Instant judging look Lv. 99, activate.

And indeed, it seems that anything applies under this rule, including…

A lady with a service dog, whose needs aren’t visible under the naked eye.

Lady Without Physical Disability Explains How Service Dog Helps Her Cope With Son’s Death

Meet Bethune, a seemingly “normal” individual…

With a service dog.

Now you might be wondering; why does she need a service dog? She looks fine!

Well, indeed, people are liable to get that impression. After all, as the person herself admitted:

“Don’t I look fine? I look like I’ve got it all going for me. My hair is perfectly curled, my makeup is flawless, and I’m cute as a button in my favourite Disney attire. You wouldn’t think anything could even be wrong with me.”

And yet, perhaps that’s why people have been so critical of her. From comments such as “Yeah right, that’s not a real service dog” to “Looks like anyone can put a vest on their dog and call it a service dog these days”, Bethune has received her fair share of criticism.

And I haven’t even mentioned the dirty looks thrown her way.

A Fatal Accident

What people don’t realise, however, is that Bethune’s relationship with her service dog comes on the back of a particularly traumatic experience.

Eight years ago, Bethune’s first-born son, then six-year-old Ethan, died right before her eyes in a car accident.

The family of four — Bethune, her husband Kyle, and two sons — were on their way to a weekend trip for Ethan’s birthday when the tragedy happened. Some 15 minutes into the trip, a truck crashed into them.

Ethan died instantly.

According to reports, Kyle sustained bleeding in the brain, as well as a ruptured spleen and three broken ribs.

Bethune and her younger child escaped with minimal injuries.

Yet, even though her injuries weren’t severe, she has since been haunted by the same exact scene of Ethan dying every single day. Or, in other words, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).

She also experiences night terrors, severe anxiety, as well as random and unpredictable panic attacks.

And That’s Where Her Service Dog Comes In

While such symptoms would normally require medication in order to be curbed, Bethune has found a better alternative to such “seriously addictive medication”:

A service dog, named Theodore.

And by the way, it’s not the usual Labrador.

Instead, it’s this beautiful creature:

Able to sense when she’s having a panic attack, Theodore would lean in when she relapses and calms her down by putting his nose to hers.

This, according to her, helps bring her back to reality.

But it didn’t come easily. Apparently, Theodore had to go through “countless” hours of training at the dog academy in order to be attuned to Bethune’s needs.

And it definitely worked. Nowadays, whenever Theodore’s “working”, he’ll give his full attention to Bethune, regardless of his environment or other chio dogs.

According to Bethune, it definitely gave her a new lease of life too.

“Having Theodore has given me my life back. I don’t have to live in fear of my panic attacks anymore. I can travel anywhere I want and when I do have a flashback to the accident, Theodore leaps into action and knows exactly what to do.”

You can read the full Facebook post by Bethune here:

For more updates, you can follow her blog too.

Invisible Disabilities

According to Bethune’s post, she wrote the entire entry in hopes of opening minds to invisible disabilities.

And well, I’m kinda re-writing her post here, in order to advocate the same message.

Invisible disabilities do exist, so be careful about who you point fingers at.

After all, as Bethune puts it:

“Just remember, you never know what disability someone has by looking at them on the outside, so don’t be an as*hole.”