Sylvia was diagnosed with a severe rheumatoid arthritis while still in her late teens. The illness progressed and she contracted Felty’s Syndrome, a rare complication of long standing rheumatoid arthritis. Three years ago, she lost 102 pounds and her white blood cell count fell to just . 5, (between 5 and 10 is normal). She was at death’s door.

After hospitalization and then fighting her way to recovery, she needed a month’s rehabilitation.
 

Sylvia whizzes down the halls at a local nursing home in her motorized wheelchair with "Odie" at her side.

Granted, she had her husband, Ron, who visited her every day after work, but she still felt just how lonely one could get in a facility that’s not your “home.” During her stay in the rehab center, Sylvia told herself: “If I ever get out of here, I will visit other people in nursing homes as much as I can.” With a change in medications, eating habits, and lots of prayer, Sylvia has been improving ever since. Once so ill she looked like a “rag doll,” Sylvia is now writing and illustration a four-book series of children’s stories. Even though her hands and fingers are twisted, she is able to hold a pencil and paintbrushes. Just as important, she truly believes she can change the world around her.

Writing books is not the only thing keeping Sylvia busy. She goes shopping at the mall with aides who come to her house and clean, cook and do other things for her. She also helps out with her and her husband’s growing business, a medical supplies store, Monarch Medical, located in St. Albans.

THE CANDY LADY

Sylvia swims and Branon’s Pool in St. Albans, and best of all, visits her friends at Haven Health Center. At Haven, she is better known as the “candy lady.” She and Odie bring little bags of sweets and popcorn or chips for the residents. The residents seem to really enjoy having her company, and especially Odie, who comes right up to them to soak in all the love.

Sylvia waited two years to get Odie, who she has had for less than a month. Through brochures and online information, she became acquainted with the National Education for Assistance Dogs Services or NEADS program. The program’s motto is “opening doors to independence.”

Sylvia graduated with Odie from the NEADS program at Holy Cross College in
Worcester, Mass. last month. That was after she and Ron stayed in the West Boylston area of Massachusetts to train with him for two weeks.

Odie, like other NEADS dogs, cost $500, which also covered special collars, leashes, capes/backpacks, grooming supplies and dog toys. The real cost to
NEADS, however, is $6,000.

NEADS offers seven different “classes” of dogs, from those assisting the deaf to “laptop service dogs” used as tiny retrievers. Odie, who will be two in July and began six months of training when he was one, is a true service dog.

Sylvia explains, “ A lot of the time Ron would come home at night, and I would be sitting in the dark because I couldn’t get the lights on. Or, I would be painting something, and I would drop my paintbrush and would be alone, and that would be the end of that project until someone came home, because I can’t reach things like that.”

Odie and Sylvia already are very close. “The companionship is so wonderful to me,” said Sylvia. “ I really love that. It’s like we have a kid in the family again. It’s just so great to finally have him.”

When it’s time for him to eat, Odie brings his empty food bowl to Sylvia and places it on her lap. “ That is probably the biggest thing that has surprised me about Odie. He began doing this the second day we had him. I couldn’t believe just how smart he is, said Sylvia.

Odie turns on the lights, pick up things - her paintbrush or pencil - and opens the refrigerator when told. He responds to many cues. When Sylvia says “nudge” Odie hits the light switch. If he hears the word “off” he shuts the light off. She says “fetch” and then continuously says “hold” until she can reach the items she wants Odie to bring to her. He will hold the item in his mouth until she says “thank you.”

Sylvia said business owners cooperate with her when she brings Odie into grocery or department stores. “You never go into a store for 10 minutes anymore,” said Sylvia, chuckling. “It is more like triple the time now with Odie, because everyone is attracted to him. But it’s great because I see how happy people are with him around.”

MORE TO DO

Having Odie is just one part of Sylvia’s dream.

“The thing that really upsets me since I have felt better, is that I want to be independent again. The dog is a step to that independence,” said Sylvia during a recent visit to the local nursing home. “The next step would hopefully be a vehicle that is adapted to me. When I see how these people (residents) had these lives that were so fruitful, and now they are so dependent on everybody, I get frustrated and upset. ... I don’t think we appreciate our abilities or independence until we don’t have them. I know I never did.”

Sylvia is not about to put off capitalizing on her abilities any longer. She already has written one book, “Nanny and I,” and is writing a second, “Nanny and I Meet Odie.” She hopes to publish them this fall and next winter respectively. The third and fourth books in the series are scheduled for April 2003, and August 2003.

Sylvia takes on a big topic in these books: death and dying. She promises to deal with them in a subtle and caring manner. Deaths is a topic she believes families must discuss and one that, through her own experiences, has had a big impact on her life. To accomplish this work, she has created her own company, Sylables. The name is born from her nickname and , she said, the fact that she is more “able” than disabled.

Sylvia is also creating supporting products for her book series --workbooks, coloring books and more. In her business plan she wrote: “Sylables books will help problems that seem so enormous when one is young and just beginning to experiencelife.”

Sylvia said she strongly believes that God blessed her with her illness.

“I’ve realized that life is short and I should do what I have always wanted to do, and that’s why I have written a book and am writing more. I’m still here on earth, and hopefully I will make a difference in the world around me,” she said.