DEAF GRANDMOTHER FROM AYR HAS LIFE CHANGED BY HEARING DOG AFTER FIRE SCARE
A 59-year-old grandmother from Ayr has been reunited with her family and rediscovered her zest for life, after being partnered with her hearing dog in the wake of a dangerous smoke alarm incident.
Joann Senior, who is profoundly deaf, was shaken awake in the early hours of the morning by her six-year-old grandson, to find her house filled with smoke. Not having heard the smoke alarm, she managed to navigate her way through the thick smoke and get her grandchildren to safety - only then realizing how close they’d come to disaster.
The traumatic incident left Joann feeling like a liability. She shut herself off from her family and fell into a deep depression, isolated herself for months and fearing she would never be able to sleep soundly again without the risk of missing critical alarms.
Joann’s life took a positive turn this year when she was matched with Dudley, a two-year-old black Labrador who had been trained to alert her to the smoke alarm and fire alarm. Dudley’s strong nose nudge now wakes Joann when the smoke alarm sounds—giving her a newfound sense of security.
Joann was diagnosed with Otosclerosis, a condition affecting the hearing in which a tiny bone inside the ear joins with other parts of the ear, when she was 24-years-old. Until the incident with the microwave, Joann said she had always been the type of person who just got on with life and tried not to let hearing loss affect her.
“After the incident, I was traumatised. My grandkids had been in my care and my hearing loss put all our lives in danger. I went into proper grief. I stayed in bed for four or five days at a time. I was too scared to sleep and felt permanently anxious. I then knew for a fact that if the smoke alarm went off, I wouldn’t hear it.
“Then, in January 2024, I was told I’d been matched with my hearing dog Dudley. When he arrived, I was consumed with love for him! With Dudley by my side, I’ve become ‘Nana’ again.”
Since Dudley came into her life, Joann has begun to rebuild her confidence and reconnect with her family.
“This summer, for the first time since the incident, I had my grandchildren to stay with me on their own, and I felt completely safe knowing Dudley was there to protect them.”
There is a huge demand for hearing dogs, with five enquiries for every available space on the charity’s waiting list. Yet the charity is struggling to meet this growing need, as it is only receiving half the number of applications it needs from potential volunteer puppy trainers.
Our Edinburgh training hub is currently running at 50% capacity. We urgently need to double our volunteer numbers in Edinburgh & Midlothian, or risk having to reduce the number of dogs we can train, leaving many people like Joann without the support they desperately need.
Anyone who would like to find out more about becoming a volunteer puppy trainer, or helping the charity in other ways, can visit the charity’s website, send an email to: [email protected] or call 01844 348129.