October 16, 1992, was an extremely eventful day in the life of Air Force Veteran Billy Marshall. Billy, who specialized in disposing of explosives while in the armed services, was stationed in Iraq riding and Humvee, thinking about his wife Krista at home, because it was her birthday. While he was riding along lost in thought, the vehicle stopped so he could get out and inspect a roadside, something that was his responsibility as the explosive disposal person. That’s when something hit him, but to this day, he still doesn’t know exactly what it was.
After that day he went on a journey of recovery that took him from Saudi Arabia to Germany, and finally home to the United States, and left him without part of his left arm and left leg, although now he wears prosthetics on both. For his service, and the sacrifices he made for his country, Billy even received a Purple Heart, as well as a Meritorious Service Award, but the thing he has been given that means the most to him is Lucy. Lucy is a black Labrador retriever, and she is a specially trained service dog that is only available to wounded warriors, and which Billy received through the program Smoky Mountain Service Dogs.
Billy’s eyes light up at the thought of Lucy, with him swearing she is, “the smartest dog I’ve ever seen, She has really changed my life.”
Lucy was the very first dog ever trained by Smoky Mountain Service Dogs, which works hard to match the right dog with the right human. That means that even though Lucy was the first one trained, she was not the first one placed. They were waiting to find her exact right match, which means both Billy and Lucy were waiting for each other before either one of them knew the other existed.
For his part, Billy didn’t even know he was looking for a service dog. He thought he was getting along fine on his own, but when one day Billy wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and tumbled breaking his one good leg, his wife Krista, the same one whose birthday Billy was thinking about all those years ago when he was injured, took matters into her own hands.
She went to work finding him a service dog, and at first, ran into roadblocks, not being able to find a dog available earlier than two years out. As if by serendipity though, one day while browsing the web she came across Smoky Mountain Service Dogs. After that, it was just some visits and training sessions, and then Lucy was home, exactly where she belonged, with Billy and Krista.
Billy and Lucy have now both saved each other’s lives. Lucy came home with Billy over four years ago, and in that time he says she had saved him from falling countless times, including one time when he tripped on a rug, she “locked up like a statue and supported my weight.” The two spend so much time together that not only does Lucy follow commands, she anticipates them before Billy ever says them, leaving the two with an almost otherworldly connection.
This closeness led to Billy saving Lucy’s life when he could sense something was wrong with her and took her to the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, where they diagnosed her with blood cancer. This would have been fatal, but because, in a turn of events that astounded vets, Billy sensed it so early, they were able to treat it, and Lucy has made a full recovery.
Smoky Mountain Service Dogs is now raising funds to be able to create even more love stories such as the one between Billy and Lucy. That is why Billy has now started speaking out about the difference this has made in his life, in the hopes that it will make the difference in the lives of even more service members.
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Source: Knoxville News Sentinel
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