My Dog Makes a Huge Difference in my Life

Heroes Remember

My Dog Makes a Huge Difference in my Life

Transcript

Interviewer: And what about some of the worst aspects of your service there? The worst aspect is always going to be in the PTSD word. It’s always going to be there. Interviewer: And you spoke about the loss of a friend, are you able to share that with us? No. No, I never talk about it because for me it’s so painful I will do anything to avoid it. It’s as simple as that. Like her, my little girl there, “Kenya, come here!” If I have nightmare at night she lick my hand, she wake me up before the nightmare starts so my life improved since August. I have diabetes and if my sugar is too high, too low, she lick my hand. If I have a flashback she’ll jump and lick my face. So she’s a life changer. But thank God I have her because before that she’s taking care of my balance. I’m waiting for a special harness with a handle and I don’t need my crutches anymore. My speech impairment is not that bad anymore because now I sleep at night. The lack of sleep destroys your brain because if you fall asleep you have a nightmare, no matter what drug you take the nightmare is going to be there. The atrocity of war, it’s like driving in the land where there’s a wreckage of airplanes were shot down full of people and the people are gone, they’re buried a long time ago but the wreckage is still there.

Description

With Kenya by his side, Mr. Drapeau shares his story of how having the company of a dog has changed his life.

Daniel Drapeau

Mr. Daniel Drapeau was born September 11, 1957 in Charny, Quebec. After attending high school in Quebec, Mr. Drapeau made the decision to join the Canadian Forces. He held rank of private and became a tank driver with the Armoured Corp. After obtaining his training in Val Cartier, in 1974 Mr. Drapeau accepted deployments to Cyprus and the Middle East. After a year of service, Mr. Drapeau was medically discharged from the Canadian Forces. With the assistance of a service dog, Kenya, Mr. Drapeau maintains a good quality of life finding time to volunteer his service. Mr. Drapeau now resides in Ottawa with his family.

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