A stranger gave her ailing dog a wheelchair. Now this N.B. woman is doing the same for others
CBC
It started with her beloved boxer, Tyson. The clues were tiny at first, the sort of thing that would be easy to overlook.
"I noticed his nails would scrape across the pavement as he was walking, just once in awhile," Denise Stewart said from her home in Pennfield, in southwestern New Brunswick.
But it soon became more alarming. Tyson began staggering, dragging himself and, eventually, falling down and not being able to get up.
Distressed, Stewart posted a video of Tyson to Facebook and asked, "What's wrong with my dog?"
A man she didn't know responded from the United States. "I can tell you what's wrong with your dog."
He told her it looked like Tyson had degenerative myelopathy, a slowly progressive, debilitating disease common to boxers and several other breeds, and offered to send her a wheelchair that had belonged to his own dog before it died.
Stewart was moved to tears by the offer.
"I remember the feeling of someone helping me, because I was so desperate for help," she said. "I remember how in my heart I just felt ... there's people out there that really care."
The wheelchair completely changed Tyson's life, giving him and Stewart two more playful years together.
It changed something else as well.
Stewart decided she wanted to share the gift they'd been given. After his death, she founded Tyson's Wonder Wheels in his memory and began offering wheelchairs for dogs, free of charge, to other dog owners whose pets were suffering with degenerative myelopathy.
Soon, requests were coming in from around the world.
In the two years since Stewart started Tyson's Wonder Wheels, the program has provided wheelchairs to more than 700 dogs in Canada, the United States and around the world.
Most of the dogs in question have the same disease that affected Tyson, but some are missing one or more legs or have suffered debilitating injuries.
Ontario’s police watchdog is investigating after an officer involved shooting at Danforth Go station early Saturday morning, said Toronto police.
Montreal officials will hold a ceremony to mark the 36th anniversary of the Polytechnique massacre today.
The City of Regina's proposal to build a roadway through the McKell Wascana Conservation Park should be discarded, local conservationists say.
A holiday event that began in 2020 during the pandemic with three floats on pickup trucks has now become one of Kelowna’s big winter events, drawing thousands to the city’s downtown core.
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.
It’s been hard to keep track of how many legal challenges and active court proceedings the United Conservative government has tried to quash or pre-emptively block in the last six weeks, but let’s try to tally:
Margaret Walker, the emcee of a Waterloo vigil commemorating the victims of the Montreal massacre, doesn't feel enough is being done to reflect on the killings and address gender-based violence.
The P.E.I. Humane Society says it is doing far more fundraising than it used to, and rising expenses — including the cost of animal medications — are a big reason why.
Ottawa is staring down a court-ordered deadline to submit a new plan to reform the on-reserve child welfare system, as a group of First Nations leaders and children’s advocates prepare a competing proposal.
An underpass revitalization project that was meant to pay tribute to the people of Parkdale has instead deteriorated into “a garbage dump,” according to nearby residents.
A young man has been charged with criminal negligence causing bodily harm after a fire at a frat party near Western University that injured five sorority sisters, including two seriously, late Tuesday night.
The massive deal to combine one of Hollywood's oldest studios with a streaming giant hasn't even been approved yet, but it's already riling multiple related industries and politicians concerned about monopolies and media concentration.
Mi'kmaq chiefs and a former Nova Scotia justice minister are criticizing the provincial government for directing police to crack down on illegal cannabis, saying the order undermines relations with Indigenous Peoples.