Diabetic Alert Dog for Lucas

On April 21, 2015, 5 year old Lucas Hembree had his whole life changed with one stick of the finger. Over the course of a few months his family had noticed that he was constantly drinking water (over a gallon every day), going to the bathroom almost every 10 minutes, and was always hungry. At the same time,  he had lost 7 pounds in a 3 month period, which is a lot when you only weigh 49 pounds! His mother sensed that something was off , so she took him to the doctor where they checked his sugar. It was too high to register on the meter. After that, they were sent to Children’s Hospital in Birmingham, where he was admitted and immediately started on insulin. The next few days were a complete blur for Lucas and his mom. They met with multiple doctors, diabetic educators, nutritionists and social workers who were all throwing large amounts of information at them. A 5 year old that will be starting kindergarten in the fall should be learning things like reading, writing, the ABCs, etc. Instead Lucas is learning things like counting carbs, calculating insulin, insulin to carb ratios, checking for ketones, hyperglycemia, hypoglycemia, correction factors, glucose monitors, lancets, tests strips, insulin pens and needles, needles, NEEDLES! He has a whole new vocabulary now. He has to do a finger stick to check his blood sugar 8-12 times per day (if not more). He is now taking insulin shots every time he eats which is 6 or 7 times a day (if not more). He must have his sugar checked at 2am and every 2 hours and treated if necessary with insulin or juice. He has to be awakened every night for this because people with diabetes can experience low glucose levels very quickly and have seizures, go into a diabetic coma, or worse, possibly die.
Activity, excitement, heat and anxiety all cause big changes in the body’s blood sugar. All things that happen to a 5 year old all the time - so he has to be constantly monitored. Lucas does not notice or recognize when he has symptoms of a fluctuation, which is why he has to be checked so often. This is where a DAD (diabetic alert dog) will make so much of a difference. His sugar readings go anywhere from the 30s to the 600s! On top of this, Lucas has asthma which oftentimes needs to be treated with steroids. Steroids make blood sugar go significantly high which requires a large amount of insulin. Since Lucas has been diagnosed with this disease he has blown us all away with his strength! He will have an entire life of daily injections, finger sticks and a constant rollercoaster of highs and lows with his symptoms. Even with all of this he still gets up every day with a smile on his face. This has been a hard thing for his mother to watch. No mother wants to see her child sick or in pain. So she is doing everything she can to make this journey easier for him. His mother has been so strong but still wonders why couldn’t he have a healthy life. He is only 5 and should not have to deal with a burden like this. But Lucas just reminds her that “God made him special!” He is so right! He is always smiling and happy and tells everyone that he is happy for whatever he gets to eat (no matter how many carbs)!
They have started the long, expensive process to get Lucas a DAD (diabetic alert dog). It takes $4000 just to be placed on the active waiting list. The total cost for the DAD will be $25,000. The DAD is trained to recognize from Lucas’s scent that Lucas is having an extreme high or low episode and alert someone that treatment is needed. The DAD will also protect him during the night when his blood sugar can drop drastically. His family feels the DAD will provide better control of his blood sugar and give them some peace of mind while he is at school and away trying to live a normal 5 year old’s life. The DADs can alert to high and low blood sugars up to 45 minutes before the reading on a glucose monitor would show, retrieve third party support and retrieve food and medicine, insulin or juice before it is too late.
Lucas needs everyone’s help with this! We need to get this out to family, friends - whether near or far - to make this happen. Every donation, no matter how big or small, will be one more step closer to Lucas getting to do all the things a normal 5 year old gets to do and provide a little more peace of mind for his family. If you're unable to give a donation at this time, prayers are always appreciated and welcomed. Thank you for anything that you can do to help. We appreciate your continued prayers, love and support during this!