She is the first person in Audrain county in more than 25 years to get a guide dog from the Lions Club Leader Dogs for the Blind Program.

She recently returned home to Mexico from Rochester, Mich., where she underwent just a little more than three weeks of intensive with her dog, a female yellow Labrador Retriever named Brinkley. Both her mother, Vivian, and her father Donald, can't say enough about the Lions Club and what it has meant to them. The Noon Lions Club has not only been a part of the Leader Dogs for the Blind School, but also paid Smith's travel expenses to and from the school. None of this would have been possible without the Lions Club." Vivian says. Melissa Smith's sister, Crystal, 15, is glad to have her home again and she's glad to have Brinkley home too.

Melissa Smith was born and raised in Mexico. At age 6, she had an allergic reaction to medication and developed Stephens-Johnson Syndrome, which left her blind. It's one thing to be born blind, but to have the precious gift of sight taken from you after you already have experienced it, well, that's quite another thing. The young woman seems to have no bitter feelings about it all. And those who know her would be the first to tell you that Melissa Smith will not sit back and feel sorry for herself. Said Sarah Kent, a family friend of many years who, along with the Smith family has seen Melissa Smith grow from a little girl into a young woman; "I am amazed at this girl and the things she does. Why, she even ran cross country in high school." Up until now, Smith used an unsighted person's cane to get around in the world.

Many people can get a feel for what it is like to be blind by simply closing their eyes. But just imagine, if you closed your eyes and could never open them again? That's what Melissa Smith's world is like. Sighted people can see a limb in the way when walking. She cannot. Sighted people can see cars coming down the street, or see a curb on the street. but she cannot. At the same time. Melissa Smith can hear especially well the birds singing in the morning - in fact, many unsighted people say they can actually smell the morning! The cane, until now, was an extension of her eyes, but one that dealt with the sense of feel and not sight. Sure, she could get around, but in her own words, it was a slow process.

In 1983, the Smith family moved outside of town to open the Smith Stables and the Equine Shop. Horses have always been a part of the Smith family's environment. "My grandpa had horses before we moved here," Melissa Smith said. For some reason, horses know that Melissa Smith is a special young woman. She and her mare go for long rides in the country, and the horse seems to know that the friend on her back cannot see and takes special care of her. And her mother talks of a friend with a horse that has a penchant to bite everybody that comes close to it, except for Melissa Smith.

She said that except for a short stint on Wednesday, Brinkley had not been away from her side. In fact, during an interview Wednesday the dog , stayed at her feet underneath a table while the white, long-haired family cat crept closer and closer in an attempt to get to know this new intruder.

With Brinkley, who is a working dog in the true sense of the word, Melissa Smith will be able to walk a lot faster, something she will need when she begins college classes at William Woods College in Fulton later this year. "With a cane you find every single obstacle, Melissa Smith said. "But you have to move slow." Brinkley is Melissa Smith's eyes, and she will be able to move so much faster.

The process to get Brinkley began a few years ago. Melissa Smith said she always wanted a dog - not just a guide dog, but a pal, a buddy, a dog of her own. Several years ago Melissa Smith mentioned to her parents that she wanted a guide dog. Her parents, who know Kent from the 4-H Club they collectively belonged to, talked to Kent, who was also in the Lions Club, and from there, the rest is history.

First, an exhaustive application including references and even a physician's explanation must be filled out. Also, the school will not let someone under 18 years old have a guide dog, so Melissa Smith had to be 18 when she got her dog. She slid just under the wire on that requirement. After filling out the application an evaluation committee reviews the material and makes the assignment for the applicant to get a guide dog. A person and dog are not matched up until the person actually arrives at the Leader Dogs for the Blind School, Melissa Smith says. The school is located on 14 acres outside of Rochester and includes training facilities and a dormitory for the students. Melissa Smith said students come from all over the world. The only requirement is that they are legally blind and in good health. She says that instructors try to teach students most of the things they will need to know about their dog and working with a dog during the school.

At 17 months old now, Brinkley was just a baby when Melissa Smith began filling out the application form. By the time she arrived for training, Brinkley already had undergone extensive training, from learning to walk with a harness to watching for every obstacle in the path and walking around it.

Melissa Smith admits she was about as excited as, she could get the day she got Brinkley. "They don't tell you what kind of dog you are going to get, so you learn to listen for clues, like the time the instructor told me to tell my dog 'Good girl" and I knew then my dog was going to be a girl," Melissa Smith said, her face split by a, growing smile as she spoke.

"Now, when I want to go somewhere, I can just, go, I don't have to wait for someone to go with me," she said. Oh, there's still some trust building that will have to be done between the two, but to look at them together, one gets the feeling that special bonding Melissa Smith can have with animals has already taken place. For the founders of the school, the idea for guide dogs for the blind came in a dream in 1939. And for Melissa Smith, getting Brinkley is another dream, but this one has come true as did the Leader Dogs for the Blind School. "This has been a dream that they (the Lions Club) made come true," Melissa Smith said. "Thank you!"

NOTE: This article first appeared in The MexicoLedger Mexico Missouri and was written by staff writer Tom Purdom. Minor changes have been made to the article. The photo is a Mexico Ledger Photo.