A DYING woman was given moments of joy during her final days when hospital staff brought in a therapy dog to give her comfort.

Ann Black, 38, from Rishton, who had been partially paralysed several years ago, died after battling a tumour.

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During her final weeks the critical care team at Royal Preston Hospital granted her some final wishes.

Following her prognosis Mrs Black came up with a bucket list of things she wanted to do before she died earlier this month.

Staff helped her to achieve as many of those things as possible.

The health care team arranged for Mrs Black to have another Christmas Day and also arranged for a masseuse to come in to give her a pamper session.

She was also a big dog lover and had to rehome her own dogs when she had an accident that left her partially paralysed.

The team arranged for her to spend time with a PAT (pets as therapy) dog.

She had two visits from Lola, the four-year-old shih tzu, who has been working as a PAT dog for two years, as well as Iskra, a chocolate labradoodle.

After the visits she said: “Lola and Iskra are beautiful and spending time with them really helped me to relax and cheered me up.

“I have always had dogs and I am a big dog lover.”

PAT dogs can bring comfort and happiness to people with a range of disabilities and emotional needs, including those in nursing homes, rehab facilities, hospices, special needs schools and more.

Rachel Moses, a consultant physiotherapist at the hospital, said: “We wanted to make Ann as happy as we possibly could and myself and all the staff here on the critical care unit have done everything within our power to help her achieve her bucket list.

“When Ann told me how much she loved dogs I really wanted to arrange for her to spend some time with a PAT dog, it was such a pleasure to see how much joy it brought to her.”