Roselle sadly died 2 days later from stomach ulcer complications. She was 13 years old.
Micheal & his wife set up Roselle’s Dream Foundation to raise money to help adults & children with visual impairment engage fully in everyday life.
Micheal is 74 years old. he travels the world as inspirational speaker around awareness of sightloss & his story with Roselle.
Saltys Story
Salty was trained as a guide dog in 1998. He was with Omar Rivera 7 floors below Micheal & Roselle, on the 71st floor.
Omar went blind 14 years previously due to Glaucoma & that morning he was preparing for a meeting for his Senior Systems Designer job with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. He had just hit the ‘print’ command on his computer at about 8.45 am, when he heard a crashing, whooshing, sound coming from 22 floors above him.
Omar popped Sally’s harness on. They headed out into a very smoky, noisy stairwell. He was worried about the dog so let his harness go so he could make his own way, but Salty wasn’t having that.
Halfway down a co-worker who was with Omar tried to take the harness off him. Salty still wouldn’t go & didn’t move until the harness was back on.
They made it down to the street level, & when the tower collapsed, which was only 2 blocks away, they ran as fast as they could. Salty opened a path for Omar.
Salty retired in 2007. The dog relaxed, played obsessively with tennis balls until he died at age 11 in 2008.
Omar appeared in Allison Argo’s film ‘9/11: Where Were You?’ for National Geographic on the 10-year anniversary of the attacks.
Both dogs were awarded the Dickin Medal on March 5th 2002. The PDSA Dickin Medal is awarded by the People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals, a UK-based veterinary charity. It is considered the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross for bravery.
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