If it wasn’t for Ernie and Banjo, I may well be dead

FORMER commodity broker Kate Arnett, 48, was struggling to breathe when her dogs Banjo and Ernie helped bring her round. Kate is married to Gavin, 43, a contracts manager. IF IT WASN’T for my two wonderful dogs, I’d now be at best a vegetable, and at worst I’d be dead. I have several autoimmune conditions that stem from the trauma of being run over by a car in 1996.

I have inflammatory arthritis in every joint, which has severely reduced my mobility — I use a wheelchair outside the house. I have an autoimmune condition that weakens the tendons and joints, and a syndrome that predisposes me to blood clots and strokes.

What’s more, in December 2011, doctors told me that the muscles on either side of my diaphragm — the wall of chest muscles that help suck air into the lungs — had been eaten away.

This meant my diaphragm was effectively paralysed and I had to start using oxygen. At night, I wear an oxygen mask and, because of reduced lung capacity, have to sleep propped up at 45 degrees to get enough air in.

My dogs make my life easier. Ernie is a disability assistance dog who has been with me for ten years. He is trained to help me get dressed, help put things in and out of the washing machine, and accompany me when I leave the house. He was due to retire at ten so, two years ago, when Ernie was approaching this age, we got Banjo, hoping he would take over Ernie’s duties.

The dogs sleep in my bedroom, with Ernie on my bed and Banjo underneath. On this particular night in March 2013, I had slipped down the bed and my mask had come off.

I don’t know how long I had been lying like that, but I came round with both dogs frantically licking my face and neck. I don’t think I’d have come to otherwise.

As I’d been starved of oxygen, I had a terrible headache, couldn’t think straight, had no energy and was struggling to breathe. All I could do was to mumble Gavin’s name and, luckily, he woke up.

As soon as he saw the dogs fussing around me, he raced over and put my oxygen mask back on.

What is extraordinary is that the dogs aren’t trained to react that way. If they hadn’t done what they did, I could have died. I felt very weak for a few days, but it could have been much worse. I am so thankful for what my dogs did.