Radar Finds His Purpose

It's been two years since the New York Islanders picked Radar to be the team's first Puppy with a Purpose.
Since then, the golden lab has gone through two years of training, all in the name of becoming a guide dog and assisting a visually-impaired person.

On Thursday, Radar found his purpose, as he was paired with Anastasia Pagonis, a visually-impaired 16-year-old from Garden City. It was a beautiful scene, with Radar jumping up and licking Pagonis when they met in the stands of Northwell Health Ice Center. Soon after he was patiently sitting at her side, where he'll be from here on out.
"It feels magical," Pagonis said. "I never thought in a million years that I'd have this little guy with me and I just feel so lucky to have him in my life and to take care of me. Now I can be independent, I never thought that I would have independence and now that I have him, I feel that."

Pagonis started to lose her vision when she was 11 to Stargardt's disease, a genetic disorder that causes macular degeneration. At 14, she'd completely lost her vision and along with it, she'd lost things like her soccer career, love of swimming, social life and her independence.
"I didn't want to live anymore, I felt hopeless and worthless and that if I was going to be blind that I had no point being in this world," Pagonis said.
That's a heartbreaking thought from a teenager, but it was only the start of Pagonis' story. With the help of a supportive family, close friends and doctors, she learned how to cope with her visual impairment. She had a swim coach who blacked out his own goggles to relate to her swimming experience. She found inspiration in the form of Molly Burke, a blind motivational speaker, model and Youtuber, who showed Pagonis that she could still do amazing things with her life.
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And she has. Pagonis is currently swimming for the U.S. Paralympics Swimming Emerging Team and will be headed to the Tokyo Olympics. She and Radar are going to spend the next year living and training at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. Fittingly, Pagonis' swim team on Long Island are called the Islanders.
"I wanted to show people, hey look at me, I'm an elite athlete and I can swim and I'm blind," Pagonis "Showing people, look at this, you can be something even if you are blind and have a disability, you can still do something with your life."
Radar will help her continue to grow and gain her independence back. If there was a moment that truly encapsulated what having a guide dog meant to Pagonis, consider that she walked into Northwell Health Ice Center on her mother's arm and walked on her own - with Radar.

"Radar is going to provide her a whole new life," Jon Miller, President and CEO of The Guide Dog Foundation, said. "In terms of being able to be independent, being able to conquer the world. She's got the right personality to do that and Radar will help her on her way."
How Pagonis and Radar came to be paired was another stroke of luck. The Pagonis' happen to be neighbors with Radar's puppy raiser, and he brought Radar over to their house when he was an energetic pup. As it turns out, Radar's temperament and energy levels are a good match for an elite athlete.
"I was like, 'man, this dog is so hyper and so crazy, he can't be a guide dog," Pagonis said. "Then he went through all of this training and here he is now and he's perfect, we're a perfect match, a match made in heaven."
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The Guide Dog Foundation, the Smithtown-based organization that raised, trains and places guide dogs, said that kind of serendipity rarely happens, but the pairing process is one of the most important. Pagonis interacted with several other dogs as well, but Radar was the right fit.
"One of the things we take very seriously as an organization is making sure we have the right dog with the right set of skills for the right person and temperament," Miller said. "Anastasia is very active, she's a swimmer, very active teenager and Radar is the right dog for her."

Pagonis, who has a
sizable Instagram following
, a platform she uses to inspire other people with disabilities, had her picture taken with Radar before leaving Northwell. She joked that at first she felt bad about filming the dog in a TikTok, but that Radar might be used to being on camera after all the attention he got at Islanders games.
"He's famous," Pagonis said with a laugh.
Miller said the heartwarming scene of seeing a guide dog go home with its new partner never gets old and is the ultimate thrill of the job. He's glad to see the Foundation's partnership with the Islanders pay off in the way it did on Thursday.
"It's one of the most magical components of what we do," Miller said. "Not all of our dogs make the cut, Radar made the cut and did incredibly well. He's going to be a great partner for Anastasia as they go forward. Two years ago when we embarked on this partnership with the Islanders, you never know how it'll end. I cannot imagine this story having a better ending than we have right here right now."