Jessica Kenski, who lost a leg in the bombing, cuddles with Rescue
Photo Courtesy of Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, via npr.org
Since today is Boston Marathon day, the first since the tragic bombing a year ago, this seems like a very appropriate story, via National Public Radio. Jessica Kensky and Patrick Downes, a recently married couple, were two of the more severely injured victims of the bombing. Each lost a leg, and Kensky’s remaining leg was so badly damaged that she spent months in the hospital and still deals with terrible chronic pain.
An organization called National Education for Assistance Dog Services (NEADS) is offering free service dogs to any Marathon bombing victims with a permanent physical disability, and Kensky is the first to accept the offer. She’s glad that she did, for her dog, Rescue, has had an incredible positive influence on her life:
“To have a dog like him around, you laugh 10, 20, 50 times more a day, and you can’t help but have that lift the mood,” Downes says. “And he’s a huge cuddler … he’s just constantly giving us hugs and kisses and entertaining us, and he’s a wonderful gift in that way.”
“That week he came, for the first time, I started sleeping through the night,” Kensky says. “We would be up, 3, 4 in the morning, sad, depressed, anxious. Not that I don’t experience those feelings any more, but it was incredible to sleep through the night. And, I mean, I have to attribute it to him. He was the change.”
Click the “play” button below to hear the entir 6-minute report, and click here for the full story.