A grieving pooch is making good use of her heart-melting puppy eyes by raising money for charity in memory of her best friend.
Aggy the Lhasa Apso has been walking with her tail between her legs and her head toward the ground since her owner, Diane Fedida died of breast and bone cancer in February this year.
Ms Fedida was a mother, grandmother, musician, violin and viola teacher from Felixstowe, who found a life-long companion in Aggy.
While the 60-year-old was ill, her friend of 25 years, Helen Lakey offered to walk Aggy, every day, and the pair would often be greeted by people cooing over the pretty pup.
“Aggy’s cheeky face attracted attention whenever we were out and that made the dog’s tail wag madly,” Mrs Lakey said.
Once Ms Fedida knew her disease was terminal, she asked Mrs Lakey if she would take care of Aggy – whose tail stopped wagging when Ms Fedida left her.
“Diane just loved her to bits, she really did,” Mrs Lakey added. “When Diane died it was quite hard for Aggy, and without Aggy Diane would have found her illness far more difficult to bear.”
Two months on, and Mrs Lakey, 60, has decided to put the canine’s cuteness to the test by using her as the face of a fundraising drive in aid of Cancer Research UK.
She said: “Good could come from Diane’s death if her beloved pet raises lots of money for Cancer Research. Diane would be so proud – her little Aggy helping to fight this horrible disease.”
One of Ms Fedida’s two sons, Alexander, tragically died in 2003 at the age of 23 in a motorcycle accident. Her youngest son, Dan lives in Surrey and has just had a daughter, Jessica, who Ms Fedida was able to see before she died.
Mrs Lakey and friends of Ms Fedida will be donning Make Aggy Waggy t-shirts over the next few weeks to raise awareness of the drive and requests can be made for Aggy to attend businesses, events and venues for photo opportunities.
The campaign has so far raised more than £400. To help make Aggy waggy again visit justgiving.com/makeaggywaggy or text AGGY70 £1 (or more) to 70070.
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