“I have always been quite fragile since I was a teenager. I did stupid things, I took some pills… it was more like a call for help. School… it was a nightmare. Everything. The studies, the classmates who didn’t like me. How cruel children can be… When I was 13 years old, 5 girls from my class attacked me. They beat me up in a bus. Who knows why? They didn’t like me.

I’m quite a reserved person, I don’t speak much, and it can often be taken as something strange. I don’t have many friends. I can say I have one. People don’t want to be friends with me. Especially women, they really don’t like me. I try but… I don’t know. That’s how it is, I’m used to it. And my family, being completely aware of this, thought that a dog would help me with my fragility. Her name is Robin. She’s my best friend. If she wasn’t there… I don’t know if I’d be there either.

She appeared in my life at a time when I fell sick. I have multiple sclerosis. It will be 2 years on November 23. The most difficult thing is being tired. So it’s also thanks to Robin that I have to go out and walk. Right after that I met my husband! I was walking out of the hospital one day, and he asked if we could go out for coffee, and I would always say no. But then one day I said “okay, just one coffee”. 10 days later he was moving into my house! Which was incredible because I used to be very, very solitary. But he just walked into my life out of nowhere! I really wasn’t expecting it. I had given up on men. I thought “it’s over, I’m pulling the plug”. And then, boom! He fell from the sky, I didn’t understand anything. That’s also thanks to Robin because he loves bulldogs!

Each time I think about it I tell myself that… I was lucky, once more. I know the disease is here, within me, but I try to accept it as it is. I’m not going to feel sorry for myself. I have my family, I’m grateful to have everything I need to help me cope.”

(Quai Gustave-Ador | translated from French)