CORNWALL, Ontario – Kathy Lepage woke up in a hospital in Ottawa on April 19 lucky to be alive, and she in parts credits her survival to the staunch loyalty of her eight-year-old Shih Tzu Foxy.
The day before on April 18, Kathy and her husband were relaxing at home after enjoying playing cards with relatives. Her husband was relaxing in the living room, and Kathy was in the bedroom.
Kathy said that Foxy would not leave her husband alone until he got up and went to the bedroom to check on his wife. There, he found her unresponsive and barely breathing.
She was taken to the Cornwall Community Hospital first before being sent to Ottawa. She said on her way into the Ottawa hospital, the relatives she had been playing cars with the other day were already there on an unrelated issue and were surprised to see her come in, given how healthy she was just hours before.
Kathy said she woke up the next day in a fog.
“Something like this happens to you and you instantly look at life in a different way,” said Kathy. “Don’t wait to talk to people tomorrow if you can do it today.”
Kathy says that she is very thankful that her Shih Tzu Foxy recognized that she was in distress and got her husband’s attention.
“He’s a service dog and he’s very in tune with us,” she said. “He does stick around us a lot.”
