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By Alice Gibbs
Senior Reporter
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A heartwarming video has captured the moment a woman who was paralyzed in a fall surprised her mother by walking again for the first time in five years—but she wasn’t the only one watching.
Lorenza, 26, shared the emotional clip on Instagram, where it has over 1.1 million views. The footage shows Lorenza rising from her wheelchair and taking steps toward her mother, who had no idea she was able to walk again.
“The video was taken in France, because that’s where I’m from,” Lorenza, who now lives in Arizona, told Newsweek. “My husband and I had worked on my walking for months, hiding it from my mother. That was the first time she saw me walking again and she had no idea that I could do it already—it was awesome.”
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But the most surprising part came later. When Lorenza rewatched the video two years later, she noticed something she hadn’t before: her dog Nougy, an Australian shepherd, was pressed against the glass door, watching eagerly.
“I didn’t think at all about Nougy at that moment,” she said. “They put him in the other room because they were scared he would knock me down. It’s when I rewatched the video that I realized that he was just behind the glass, super excited too.”
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A Long Journey
Lorenza’s journey has been anything but easy. At 19, she suffered a devastating spinal cord injury after a 40-foot fall that left her paralyzed.
“It took me five years to manage to walk again,” she said. “Now I can walk with crutches and I use my wheelchair for long distances.”
Throughout the painful years of recovery, Nougy was a constant companion. Lorenza had received him as a gift from her parents when she turned 18, just months before the accident.
“He was with me during the accident and the whole recovery,” she said. “He watched me struggle with the wheelchair, learn to live with the pain of my disability, rebuild a life from scratch, and make my first steps all over again.”
But Nougy has been on his own journey marked by hardship, as he later developed epilepsy.
“He had to be hospitalized and for a time I feared we would lose him,” Lorenza said. “Thankfully he got better, and the first time I saw him again was so heartwarming. He cried with joy when they brought him to the hospital to see me.”
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Spreading Positivity
Now living in the U.S. with her husband, Lorenza continues to share moments of her recovery online under the handle @leausongeante on Instagram.
“I decided to share this moment on Instagram because I thought it was very cute and heartwarming,” she said. “My main goal with my page is to spread positivity and make people feel happy and encouraged, so I often share those small bright moments of my life.”
The video of her walking in front of her mother—and Nougy’s previously unseen reaction—has been met with lots of support.
“The most genuine friendship and happiness,” said one commenter. Another wrote, “Wow! What a beautiful sight filled with love.”
“I received overwhelmingly positive reactions to the video, which made me quite happy,” Lorenza said. “I’m always glad when my videos receive so much love and appreciation; knowing that I’m making a small positive contribution to this world means a lot to me.”
Nougy isn’t the only dog to support their owner through a difficult time. From dogs helping owners feeling unwell in bed to emotional support dogs (even when they have other plans). While some pets have gained viral attention for stepping in at exactly the right moment—like the dog who saved his owner from a rattlesnake bite, putting himself in the way.
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