Thanks to players of The Health Lottery, £15,000 was donated in April 2025 towards the funding of an instructor for the Support Dogs, disability assistance programme. This programme trains and provides specialist assistance dogs to provide 24/7 care and support for individuals living with a wide range of physical disabilities, facilitating a more active and independent life. Conditions supported include MS, cerebral palsy and spinal cord injury.
Who did the money help?
The funding supported training to 26 clients on the disability assistance programme. 15 of
these are now fully qualified, with a further 11 still progressing through training.
The 26 clients who benefited from support, live across 14 different counties in England and Wales. They are aged between 23 and 63 years of age. Their conditions include MS, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and spinal cord injury.
Key feedback from participants
- 100% reported that their care needs reduced
- 100% reported feeling safer
- 90% reported being more physically active
- 86% reported being more socially active
- 67% reported being more motivated to actively care for their health.
Elie-Mai’s story
Elie-Mai Riddick, a participant, said she probably would have given up her dreams of studying to be a forensic psychologist, had it not been for her support dog, Bleddyn. The 24-year-old has Scheuermann’s Kyphosis, an excessive curvature of the spine and uses a walking stick or wheelchair.
Bleddyn, her disability assistance dog, has been trained to pick items up for her, help her get dressed and undressed and open and close doors. Bleddyn also knows how to pull the washing basket around and load and unload the washing machine and dryer. When Elie-Mai wants to go out, Bleddyn can fetch her walking stick, keys and phone and has an alert bark. The dog is trained to find help if necessary, such as from Elie-Mai’s partner, Max.
Eli-Mai said,
“It means everything to me to have Bleddyn’s help, it’s made me feel so much more confident about going out and doing things independently”
Support Dogs will continue to provide support and on-going training for all the partnerships created during this project over the next 8 years. They offer a lifetime of support to their clients and will work with them as their dogs retire and then offer the opportunity to be trained with a subsequent support dog.
These dogs are truly life-changing, and we feel privileged to have been able to fund training for these 26 people.