Seren was diagnosed with a severe nut allergy when she was just two years old, but the addition of Medical Detection Dog Digby changed her life…
When Seren was two-years-old, she sat on her high chair looking longingly at the toast with peanut butter that her mum, Claire, was eating. Claire gave her a taste, but didn’t realise this would be the start of a terrifying nightmare for Seren and her family. Just a few minutes later, she was on her way to the high-dependency unit at the hospital with anaphylaxis.
Further incidents, multiple hospital admissions and tests led to Seren being diagnosed with a severe airborne nut allergy, meaning that even being close to the tiniest trace of peanuts could be life-threatening.
After one particularly bad spell with her health, her parents told her she could have a treat after being so brave, and she was delighted when they agreed to go and get a hamster from the local pet store. After carefully checking the ingredients, they brought all the equipment, bedding and food. Almost immediately after unpacking everything, Seren went into anaphalaxis and Claire discovered there were nut traces in some of the hamster’s food.
The family’s life changed dramatically - anything that entered their house had to be thoroughly checked to ensure it was nut-free. Seren’s school, like many, also became a nut-free zone, but at lunchtime, she was segregated and ate her packed lunch on her own, away from the potential risk of any nut traces or residue. Life became very difficult — Seren became very withdrawn, spending hours at a time in her room and losing confidence in being able to go out.
It was when watching CBeebies one day that the family learned of a nut detection dog called Nano, who had been trained by Medical Detection Dogs (MDD) to search for the odour of nuts wherever his client went. They just knew they had to investigate this further.
Their application was accepted, so Seren, her parents, and her little brother went to the charity training centre. That was the day they met Labradoodle, Digby. Claire recalls the moment he came into the room, all paws and curly fur, and ‘chose’ them. She says: “He came straight over to us, inspected us all and just seemed to slot into the family immediately. It’s hard to describe, but he just ‘got’ us and he adored the children. He might be huge, but he is the gentlest soul… we fell in love immediately.
“COVID delayed things considerably, but when we got the phone call to say that Digby
