Like many moms before her, a Chilliwack, British Columbia mother went on a search for the perfect dog for her toddler, Ivy. Ivy was born without hands.
When Vanessa McLeod was just 19 weeks pregnant she was told by doctors she should terminate.
“One doctor said you have to think about her quality of life she is going to have no hands. It still makes me a little bit sick thinking that she could have not been here if we had listened to those doctors,” said McLeod.
McLeod says Ivy doesn’t notice she is different yet, but knows as she gets older, questions may arise.
“Her favourite thing to do is colour and she just uses her toes to hold the markers so she has just learned to do things differently,” said McLeod.
“so I encourage people not to view disabilities as sad or something to be pitied but something to be celebrated.”
But McLeod knew that one day, Ivy will have questions about her hands and why she looks different. So she came up with an ideas. McLeod wanted to find a way to make those conversations easier. The quest began to find a puppy who was also born with without limbs.
She wanted to be able to tell Ivy: “You know you were born that way but different is beautiful and this puppy was also born that way and that is also a beautiful thing,” McLeod explained in an interview with CTV News. The search for a special pup was short-lived. It was meant to be.
A three-legged puppy named Lucky was born in their Vancouver, British Columbia neighborhood just a few short weeks after.
Not only has Lucky helped Ivy understand that she can do whatever she sets her mind to, McLeod sees something special forming. A bond has sprouted between her daughter and new puppy, and McLoed suspects it will grow as both share and face new challenges. But this mother also sees this as an opportunity to shift people’s perceptions.
“I love everything that is different about her,” McLeod told CTV News, “so I encourage people not to view disabilities as sad or something to be pitied but something to be celebrated.” When reflecting back on what the doctors told her just a few years ago, “I wish you (they) would have told me that we would find support within the limb difference community, within the disability community,” said McLeod.
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