Best Helping Hands

When she's not sneaking the peanut butter, this highly trained capuchin is the best caretaker a guy could have.

Craig Cook is a 41-year-old quadriplegic, and Minnie is a 5-pound, 15-inch-high capuchin monkey. In 1996, Cook’s life as he knew it came to an end when a car accident left him paralyzed from the neck down. His fiancée and her child left him, and he lost his job and the comfortable lifestyle to which he had grown accustomed.

Thanks to a program called Helping Hands, Cook was paired up with Minnie, a monkey companion who helps him with daily tasks. She also helped him beat his depression and meet his girlfriend of nearly a year. Says Cook, “Once Minnie arrived, I never looked back.”

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Watch our Best Helping Hands honoree in action.

From Reader's Digest - May 2007

 

• Best of America

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