Bethany Frerotte and SSD Bridge
SSD Bridge and I started our life together as partners in 2015. We have spent every night together since and I’ve never taken a shower without him patiently waiting on the floor just outside the tub. He is my heart.
I was involved in a single car accident that left me in a coma for 7 weeks. Where I then needed to relearn to walk, talk and even how to brush my teeth again. I was very active prior to my accident but with all of my therapy my Traumatic Brain Injury made my walking unstable and myself prone to bouts of vertigo. SSD Bridge helped in so many ways.
He wears a walking harness with a bridge – I know, great name – or handle, that I hold onto providing me with extra balance better than any cane ever could. He walks beside me, always checking in on me to see if our speed needs adjusted or whatever other little clues he needs to do his job so spectacularly. SSD Bridge picks things up for me when my hands fail me, saving me from dizziness that always happens when my head dips too low. He not only meets my physical needs, he also anticipates my emotional needs as well.
Recently we were at a doctor’s office discussing some really rather unpleasant tests I will have to undergo and he went from sitting curled up at my feet to laying with his chest across my lap stopping the panic attack beginning deep in my chest. Also later in the same appointment the nurses were having some difficulty drawing the large amount of blood needed for tests and once again Bridge popped up from being curled on the floor to putting his front paws on my lap and giving me the briefest kiss to let me know he was there and things would be ok.
He is filled with love that can only be the result of being raised and trained with love. SSD is amazing!
Bridge and I work together at our public library running an after school program for our towns kids. His sweet disposition seems to calm the group simply by his presence. We also go to the area’s schools and give a short presentation on service dogs and the important work they do, how to properly greet dogs and what a positive difference Bridge has made for me in my life.
My life is fuller and richer now than I ever thought possible since my accident and it’s all because of SSD Bridge.