Guiding Eyes graduate Amy Dixon leads a very full life, in spite of managing a serious health condition.

Doctors in Philadelphia, NYC, and Boston told her that she was one of 28 patients in the U.S. with a unique combination of auto immune and Uveitis, a vision disease. Her case is so rare that it has been written up in virtually every ophthalmological journal and presented at Cornell and NYU medical schools.

Steroids slowed Amy’s vision loss for almost 11 years. But her vision continued to decrease, and she started chemotherapy. Then she developed cataracts and glaucoma.

She found herself legally blind.

Amy learned to use a white cane, but never felt comfortable traveling with it. In her position as a Sommelier, Fine Wine Specialist, and Purchasing Agent for a major retailer, she was expected to travel to the vineyards of Portugal, Italy, France, and Germany. Now she was too nervous to make these trips. The prospect of attending crowded wine trade shows also paralyzed her with fear; she worried that she could trip or embarrass herself in front of colleagues.

While walking with the cane one day, a hybrid SUV, which she couldn’t hear, backed into her. Its driver was on a cell phone. She decided then that she needed a guide dog.

Like many graduates, Amy evaluated several schools. She and her sister visited Guiding Eyes and met the staff. In the kennels, one yellow Lab particularly stood out, warming Amy’s heart. Amy perceived that Guiding Eyes has an “above and beyond” philosophy, exemplified by the attentiveness of the instructional staff to each student’s needs – even after the team returned home.

A Home Training student, Amy waited anxiously to meet her dog. She had all the apprehension of a first blind date. She waited anxiously for Kate, her instructor, to lead the dog into the house.

But then, as if through divine intervention, her guide arrived, and it was a dog that Amy knew. It was Elvis – the same dog she fell in love with during her kennel visit.

We’ll let Amy tell the story from here:

“Elvis is everything they promised and more. I never expected him to be so perfect.

At work Elvis is on the go, guiding me through aisles of wine as I help customers, and place orders with distributors. I am studying to be a Master of Wine. There are only 212 in the world, 11 of whom are women. This requires eight years of intensive study – but Elvis and I are up to the task.

Guiding Eyes for the Blind gave me my life back. Elvis has opened many doors for me that I couldn’t have passed through without him, both literally and figuratively. The school is the single most important thing in my life – it’s my lifeline.”