A Colby woman has relived the moment that she saved from drowning by her dog.

On Saturday evening Alicia Corlett was playing fetch on Castletown beach with her dog Wilfred when things took a turn for the worst.

She had just thrown Wilfred’s toy far out into the sea for him to retrieve and as he went to get it she started to experience a seizure.

She dropped to the ground unconscious and fell face down into the sea, as she had thrown the toy in from the water’s edge.

Wilfred is a seizure alert /response assistance dog for Alicia, who has a seizure disorder, which is non-epileptic.

Her seizures are triggered by a chemical imbalance in the brain, meaning she often has over 20 seizures a day where she falls completely unconscious.

Wilfred is trained to alert and respond.

He will let Alicia know when she is about to have a seizure with enough time for her to sit down on the ground.

He responds to seizures by licking her face and nuzzling her neck which counteracts the chemical imbalance and brings her round.

As he was out in the sea on Saturday, he was too far out to have alerted her in advance, meaning when she threw his toy out for him to retrieve, she had no advanced warning of what was to come.

Alicia fell into the sea on an uneven section of sand, meaning her head was submerged and her boyfriend who was there at the time was not able to get her up and out of danger.

Wilfred quickly paddled in as fast as he could to get to her and bring her round.

Alicia described the experience as ’horrendous,’ saying ’when I came round I was so disorientated.

’I was coughing up water from deep in my lungs and I had cut my head when I hit it on the rocks.’

She described how upon waking up she wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, but waking from a seizure in which she had clearly been submerged under the water was ’just the most terrifying experience.’

Alicia has a Facebook blog which documents her life with Wilfred entitled ’Wilfred the Wonder Dog’.

Following the seizure on Castletown beach, she recounted the experience for their hundreds of followers.

She said: ’Alicia hereâ?¦Wilfred the wonder dogâ?¦ saved my life today.

’He’s my absolute hero and deserves a medal.

’If it wasn’t for him I would have drowned today.’

She continued: ’Thank goodness for Wilfred and of course my amazing boyfriend who tried his absolute best to help me but said that he didn’t know what he would have done if it wasn’t for Wilfred.’

Alicia told the Manx Independent that Wilfred is being extra spoiled as a reward for his daring rescue.