[nagdu] Blind New Yorker who survived fall on subway tracks with guide dog gifted new service dog

[Ginger Kutsch]

Blind New Yorker who survived fall on subway tracks with guide dog gifted
new service dog 

NY Daily News

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/blind-new-yorker-survived-fall-subway-tr
acks-guide-dog-gifted-new-service-dog-article-1.1593292

 

If a man's only as good as his friends, Cecil Williams sure knows how to
pick them.

 

Weeks after the blind New Yorker and his trusty guide dog narrowly escaped
death after falling before an oncoming subway train, the 60-year-old man has
been gifted a new service dog after his heroic canine, Orlando, retired as
his pet.

 

"I feel that I was blessed with Orlando, right? And now I'm being blessed
again," Williams told NBC's the Today Show while seated beside his black Lab
and newly acquired yellow Lab, Godiva.

 

Anonymous donors reacting to the William's heart-warming story of his dog
jumping to his side chipped in to allow Williams to keep Orlando, who's
pictured with him in the hospital here. 

 

The now famous pair first made news in December after Williams fainted and
fell off a 125th St. subway platform, and awoke to find his 11-year-old
service dog protectively by his side.

 

Both Williams and Orlando - who witnesses said protectively jumped down on
the tracks moments after his owner fell - only just survived after they
dipped their heads down at the last minute as the train roared overhead.

 

"Orlando was like my angel, and he's always been that since I got him,"
Williams told NBC. "We work together. I protect him and he protects me."

 

Then word came that Williams could neither afford to keep Orlando - who was
set to soon retire - nor afford a new guide dog.

 

Anonymous donors reacting to the news soon after chipped in to help Williams
afford Orlando. In a second remarkable act of kindness, he was gifted
Godiva.

 

In his interview with NBC, Williams was moved to tears as he described his
good fortune brought on by the generosity of strangers.

 

"The spirit of good will, it exists," he said. "In the world you see a lot
of negative things, but I try to focus on the positive."

 

Godiva was one of nine January gradates with the Guiding Eyes for the Blind,
a nonprofit based in New York. The dogs go on to serve the blind and
visually impaired.