A hero dog stopped a man from taking his life on a remote hillside, just five years after his handler lost her own father to suicide on a mountain.
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handler → stop → mountain
The tragedy of losing her father in 2019 led to Rhiannon Chalmers-Brown, 25, joining the local Mountain Rescue team, alongside her Labrador, Dug, with the pair now helping to find missing people across the mountains.
Ms Chalmers-Brown's 62-year-old father, John, was found dead five hours after being reported missing from home.
'Those five hours were among the toughest that I've experienced in my life,' said Ms Chalmers-Brown.
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Brown → lose → life
After undertaking three years of gruelling training, Ms Chalmers-Brown and her yellow labrador Dug helped rescue a high-risk vulnerable man on Rhondda Mountain who was looking to take his own life on Boxing Day in 2024.
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who → undertake → 2024
Dug was able to lead rescuers through dense woodland to the man, who was found disoriented and distressed but alive.
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who → lead → man
Ms Chalmers-Brown said that the man had not a 'specific plan' but was found with 'a lot of drink and drugs'.
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man → say → drink
She said: 'When we found him, he was very confused.
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he → say → him
That's one of the really useful things about having a dog.
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That → have → dog
Rhiannon Chalmers-Brown, 25, joining the local Mountain Rescue team, alongside her Labrador, Dug, after she lost her father to a mountain suicide in 2019
Ms
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she → join → 2019
Chalmers-Brown and her yellow labrador Dug helped rescue a high-risk vulnerable man on Rhondda Mountain who was looking to take his own life on Boxing Day in 2024
Ms
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who → help → 2024
Chalmers-Brown's 62-year-old father, John, was found dead five hours after being reported missing from home.
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father → find → home
You can say, "here, have a cuddle with this dog", and suddenly they have something positive to focus on.
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they → say → something
'The man was in a terrible state, really upset, his face was wet with tears and his nose was running.
'
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nose → run → tears
Doug was just licking his face.
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Doug → lick → face
He was sobbing into the dog and Dug was trying to stop him crying.
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him → sob → dog
As soon as he gets to someone who needs a bit of help, he switches roles.
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he → get → roles
'Dug succeeded in breaking down the barriers with him.
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Dug → succeed → him
We managed to talk to him, get him in a better state mentally and to somewhere safe.'
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him → manage → state
The loss of Ms Chalmers-Brown's father helps her to help others deal with the trauma when a search leads to a deceased person.
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search → help → person
John Chalmers-Brown was a happily married father of two grown-up children.
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Brown → grow → children
Despite medication, treatment and care, plus the support of his family, his mental health eventually became too much to bear.
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health → become → family
Ms Chalmers-Brown said: 'He was only missing for about five hours, but those five hours felt like five years.
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hours → say → years
'It might seem strange to say, but we were the lucky ones.
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we → seem → ?
'People can go missing for 24 hours, 48 hours, 12 days or six months, and their families have to wait and potentially never find out what happened to them.
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what → go → them
John was reported missing by his wife Debra, 65, after she became alarmed when he left their family home in Cressbrook, Derbyshire at around 4am.
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he → report → am
A local search-and-rescue team was alerted and began searching the area around the house, including the surrounding woodland and mountainside.
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team → alert → woodland
The search involved specialist search teams and dogs.
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search → involve → teams
Ms Chalmers-Brown explained: 'I can really sympathise with the families because I know exactly how they feel.
'
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they → explain → families
It gives me a different perspective.
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It → give → perspective
I know what it's like to be waiting for somebody to be found and not know what's happening.
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what → know → what
There are also people who go missing and are never found.
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who → be → ?
There are times when I think I should just give this up and remove myself from all of it, it is traumatic, and I choose to put myself in that position.
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I → be → position
'But if I didn't have that understanding, I probably wouldn't be doing it.'
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I → have → it
John had left the house on foot but his family had no idea where he had gone.
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he → leave → idea
Ms Chalmers-Brown said: 'When I heard he had left the house and that he was missing, having gone on foot, I think I knew he was dead.
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he → say → foot
I juut had that feeling.
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I → have → feeling
'But until you get confirmation, you're always hoping and praying they're wrong.'
John was eventually found around 300m from the point where he was last known to have been.
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he → get → point
He had taken his own life.
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He → take → life
Ms Chalmers-Brown said: 'The compassion and dedication of the volunteers who found my dad was so inspiring.
'
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who → say → dad
I wanted to be able to help families who were in the same situation and get some kind of positive outcome from something that had been so awful.
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that → want → something
Dug was also called into action on Christmas Day in 2024 when a woman had gone out for a walk on her own and become lost as it became dark and her phone was running out of battery.
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phone → call → battery
…and 44 more, not listed.
The Aporia
