A woman who spent five years confined to her home due to a debilitating illness that caused her to faint without warning has shared how her specially trained service dog transformed her life.
Life Changed by a Sudden Diagnosis
Sophie Jackson developed a condition that causes her to faint up to 15 times a day, leading to serious injuries including black eyes and broken bones. Her world shrank to a single room where everything had to be bubble-wrapped for safety.
Speaking to hosts Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley on ITV's This Morning, Sophie recounted her story. She enjoyed a very healthy childhood and career as a midwife, boasting she had never taken a sick day or broken a bone. This changed abruptly in 2017 when she fainted for the first time during a night shift.
After a second fall months later broke her elbow, she sought medical help. Following six to eight months of tests, she received a diagnosis she had never heard of, despite being a health professional: Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (PoTS).
The Role of a Lifesaving Canine Partner
PoTS causes an abnormal heart rate increase upon standing, leading to dizziness, fatigue, heart palpitations, and fainting. With no known cause, it disrupts the autonomic nervous system's control over blood pressure and heart rate.
Sophie's symptoms worsened, forcing her to move back in with her parents at age 28. The constant risk of fainting, often resulting in head injuries and concussions, made her terrified of stairs, confining her upstairs for half a decade.
Her salvation came in the form of medical assistance dog Tashi. This highly-trained dog is scent-trained to detect changes in Sophie's body, such as hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which indicate a rising heart rate. Remarkably, Tashi can predict a fainting episode up to seven minutes before it happens.
Reclaiming Independence and Advocacy
'Before Tashi, I was just existing. I wasn't living,' Sophie explained. The dog's ability to detect and warn her of impending spells has been revolutionary. 'These animals are just amazing,' she said.
Thanks to Tashi's support, Sophie has managed a significant recovery. She has started working again and become an advocate for service dogs, proving that people with disabilities can be valuable employees. 'The doors are opening back up now,' she concluded joyfully.
The segment also highlighted another young Briton thriving despite PoTS. In 2024, Kyra Smith, a 20-year-old from Manchester, wowed judges on The Voice UK. An ambulatory wheelchair user, she re-learned to sing sitting down and delivered a stunning performance of 'Golden Slumbers', earning chair turns from Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, and Sir Tom Jones.
