“With my Seeing Eye Dog I can travel, we work as a team and figure it out. There’s just so much independence,” Isabella says.
Isabella thrives on keeping busy. With her work as a Research Agreements Officer at Mater Research, she finds time for tandem cycling, blind soccer, catching up with friends, and traveling nationwide to compete in blind tennis tournaments.
Isabella was born with retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative retinal condition that leads to gradual vision loss. She was just 10 years of age when she started losing her vision, initially becoming night blind before progressively losing her field of view, colour and central vision.
Isabella began receiving support from Vision Australia at 16 years of age. Through their assistance, she secured employment and discovered the sport "Swish," igniting her interest in blind sports. Following the early decline in health of her first dog guide, Tatum, Isabella signed up with Seeing Eye Dogs and was matched with Penny in 2021. Following the match, Isabella retired Tatum and commenced a two week placement with Penny in November 2021.
“Penny was a small, gentle, energetic girl. She’d come with me to play tennis and sit on the sidelines. I was finishing off Uni at that time, so she’d always come with me. She was so adaptable. We did a lot of travel together,” Isabella says.
With Penny by her side, Isabella felt free to embrace adventure. Whether it was interstate trips for tennis tournaments or descending into a mine shaft during a tourist excursion with a friend, Penny was there every step of the way.
Once Penny retired, Isabella was matched with Ira, a big, playful boy who takes his role very seriously. “Ira is just so keen to work. He loves working through busy city crowds but also loves it if I throw a ball for him in the back yard,” Isabella explains.
