COVER Max the Miracle Dog!
When a car accident plunged Kerry Irving into depression, it was the love of a little springer spaniel that helped him discover a whole new chapter helping others
There’s something about Max the springer spaniel that makes everyone he meets turn a little bit to butter. From royalty to cancer patients, Max has a real knack for making people smile. And for his owner Kerry Irving, he couldn’t be prouder to share the joy that comes from this special dog he credits with saving his life, the story of which he has just released in a new book, Max the Miracle Dog.
In 2006 Kerry thought he had it all: working in a high-powered sales job, he had a wonderful wife and loved mountain biking around his home in the Lake District. Then one day as he was queueing in rushhour traffic, a lorry crashed into the back of his car. Left with serious neck and back injuries, Kerry went from cycling 600 miles in a month
Visiting the little dog became Kerry’s daily goal and a reason to leave the house
to being housebound, unemployed and unable to cope without strong painkillers.
For the next two years, severe depression and even thoughts of suicide hung over him. Then one day on the way to the doctor’s, Kerry spotted a sweet little dog from the car window in someone’s front garden. Having always loved dogs but vowed not to own another after the sadness of losing his last one, the dog caught his eye, although he thought no more of it.
The next day, he popped to the shops to get some milk, feeling terrified to leave the house, but as he walked the short distance he saw that same sweet dog. In the days that followed, visiting the little dog – Max – became Kerry’s daily goal and a reason to leave the house.
After talking to Max’s owner, she revealed she was having a difficult time caring for her elderly father, so had to leave Max outside. It was then Kerry asked if he could take Max on the occasional walk.
“At first I was still struggling to walk but together we’d make it just over the road to the churchyard and he’d sit on a bench with me and I just told him how bad my life was,” says Kerry, with a lump in his throat. “He was a nonjudgmental listening ear and a reason for me to be alive again at a time when I’d felt so useless, I thought I may as well not be here.”
Promising Max that one day they’d walk round the lakes and hills, bit by bit Kerry took on greater adventures, with Max walking perfectly in step with him, making sure he was OK.
Then one day Max’s owner told Kerry she needed to move away. Initially terrified he was going to lose his friend, he was overwhelmed to learn she was actually asking him if he wanted to take Max on as his own.
Max immediately settled at home with Kerry, who had also found the confidence to retrain as a locksmith. The pair continued their long walks, on which Kerry would take photos of Max that he started to share on social media. Max’s photos attracted legions of fans and in no time, he’d become a social media star on his own Facebook page (www.facebook.com/maxinthelakes).
Then Kerry started receiving calls from people following Max who’d been touched by his story and wanted to meet him. From people with serious illnesses to those going through bereavement, Kerry loved to see the joy Max brought to everyone. “Max is so special it would be selfish to keep that to myself, he has such a calming effect on people,” says Kerry, who later trained Max to be a therapy dog.
Someone else who enjoyed Max’s unique personality was the Duchess of Cambridge, who recently met Max and Kerry at a Buckingham Palace garden party. “Kate bent down to stroke him and I told her how he’d saved my life, and she told me how dogs had also helped her brother with mental health issues,” says Kerry. “The experience was so amazing I burst into tears afterwards. Max, however, pretty much slept through the whole thing!”
In recent years, Kerry has adopted two more springer spaniels, Paddy and Harry, who Max has welcomed into the family with open paws. Meanwhile, Max and Kerry now spend their days sharing their story in schools and workplaces, as well as raising more than £132,000 for mental health and animal charities.
As Max approaches his 13th birthday this summer, though, Kerry is aware time is of the essence. “I now just want to make the most of my best friend who really is one in a million,” he says. “I’m so proud of him.”
■ Max the Miracle Dog by Kerry Irving is out now, available in good bookshops or online from Amazon, rrp £12.99