'In my darkest hour, I reached for a hand and found your paw'

When Nicola found Buddy, abandoned and broken, she vowed to do all she could to help save him. What she didn't know at the time was that this little dog would in turn save her.

Monday morning, 27th April 2009.

The sat nav told us we'd reached our destination. The rain was pelting down, the kind that feels as if buckets of water are being chucked at the windscreen.

I'll never forget that day. The horror, fear and the uncertainty of what was to come are still etched on my memory. But I didn't know that in that moment, somewhere off the M1 in a place that seemed as unnerving as it was eerie, I would find something so precious that would change my life forever.

That was the day I discovered my Buddy, abandoned in a crate, unable to move and so frail that he only had moments to live. He stopped me in my tracks, and without pausing to think I scooped him up and quickly ran from the scene. This was no place for people or animals.

Slowly, as I learned to take care of this broken little dog, I began to realise with each new day that as I was saving him, he too was helping to free me from my past.

This is the story of Buddy and me: a remarkable true story of survival, hope, and never giving up, no matter how hard life gets.