Before being partnered with loveable Red Fox Labrador Wadsley by the national Support Dogs charity, Brogan Evans, 29, was having up to 14 seizures a day.
Unable to carry out basic tasks, she even refused to eat food at one point, as she was scared in case she choked.
“The way I lived with epilepsy, that was the lowest I have ever been in my entire life – I didn’t want to be alive,” said Brogan.
But Wadsley was trained by Support Dogs to give a 100 per cent reliable 48-minute advance warning of an oncoming seizure – a game-changer which gave Brogan her life back.
She excelled at rugby – with Wadsley sitting by the touchline and ensuring she was safe to continue at half-time.
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Brogan even recently went on a solo trip to Greece and has learned to drive.
Brogan recently organised a celebratory meal with 10 friends and Wadsley as guest of honour in a party hat, to mark her amazing seizure-free milestone – complete with cakes adorned with messages including ‘no longer at risk of holding a kettle’.
Brogan, who will mark her 30th birthday in September with a Ugandan safari with mum Ann, said: “Everyone says that with having an epilepsy seizure alert dog, you become less stressed.
Brogan Evans with her former seizure alert support dog and now best friend Wadsley. (Image: Support Dogs.)
“You’d spent your entire life worrying about having a seizure. Wadsley changed all that.
“I even managed to get a job and some level of independence and quality of life back – that was all down to him.
“At the meal were a combination of people who have been in my life since I first developed epilepsy, including people who have been inspired by my story and friends who’ve known me since I’ve been seizure-free and they had no idea my life had been so grey.”
Once partnered with Wadsley eight years ago, not only did he alert to an oncoming seizure and enable her to get to a place of safety, he also helped the number of seizures to reduce to 10 a month.
Brogan Evans with her former seizure alert support dog and now best friend Wadsley. (Image: Support Dogs.) Brogan, who works as a self-employed neurodiversity life skills mentor, said the seizures completely stopped in June 2020, during lockdown.
“During Covid, the world was at panic, but I was calm,” she added. I learned how to look after myself better.”
Wadsley, now 10, retired as an epilepsy seizure alert dog three years ago, after Brogan had been seizure-free for two years, and he is now her beloved companion.
“I couldn’t imagine a world without my best friend – we are inseparable,” said Brogan, who sadly now partially uses a wheelchair following a spinal injury.
But never one to let life beat her, she is the first person in the world to transition from standard rugby to wheelchair rugby at international level and hopes to compete in Rugby League World Cup for Wales next year.
Praising the awe-inspiring work of Support Dogs, which trains and provides assistance dogs to help autistic children as well as people with epilepsy or a physical disability, she said: “It’s incredible.
“I think I would still be having seizures right now if it wasn’t for Support Dogs, or I would be dead.
“My life changed because of Wadsley and this charity and I’ll never forget that.”
To find out more about Support Dogs, please visit www.supportdogs.org.uk or call 0114 2617800.