John Morawski and Gump"

“John is the most consistently happy person I’ve ever met,” said his wife Joanne. “But for a couple of days, he was

unusually quiet. He was ‘off.’” John’s introspection was well-justified.  While running for his commuter train and without

his white cane, he fell from a six-foot platform, down between two train cars and onto the tracks. “The conductors were scared,” he said. “I was embarrassed.”

His embarrassment, avoiding serious injury and Joanne’s concern about his commuting alone, led to a defining moment in his life. It was then that he and Joanne began to think seriously about getting a guide dog. It was his first step toward partnering with “Gump,” his Fidelco guide dog.

It took John more than a year and a chance encounter before he made his final decision. “We went to a National

Federation of the Blind meeting and I saw this person across the room,” said Joanne. “I told John, ‘I’m going to talk to this guy because he reminds me so much of you and he has this really happy dog with him.’” It was Bill Cuttle, a Fidelco client and his guide dog “Zach”. “He was so gracious and told us how glad he was that we came to talk to him. Watching the two of them just gave me hope; like this would be so great for John. We ended up going to dinner with him and his wife to see how the dog worked.”

As an active person, independence is very important to John and he worried about being encumbered by a guide dog. But after carefully weighing the pros and cons, including how a guide dog would affect his home-life and career, he asked Joanne what she thought. Her response? “It’s entirely up to you.” His response? “I’m going to get a guide dog.”

That life-changing decision eventually led him to contact Fidelco. And a short time later, John and Gump were introduced. “He’s bigger than we anticipated,” laughs John. “I like the fact that he’s a big dog and every day is a learning experience.” Likewise, Joanne is excited that Gump is now part of the family. “Gump does whatever John wants. He’s a great dog! The kids (Alexia who is seven and Brenda who is nine) just fell in love with him. He is a huge part of our family. And when he comes home from work with dad, it’s a big deal.”

Today, John and Gump commute safely each day to his job as a financial adviser and his new-found freedom has opened up the world for him. Before Gump, he was not able to travel alone to visit his extended family or for work. Now he says, “If I had to travel somewhere, I could do it. Knowing that the ability is there is a rewarding feeling.”

As for Joanne, she says, “Gump takes good care of John. It’s an enormous relief for me.”

Deborah Keating and "Xaida"

“I was an athlete before I lost my vision and blindness takes that away from you. I didn’t like using a cane and I told myself that as soon as I get enough mobility training, I’m going for a guide dog and I did.” Four guide dogs later, including Fidelco’s “Isley” and eight year-old “Xaida,” Deborah Keating had not slowed down much until a hip replacement sidelined her for three months.

Deborah grew up in a family where visual disability is a way of life. She has Stickler’s syndrome, a disease that also affects her mother and brother. But even as her vision faded, as did her ability to participate in traditional sports activities, her competitive spirit lived on. Today, she is an avid sailor (J-22s and Marblehead Sonars, both fast boats) and despite her hip problem, which caused her to miss evening sails on Boston Harbor and regattas in Newport, Rhode Island, Deborah says optimistically, “Sailing starts in June.”

Her winter sport of snowshoeing had to be set aside as well, but she’s looking forward to renewing her trips as the snow season begins. One of the things she missed most while being out of action was working with Xaida; whom she refers to as tall but petite. “She’s pretty spunky after three months of just hanging out and not really doing anything,” said Deborah. “She’s just happy to be back to work.”

Deborah is back to work too as a central officer service technician for Verizon. And she is, once again, active in the community as an advocate for Fidelco and for guide dogs in general. “I go into the schools and talk to children about guide dogs and how important they are,” she said. “I want to educate as many people as I can.” That includes the public at large who, Deborah says, need to know more about guide dogs; especially how to behave around them. “I swore I’d never do it but I finally got a sign for Xaida’s harness that reads, ‘Ignore me, I’m a working guide dog.”’

As a seasoned guide dog user (she received her first guide dog in 1980) Deborah had a great many

friends who were teamed with Fidelco guide dogs. When she moved to the Boston area, she found that a lot of Fidelco clients lived nearby. “They always said great things about Fidelco, especially their German shepherds. I fell in love with them too,” she said. “They always want to work. They always want to please you. They’re so smart.”

As Deborah resumes her 12 hour-a-day schedule, she is grateful to be back on her feet with Xaida guiding her. “It’s so great getting to walk again at my fast pace and feeling feel safe; knowing that dog is not going to hurt me in any way, shape or form. I feel safe with her.”

Jim Piccirillo and "Ponda"

One hundred and ninety six thousand miles is nearly eight times around the globe. And, at 500 miles per hour,

it’s almost 400 hours on an airplane. Sound like fun? Now, imagine doing it with a guide dog!

No problem according to Jim Piccirillo. He and Ponda, his Fidelco guide dog and traveling companion, have been doing it for nearly 10 years. Jim is business development manager, Technology Products, for Greenwald Industries, a major manufacturer of coin-operated vending systems and “smart card” products. He travels on company business about once a month and Ponda leads the way. “We’ve traveled all over the U.S. and into Canada,” said Jim. “And he’s still going strong.”

Traveling without a guide dog used to be a long and lonely process.  As a cane traveler for eight years, people tended to shy away from him or ignore him completely. “The cane seemed to put up a barrier,” he said. “People were very nice to me in the airports, but once I sat down on the plane, I was basically alone. There wasn’t a lot of conversation.” Ponda changed all that. Not only did his guide dog get him from place to place with a minimum of disruption; he was also an ice-breaker. “Now, I can’t go anywhere without someone coming over to me; sitting next to me on the plane; showing me pictures of their dogs and asking a lot of questions.”

Jim and Judy, his wife, were Fidelco supporters even before he began losing his sight to diabetic retinopathy. And as the light began to fade and his weekly commute to Florida became problematic, Judy suggested that he think about getting a guide dog to make his travels easier. She was also concerned that as she entered physician assistant training that she wouldn’t be as readily available to help him should the need arise. He called Fidelco.

“I was under the impression that guide dogs were for people who had no vision whatsoever,” he recalls. “Fidelco told me that most people who are legally blind have some usable vision and are able to successfully use guide dogs.” After mulling over making the switch from cane to guide dog, Jim applied to Fidelco and once the screening and matching processes were complete, Ponda became Jim’s partner. “The placement went well. We were supposed to meet at 8:30 but I got a call from Fidelco that Ponda was driving down from Bloomfield and would be delayed because there was a traffic accident. And I thought to myself, tongue-in-cheek, ‘This is one talented dog.’”

Nearly 200,000 miles later, they are still on the road. And Ponda is as popular as ever. “We were in San Francisco and as we went into a hotel where we had stayed previously, the staff greeted us with ‘Hey, Ponda is here.’ He even has a Twitter page with about 60 friends.”

 Because Ponda will turn 12 on November 23rd, the reality of his retirement looms on the horizon. It’s a topic that renders the normally talkative Jim almost speechless. “I was told very early on that Ponda would let me know when it was time for him to retire,” he says after a long pause. “I honestly don’t know how I am going to handle that. The bond between the two of us is very intimate and very close. I can understand the need for him to retire but I don’t want him to do it. He’s such a gift.”

So, the next time you’re traveling and you see a person and his guide dog, say hello; it could be Jim and Ponda, heading out on another business trip and racking up air miles.

David Beaupre, "Tron" and "Grissom"

“He died at 7:50 a.m. right next to the bed. The way he died and the position he was in; it was like he was doing his work right until the end.”

That’s how David Beaupre describes the passing of Tron (Xylotron,) his guide dog and friend of seven years. After Tron experienced breathing difficulties in early January, David took him to his veterinarian who diagnosed his “gentle giant” with a form of lymphoma. “When he goes, he’s going to go quickly,” the doctor told David. It was news that hit him like a ton of bricks.

“I didn’t know what to do at first. You tend to react with your heart, rather than your head.” said David. “But, after thinking things through, I decided that when Tron couldn’t get up and walk anymore, when his quality of life went away, then I’d put him down.” Tron saved David from having to make that agonizing decision and on March 18th, he peacefully passed away. As David says, “I got lucky.”

It took David about a week to be able to call Fidelco with the sad news that his wonderful dog had died. “I talked to Betty in the kennel and she spread the word for me,” he said. “I got a call from David Darr at Fidelco that same afternoon and he said, ‘We may have a dog for you.’ I was amazed.”

About three weeks later, Gretchen Fisher, a Fidelco trainer, brought “Grissom” to meet David and to take a test walk. She was sensitive to his grief over Tron but her experience told her to move forward so that David could get his life back to normal. She scheduled him for two weeks of In-community Placement and in mid-May, Grissom moved into his new home with his new partner. “We’re learning about each other,” David said. “Tron was a big dog and walked at a slower pace. Grissom walks pretty fast and is smaller and fits under the bus seat easier. They’re both great dogs”

David’s experience of losing his first guide dog and getting a successor dog has been painful but gratifying. His co-workers at the Hartford facility in Windsor held a fundraiser for David in Tron’s name. And the speed with which Fidelco partnered David with Grissom allowed him to continue his life with a minimum of disruption.

But, as David says of Tron, “I can never give him up and I can never replace him. At the same time, Grissom is a wonderful dog and we’ll have a great life together.”

Our thanks to The Aetna Foundation for making this placement possible through their generous support.