Mackenzie Makatche is a Delco dog mom of nine Newfoundlands who documents her pet parenting journey for more than 37,000 followers on Instagram, writes Stephanie Farr for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Mackenzie Makatche and her mom conspired to bring more Newfoundland dogs into their family.

“She really wanted to start a therapy organization to visit people in the hospital,” Makatche, 28, said. “Little did she know that she was going to be one of those people.”

Makatche’s mom, Diedre, was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2016. The first patient the family’s dogs comforted was the woman who wanted them to comfort others.

The Instagram account Makatche created to document life with her “Newf Crew” in Glen Mills became an outlet to share her mother’s struggle and ask for prayers.

“If it weren’t for the dogs, there would be so many days that I would’ve stayed in bed after my mom died,” Makatche said.

Today, Makatche is pursuing her mom’s dream of creating a nonprofit Newfoundland therapy group. The Newf Crew is now up to nine.  Three have completed therapy training and two more are in the process, with four more to go.

Read more about the Newf Crew at The Philadelphia Inquirer.

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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on DELCO Today in June of 2019.