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Blind Marathon Runner Shares Joy, Benefits Of Pet Therapy At Mass Eye & Ear

BOSTON (CBS) -- Nine years ago, Somerville's Will McNamara had a terrible biking accident. He was left paralyzed from the chest down and unable to see in both eyes.

"I was in a really bad place," remembers McNamara. "I was possibly never going to walk again and lost my vision in the same day."

After surgery and several months of intense rehabilitation, he beat the odds.

"I was able to stand up," McNamara recalls, "And then I was able to walk and then I was slowly able to jog and now I can run."

But he was still legally blind.

"I can see the blue in the sky and the green in the grass," he explained. "But detail is very difficult for me."

McNamara consulted doctors at Mass. Eye and Ear who said they had little to offer, but convinced him to raise money for research by running the Boston Marathon with Team Eye and Ear.

This year will be his eighth Boston Marathon since his accident, and he's raised nearly $100,000 for the hospital.

But McNamara still wanted to do more, this time, with a furry member of his family named Riva.

A large part of McNamara's recuperation involved pet therapy, so he had his own 9-year old Newfoundland trained to be a therapy dog last fall. He now comes back every week to cheer up patients on the pediatric ward at Mass. Eye and Ear, like 8-year old Colleen Hachey of Norwood, who just had her adenoids removed.

"[Riva] makes me feel happy because she's big and she's behaved so well," says Colleen.

"[Riva] really perks them up from being really tired or sleepy, recovering from surgery, to being really happy and excited and motivates them to want to get up and play," says Ashley Hoyt, a Child Life Specialist on the pediatric ward at Mass. Eye and Ear.

McNamara says that offering this pet therapy fulfills an important life mission for him now.

"Knowing that I can give people a little bit of hope," he says, "And a little bit of faith that with a little bit of hard work and a whole lot of love that they can get their independence back or get back to what they like to do, that's my greatest cause."

He is optimistic that advances in technology at Mass. Eye and Ear will help him see again. In the meantime, he plans to keep running, keep raising money, and keep sharing Riva with patients on the mend.

Click here to for more information and to donate to McNamara's Mass. Eye & Ear Team!

Stay tuned for more coverage of the 119th Boston Marathon on CBSBoston.com and WBZ-TV — the exclusive local broadcast home of the Boston Marathon!

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