“Toffee has helped me embrace my deafness.”

I first noticed a problem with my hearing in my early twenties. By my late thirties, it had deteriorated sharply. My balance was also affected – I could be walking and suddenly fall without warning. Now, I am profoundly deaf.

Living alone, my hearing loss severely affected my day-to-day life. I couldn’t hear everyday sounds so I wore my hearing aids 24 hours a day. When my mum became ill, I kept them on at night with my Bluetooth transmitter attached so I could hear the phone if she called. It dug painfully into my neck, so my sleep was very broken.

Going out was exhausting and stressful. Once at the supermarket, someone physically moved me because I hadn’t heard them ask me to step aside. On the street, I had joggers knock into me because I hadn’t moved. Gradually, I stopped wanting to deal with people at all.

The pandemic gave me permission to hide. After lockdown, when I had been shielding, my sisters tried to coax me out but I made excuses. If I did go out, it was only with them because they could explain that I was deaf. Even then, people often didn’t believe them because I didn’t ‘sound deaf’.

Work gradually became harder. The breaking point came when I was asked to take minutes at a meeting on an unfamiliar subject, with people whose voices I didn’t know. Afterwards at home, I burst into tears and then handed in my notice.

I suddenly found myself unemployed and despite applying for numerous jobs, unable to get another for a long time. I truly thought I’d never work again. One interviewer even told me they were ‘just going through the process’ because I had a disability. It severely affected my mental health and destroyed my confidence.

The moment I knew I needed to apply for a hearing dog was on the day of my friend’s wedding. That morning, I took out my hearing aids for a bath. Then I did my hair and make-up, got dressed and just before leaving, put my hearing aids back in. That’s when I heard it: water running.

I went downstairs and saw water was everywhere – pouring through light fittings, streaming down walls and gushing through the kitchen window. It turned out that for at least an hour and a half, as I was getting ready, the boiler had burst and I hadn’t heard. I knew something had to change.

In July 2025, my hearing dog and bundle of joy, Toffee, bounded into my life. I loved him instantly and trust him implicitly. The first night I had him, I took my hearing aids out and slept without fear, knowing he would alert me if there was any danger.

[Toffee qualified jacket photo]

Toffee has helped me embrace my deafness. I no longer hide it and now I often wear my hair up with my striking blue ear moulds on show. He has made my deafness visible in a positive way.

I now choose to go to the shops by myself rather than shop online – people stop to chat and ask to pet Toffee which makes the experience far more enjoyable. He’s such a handsome, popular lad who wants to be friends with everyone we meet!  

Toffee has made me happier than I’ve been in a long time. Our bond is so strong and I sometimes wonder how I lived without him. I will be forever grateful to the volunteers who cared for and trained him for the difference he has made to my life.”