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REAL LIFE LIKE YOU'VE NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE

Woman's best friend

Lorna Striling's life was saved by a pair of hairy heroes...

I couldn't have picked a worse day to take the dogs out for a walk. It was absolutely throwing it down. The sky was the colour of steel and the best place to be was tucked up inside. But I was so nervous about the 10k run I was doing the next day, I'd taken my black labrador, Nell, and my mate Melanie Tilburn's black lab, Chloe, out to walk off the nerves. So there we were, sloshing around the woods at Almondell and Calderwood Country Park in West Lothian.

We'd been out for about 45 minutes and I could feel the water dripping down the back of my neck, my hands turning to ice and my feet squelching in my wellies. But the dogs were having a great time, chasing each other. 'Sorry to spoil your fun,' I laughed as they tore past me. 'It's time to head back.' But as I turned to go back towards the path, my wellies slipped on the mud and I went flying. Leaves… mud… sky… It all flashed before my eyes in a split second. Landing with a thud, there was a loud cracking sound and pain ripped through my left ankle. Screaming in agony, I thought, I've broken my ankle. It didn't take a genius to work that one out. If the pain wasn't a sure sign, the loud cracking noise was. As I lay there I heard panting and saw the dogs racing towards me. Nell tilted her head to one side and looked as if to say, What do we do now?

'I don't know, Nell,' I gulped, unable to hold back the tears. 'Maybe I can crawl to the path.'
I tried to lift myself up onto my elbows, but as I did so, pain shot through my leg and I collapsed back onto the wet mud. I was stuck. Lying there with the dogs panting away, tails wagging, and the rain pouring, panic hit me. 'Help!' I screamed. 'Somebody help me!' The bad weather meant the park was virtually deserted. After shouting for a few minutes, I took my mobile from my pocket. There was no signal, but I dialled 999 anyway, and luckily, it started ringing. When the operator came on the line, I sobbed. 'I've fallen in the woods and broken my leg,' I cried. 'There's nobody here.' 'Don't worry,' she said, 'We'll find you.' So I gave her all the details I could about where the car was parked and how long we'd been walking for, and waited.

And waited… The mud was freezing cold and the rain had completely drenched me. My teeth chattered, my whole body shivered, and I couldn't help wondering how long I could wait. Surely hypothermia would set in… I'd read about what hypothermia did to people, it made them disorientated and confused. Suddenly, just when I was wondering if I'd ever get out alive, something amazing happened. Nell and Chloe shot each other a look, pricked up their ears and sprang into action. Nell padded over and sat down protectively by my side, her warm body nestled against mine.

I felt the warmth flood into my body instantly. As she took care of keeping me warm, Chloe started walking in a big circle around us, barking like mad. No chance of the paramedics missing me with that racket going on! When she'd finished her circling, Chloe came and sat beside me, too. Then, amazingly, without so much as a nudge from her mate, Nell got up and walked around in a circle, on the lookout for help. They were taking turns! God only nows how they knew what they were doing. All I could think was their animal instinct was to look after me like they'd look after an injured member of their pack. It worked as well. With one of them beside me all the time I'd stopped shivering, and knowing they were looking out for help made me feel more hopeful, too.

'The paramedics will be there soon,' the operator's voice crackled on the line. 'The dogs are looking after me,' I said. She didn't reply to that. I'm not surprised either. She must've thought I was the one who was barking. By then, I'd lost track of how long I'd been laying there, wondering if I'd ever get out alive. I was getting sleepy when suddenly, I heard footsteps squelching in the mud. Nell and Chloe sat in front of me, on guard, and I barely registered when two paramedics bent down next to me. 'We're just going to get you onto a stretcher,' one of the men said. Pain surged through my leg as they lifted me. 'What about Nell and Chloe?' I murmured. 'Don't worry, we'll get them back to your house,' one of them assured me.

They gave me morphine for the pain and rushed me to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. There, the doctors confirmed I had multiple fractures in both of my lower leg bones. The following morning, instead of doing my 10k run, I was having surgery where doctors used a long pin and eight screws to put my bones back together. When my mum, Helen, 65, visited that day, she had a strange look on her face. 'You won't believe it,' she said. 'When I got to your house last night I found Nell in the middle of your bed, and it was covered in mud.' 'Naughty girl,' I laughed. 'I think she was missing her mum,' Mum smiled. Of course, I couldn't be angry with Nell. If it hadn't been for her and Chloe looking after
me, who knows what would have happened?

Returning home six days later, Nell came bounding over and gave me the biggest, sloppiest kiss ever. Now, six months on, my leg is much better and doctors say it will take a year before it's back to normal. Nell and Chloe are my hairy heroes.

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