Almost five years have passed since then.
Now I am a college student, but I still remember that day vividly.
And only now have I been able to gather the strength to tell what happened then.
It was a normal weekday.
After school, my sister and I were walking home together, as usual.
We live on the top floor of a high-rise building, so we took the lift.
While we were waiting, we chatted, laughed, and shared news — everything was as usual.
A few seconds later, a man in his mid-thirties with a large light-coloured dog joined us.
My sister and I love animals, and when we saw the Labrador, we were delighted.
My sister reached out to pet him, but suddenly the situation changed dramatically.
The dog froze, staring intently at her.
Then he came close, stood up on his hind legs and put his heavy paws on her chest.
My sister screamed, on the verge of tears, and I couldn’t move from the shock.
We both thought he was going to bite her.
The Labrador began to bark loudly and anxiously.
The man immediately pulled on the leash, calming the dog and repeating:
‘Don’t worry, he’s not aggressive.’
But I, choking back tears, blurted out:
‘If he’s so nice, why did he attack my sister?!’
She’s shaking all over! I’m going to tell my parents everything!
The man suddenly became serious.
His expression changed.
And in a quiet voice, he said something we didn’t expect to hear:
“My dog is not just a pet.
She is trained to detect people with cancer.
If he senses a tumour, he signals it by jumping and barking… We work together at the clinic.
I think you should tell your parents and definitely get checked out.
After that, everything was a blur.
At first, my parents didn’t believe it, but they took my sister to the doctors anyway.
The diagnosis was confirmed.
A long and difficult struggle began.
Hospitals, tests, treatment — all of this became part of our lives.
We hoped, we believed, we tried to hold on.
But miracles don’t always happen.
Sometimes even the warmest hopes fade too soon.
Now I live on, I study, but every time I get into the lift or see a dog, I feel my heart sink.
One thing I know for sure: that incident gave us precious time.
Time to tell her how much we love her.
Time to be together.
If it weren’t for that Labrador…
We might never have known.
