Fazio, the Beloved Matchmaker Dog, who Brought Shari and Luc Together

The story of a quadriplegic who marries his service dog trainer

Luc and Shari

When I divorced my first wife 13 years ago, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the rest of my life. All of a sudden I found myself living alone in my house without a partner I could rely on to manage the physical chores that come with running a household and to support me with issues related to my C5/C6 quadriplegia. Luckily I had a very reliable caregiver who had been working for me for several years. She made a commitment to help with my morning and evening routines each day. And when she wasn’t able to make it on a particular day or when she went on a vacation, she would make sure that someone else in her family would fill in.

However, I felt that life had become a struggle as I was basically living in survival mode. All of my closest family was living in Belgium, I had a nine year old son I needed to take care of who lived with me 50% of the time, and I was holding a job that was quite demanding. I barely had enough time left during the week to get some food on the table for my son and I. Living alone like this certainly wasn’t how I wanted to live for the rest of my life. Even though my disability was too much for my first wife to deal with, I have to admit that she was very supportive during my early years as a disabled person and I am thankful for that.

Who would be interested in partnering with a quadriplegic confined to a wheelchair? Never could I have dreamed the reality that started to materialize when my son asked if he could have a dog.

Of course, I wanted to please him and be a good dad, but the idea of being able to take care of a dog while in a wheelchair and without the full use of my hands wasn’t really something I was looking forward to. I had seen people in wheelchairs with their service dogs, but I didn’t really know how to go about getting one and I had told my son I would only consider a dog that was very well trained.

I started doing some research and made some phone calls, and I found out that many service dog programs had a waiting list of 2 to 3 years. Of course, my son didn’t have the patience to wait that long. Coincidentally, a few days later, as my son and I entered our local mall, I ran into a young man in a wheelchair accompanied by a service dog. I asked him what program he had worked with and he pointed to a woman, her name was Shari, who was walking a few steps behind him. At that time I never in my wildest dreams would have thought that this woman was going to become my wonderful wife.

I approached Shari and asked how I could get a service dog. She explained that she had just started her own organization, Discovery Dogs, training service dogs for people with disabilities and that she was actually looking for new clients, which meant there was no waiting list. She also explained that having a service dog would be a serious commitment on my end and that the dog would be there to help me, not just a play pal for my son. All of a sudden, the idea of having a dog around that could help me in many ways started to excite me. But first I had to explain to my son that the dog’s primary role was going to be to support me and that he would only be able to interact with the dog when the dog wasn’t working for me.

Shari invited me to one of her weekly group training sessions at the local Humane Society to let me have some exposure to handling a service dog and to evaluate whether I would be willing to make the commitment to working with a service dog partner. Shari brought Fazio, a beautiful golden retriever, for me to work with and we connected almost immediately. However, Fazio was not the dog Shari had in mind for me because he was her demonstration dog and she had some very special history with him and didn’t plan to place him with a client. So Shari found Sam, a tall blonde golden retriever, for me instead. We started doing weekly training field trips together and Shari and I quickly became good friends. Eventually these outings with Sam almost felt like an excuse for Shari and I to see each other. We went to restaurants and movies together to teach Sam and myself how to operate together as a team in a public environment, but our trips felt more and more like dates.

Unfortunately Sam developed some issues that made it inappropriate for him to continue training as a service dog. That was devastating news for me, but Shari was able to find a wonderful pet home for Sam. That meant we had to start all over again with a new dog, but given that Discovery Dogs was so new, Shari didn’t have an available dog for me to train with. Shari knew I was eager to have a service dog and so she did the most incredible thing by offering me Fazio, the dog she would never place, but the dog I really loved from the beginning. By then, Shari and I had started dating seriously and by the time Fazio was ready to be placed in my home Shari moved in also. Not only did I get this very special helper dog, I also got a new partner in life and just a few months later we were married.

Shari and I have been happily married for 11 1/2 years now. Regretfully, Fazio passed away after being my very dedicated partner for many years. He will always be remembered as the beloved and special dog that brought us together.

Fazio and Luc (we miss you Fazio!)