When Paul Jacob’s life was shattered by a devastating motorbike crash at just 21, he could never have imagined that a black Labrador named Cassie would one day become his greatest ally.

Now 42 and a father of two young boys, Paul reflects on how far he’s come since the collision that left him with a spinal injury and changed his life in an instant. Then an apprentice plumber with a bright future, he spent four months at Stoke Mandeville’s renowned National Spinal Injuries Centre before being allowed home.

“To go from being fairly active to being in a wheelchair was quite the change,” says Paul, who lives in Wantage, Oxfordshire, with his wife Ida, a midwife, and their sons Benjamin, nine, and Oliver, seven.

Determined to rebuild his life, Paul retrained as a design engineer just eight months after the accident – a role he still holds today at Warburton Building Services. But it wasn’t until Cassie entered his world that everything began to feel possible again.

Now a fully qualified disability assistance dog, two-year-old Cassie was trained by the Yorkshire-based charity Support Dogs, which provides life-changing help to adults with physical disabilities, children with autism, and people with epilepsy.

“Cassie has been trained to pick everything up off the floor,” says Paul. “I struggle sitting in a chair trying to reach the ground and don’t have the use of my stomach muscles, so balance for me is quite difficult.

“I’ve got two young kids, so there are often lots of clothes and toys – as soon as you turn your back, it’s all on the floor again. Cassie will pick up my shoes, her toys, and she can even take clothes to the washing machine and help load it. She can also pull my socks and jacket off.”

Her talents don’t stop there. Cassie can close doors, push access buttons when out and about, and provides Paul with not just practical help – but emotional support, too.

“When you go from able-bodied to disabled, going outside on your own can be quite scary at first,” he explains. “You don’t know if you’re going to get into a situation, such as falling out of your wheelchair. It becomes quite anxious, but to have a dog with you relieves that anxiety of being on your own.

“Life would be a lot more difficult without Cassie, physically and probably emotionally.”

Paul says Cassie has also helped him reconnect with the world. “It’s about getting out and seeing people – and seeing Cassie in her Support Dogs jacket means people ask how she helps me. Having her trained also means she can come into shops with me, which is a huge help.”

He describes the charity’s work as nothing short of remarkable. “I think it’s amazing what the staff can teach a dog in such a short amount of time and how that affects people’s lives,” he says. “It’s helped me so much – I can only imagine what it has done for others.”

Support Dogs provides all of its services entirely free of charge, relying on public donations to continue its vital work.

To learn more or donate, visit www.supportdogs.org.uk