David Bearden and "Upton"
Full Partners in Such Important Work

Looking in from the outside, one might consider David Bearden a magnet for bad luck. His life began with an abusive childhood and continued through a series of unfortunate events, the last of which caused him to lose his sight. David fought hard to regain his self-sufficiency from the very beginning. And he’s winning. With three young daughters at home to care for at the time he lost his sight, David has never paused in his quest for independence. He laughs at the time, right after his accident, when he had to “prove” to the Department of Children and Families that he was capable, despite his blindness, to care for his own children after his wife left him. In 2009, he was named “Foster Parent of the Year” in the State of Florida and today, he proudly counts almost 100 foster children who have passed through his home in the past 6 years, two of whom he adopted as his own.

David works with teenage boys, the majority of whom come with multiple psychiatric and physical conditions; many arriving with major issues from their abusive past. “I couldn’t do this work without Upton, my Fidelco Guide Dog,” says David, “One of the simplest ways to redirect a kid in a rage is to walk. Having Upton allows me to just get out there and walk with a kid. It’s therapeutic and it gets the kid talking.” Upton does for David what he is constantly telling his foster kids to do. “I tell them to always think about the people you surround yourself with and make sure they will raise you up to a better place than where you are, to do something better. Upton does that for me,” reflected David, “I can do this important work because of Upton.” (Upton was raised by Mark and Patricia Wratten)

Editor’s note: Sadly, Upton recently passed away due to cancer.

Michael Malarsie and “Xxon”

 January 3, 2010–Air Force Senior Airman Michael Malarsie and his team walk down a road in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan until, as his father Jim says, “The universe shifted.”

An improvised explosive device (IED) detonates, killing four team members and blowing Michael off a bridge and into the water below. Despite his body armor, Michael is severely wounded and blinded by the bomb blast. He had been in-country for less than one month. It was the beginning of an extraordinary journey.

At roughly the same time, Fidelco Guide Dog X23-3M, better known as “Xxon,” is in the midst of his formal guide dog training program and being readied for a life of service for someone with a visual disability. He and Michael would soon meet and become an inseparable team.

For Michael however, it’s still a long way from Kandahar to Hartford and Fidelco. “It’s hard to believe that one year ago, I was wrapped in bandages lying in a bed and had no idea what was going on or where I was,” he wrote in his blog. “The time that I spent in the hospitals and in rehab seem like they took forever to get through but now looking back, it seems that this year has just flown by. Never in my wildest dreams had I thought that in a year’s time I would be blind, married, and have a second child on the way.”

To these major life changes, you can add not only Xxon, but Becky Cook, the Fidelco-certified Trainer/Instructor and Placement Specialist assigned to Michael. After Michael’s quick trip to Connecticut to meet the team at Fidelco and “test-drive” three guide dogs, Becky and Xxon flew to Michael’s home in New Mexico to begin Fidelco’s pioneering In-community Placement process. “When he wrote to us about getting a guide dog, it didn’t take long for us to answer,” said Becky. “He was a perfect fit.”

The training process lasted about three weeks and now, Michael and Xxon are a fixture on the streets of his hometown. “A couple of days ago, I went for a walk totally by myself,” said Michael. “And I realized about halfway through it, that I haven’t been able to do this for so long. Now, I’m able to get out and get around this town where we live and go and do a lot of things that I was not able to do before. And do it all a whole lot faster.”

Placing Xxon with Michael was made possible by Newman’s Own Foundation through a generous $45,000 grant given to Fidelco for placing guide dogs with veterans who have lost their sight. Ironically, it was through TSgt. Matthew Slaydon, another blinded airman and Fidelco client, that Michael found out about Fidelco. Matthew received “Legend,” his Fidelco guide dog, in June of 2010. As for Michael, he and Jesse, his wife, are preparing for the arrival of their new daughter. “Jesse is due on April 12th but we’re ready to go at any time,” he said. “Luckily I’ve got family just minutes from my home and they’re all on standby.”

Such a positive outlook is indicative of Michael’s overall level of optimism. “I’m so lucky just to be alive,” he said. “Being blind is such a small thing; I’m not going to let it slow me down at all.”

And as Becky Cook prepares to travel again to New Mexico and follow up with Michael and Jesse after the birth of their child, she reflects on what it means to her to help our American heroes find freedom and independence with the help of our incredible Fidelco guide dogs. “I do really enjoy working with them and helping them. After what they’ve done for us, this is the least we could do for them.

.

C. Matthew Slaydon and "Legend"

“I honestly wished I’d died for a very long time.” Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matthew Slaydon’s candid words reflect the magnitude of his injuries suffered in Kirkuk, Iraq in 2007. As the point person for an explosive ordinance disposal (EOD) team, it was Matthew’s job to “take the long walk” to determine what sort of bomb the team faced and then to safely disarm it.

 

“Our job was to investigate the type of bomb being used and bring it back so that we could determine a number of things about it for future reference,” Matthew said. “Other teams simply blow them up; we want to find out how they are made and by whom.”

 

On that October day, however, as Matthew slid his probe under the bomb, it blew up two feet from his face. Thrown 30 feet from the blast site, he suffered a mangled left arm that was immediately amputated, a shattered face and the loss of vision in both eyes, a collapsed lung and traumatic brain injury.

 

In past wars, Matthew would have died on the roadside. Today, sophisticated medical help is just minutes away by helicopter and young men and women are surviving bomb blasts, firefights and ambushes in record numbers. But they survive with grievous injuries.

 

Fast forward to August, 2008. Fidelco participated in the Blinded Veterans Conference in Phoenix, Arizona and it was there that Matthew learned about our organization and, most especially, about our incredible German shepherd guide dogs. “I had always wanted a German shepherd and was familiar with them from my time in the Air Force,” he said. “When I found about Fidelco and their German shepherds, that was it for me. Nothing else would do.”

 

Matthew applied for a guide dog and was approved for placement. However, this was not an ordinary placement; Matthew’s prosthetic left arm, the arm he wanted to use with his guide dog, presented some special challenges for the training department. Would Matthew be able to sense the dog’s movement through his carbon-fiber arm and what sort of harness and handle would be needed?

 

After many discussions with Matthew’s rehabilitation specialists, including a prosthesis expert, the Fidelco staff found the right combination of harness and handle that would allow Matthew to use his guide dog and keep his right, “good” hand, free for everyday activities. The critical next step was to find the right guide dog. Enter “Legend.”

 So that a number of trainers and support staff could work directly with Matthew, Fidelco took the unusual step of bringing him to Connecticut for his first phase of training. Becky Cook, a placement specialist, took over and began working with Matthew throughout the Hartford area to expose he and Legend to the mobility challenges they would face on a regular basis and to help Matthew use his prosthetic arm effectively with his guide dog. After a few days, if the training proceeded smoothly, the team would then return to Phoenix with Becky for the balance of the placement. It did.

 

In no time the pair bonded and began to work well as a team. And as Matthew said so eloquently, “I began to see a glimmer of hope that while many of my dreams had been left in the dirt of Kirkuk, there were new goals that I could set for myself with Legend’s help.”

 

Specifically, Matthew wants to return to school and earn a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. With that knowledge, he intends to help other injured veterans returning from battlefields around the world. And what better counselor could there be?

 

We take great pride in each of our In-community Placements. Every one is different and every one is satisfying. In Matthew’s case, serving a true American hero brings our level of satisfaction to an all-time high. Thank you Matthew for allowing us to provide and train you with Legend, your new Fidelco guide dog.

 

Barry Weatherall and "Owen"

As Barry Weatherall stands in Fidelco’s offices on a recent trip to Bloomfield, his metallic blue shoes and equally bright, green and blond spiked hair make him look like a rock star. He’s most certainly the center of attention and as he speaks with his distinctive accent (he’s from the U.K. but lives in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada) the crowd grows bigger while “Owen,” his Fidelco guide dog, sits patiently enduring all the hubbub.

Things weren’t always this jovial. In 1998, Barry was working work as a plumbing and heating specialist when a pipe filled with sulphuric acid residue exploded directly in his face, leaving him critically burned and instantly blind in his right eye. He was rushed to the emergency room but within a very short time, he completely lost sight in his left eye as well.

In the space of one morning, Barry Weatherall blind.

However, despite several years of surgeries and skin grafts and the inevitable emotional roller coaster, Barry emerged

with his humor and his enthusiasm for life intact. In 2004, he was paired with “Opie,” his first Fidelco guide dog. Now teamed with Owen, according to Becky Cook, a Fidelco placement specialist, all is well with the pair.

That’s good because Barry is never one to sit still and Owen is always there to help him keep on the move. In addition to rock climbing, white water rafting and horseback riding (as seen in “Brilliant,” a documentary by Marilyn Bright, available on YouTube) he works with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind as a lead facilitator for its eye safety program.

More than a decade has passed since Barry lost his sight. To his credit, he has managed to get through that physically and emotionally dark time and says at the conclusion of the documentary, “I live in very good place now; my mind is at peace with the accident. I’m having a good time. Life is brilliant.”