A television documentary about animals and their ability to provide comfort and companionship to hospital patients convinced Margot Dean and her children to volunteer their dog, Lily, a Labrador retriever, for similar service.

Lily was assessed by BC Pets and Friends, an organization that trains dogs, cats, and their owners to interact with people in facility care. Lily’s behaviour was screened for her reaction to crowds of people, loud noises, and large medical equipment.

Once it was determined that Lily was a suitable candidate, Margot began her training at the Canuck Place Children’s Hospice. Three and a half years later, Margot is still taking Lily every week to visit with the sick children and their families.

“Lily is a remarkable dog,” says Margot.  She provides both a distraction and a comfort to the children and their families. “She knows when to curl up with the children and be gentle and when to be playful. She reads the kids’ moods.”  Lily brings a sense of normalcy to the children’s lives, Margot adds. “It’s a wonderful thing to help a child in distress.”

Margot’s commitment to the hospice doesn’t stop with her dog’s visits. An avid traveler, Margot had agreed to use a planned trek to the Great Wall of China as an opportunity to raise funds for the hospice. She arranged to have motivational speaker and mountaineer Jamie Clark address a group of 150 friends and acquaintances. A veteran of three Everest expeditions, Jamie embodies the characteristics shared by children in the hospice: courage, tenacity, and hope. With his speech as a springboard, Margot seized the opportunity to educate the crowd about BC’s only children’s hospice.

Margo’s efforts resulted in over $70,000 in private donations and raised public awareness of Canuck Place.

When asked what she gets out of volunteering, Margo says she walks away with a sense of gratitude, and feelings of being grounded. While it’s difficult to speak about sick and dying children, her greatest life lesson is that she has learned to “be comfortable with being uncomfortable.”