Diabetic Alert Dog for a 5 year old boy

[Version Español Abajo] At age 5 and in just 7 months, this much has happened to our son. Now, can you imagine living a life of this? 1 hospitalized for 10 days 2,100 shots in just 7 months. And the answer is no, nobody gets used to this. 1,260 finger pokes to test for blood glucose. Imagine how many more he must endure if he is just 5 years old. 40,833 additional calories ingested to manage the low blood sugars. Imagine having to add this to your diet and try to maintain a healthy life to avoid other unwanted health complications. 14 site changes for his continuous glucose meter and each one of those times it sucks, BIG TIME! Type 1 diabetes (T1D): It is a lifelong (chronic) disease that can occur at any age. It is most frequently diagnosed in children and adolescents. T1D is an autoimmune disorder in which the body stops producing insulin. Insulin is a hormone that allows the body to convert food into energy. Without insulin, the glucose found in the blood cannot enter the cells. This accumulation of glucose in the blood is called hyperglycemia. The body is unable to use this glucose for energy. This leads to the symptoms of T1D. The tendency to develop autoimmune diseases, including T1D, can be inherited through parents. The amount of diet or exercise that will ever be done will NEVER reverse the condition. If T1D is not treated effectively, in the long term, high sugar levels can damage the kidneys, eyes, nerves, heart and other tissues; and conversely, low levels or hypoglycemia can cause dizziness, sudden fainting and even lead the patient into a coma and death among other consequences.  Unfortunately, controlling T1D in a child is an extremely difficult and tedious task, to say the least. The treatment required to obtain adequate glucose control makes the curricular and extracurricular activities of these children more complicated than that of the rest of their classmates who do not suffer from the condition. Students who suffer from T1D spend most of their day at their school, and there they also need to follow their treatments to stay controlled and avoid further complications in the short and long term. Improper glucose control can not only cause serious health problems such as diabetic ketoacidosis, vision, heart and other problems, but it can also present problems with the student's academic performance. April 2, 2019: for two consecutive nights our son Gael (5 y old) wet the bed and woke up during the night to ask for water because of the insatiable thirst that disturbed his sleep. That Tuesday, April 2, we felt that something strange was happening with Gael and took him to the doctor to do tests to help us understand what was happening. Upon receiving the results and evaluating the symptomatology, the doctor decided to send Gael directly to the emergency room where they proceeded to evaluate him. Upon receiving the blood glucose results of 537 mg / dL (normal levels range around 80 mg / dL) and presence of ketones in the urine the doctor told us that Gael was on the verge of a diabetic ketoacidosis or what they commonly call diabetic coma and that his life was in danger. It was that day, that precise moment where our life took a dramatic turn. Since that day Gael, dad, mom, grandmother and teachers do the best that we can to function as Gael’s nonfunctioning pancreas. With the help of technology, we do our best, but we are not perfect. Initially, we thought that by connecting Gael to an insulin pump and a continuous glucometer we would finally have a break, but it is not so. The technology helps, but when they fail, as all electronic devices can do, a trained dog can provide information to save lives. It is for this reason that we understand that providing Gael with the assistance of a diabetic alert dog we can have an additional component that would help ensure Gael has a long and safe life. These dogs are trained with the smell of their patient's saliva to detect high and low blood sugar levels and alert the patient immediately. Not only do they alert those numbers, but they can detect a sudden increase or dramatic drop in blood sugar as they occur. Just as humans use the sense of vision, the dog captures most information from the world around through smell. The human has about 5 million receptors in his nose, while a dog has about 220 million receptors. Scientists understand that the ability of trained dogs to identify changes in human blood glucose is due to the different chemicals present in the sweat, breath and saliva of humans and that dogs have the ability to detect these changes with near 80 - 90% accuracy. Unfortunately, diabetic alert dogs (DADs) are extremely expensive and rightfully so. The training is so rigorous that it lasts approximately 1.5 to 2 years. Diabetic alert dogs or DADs can cost between $ 15,000 and $20,000. We need your help! Your donation will help us make this improvement in Gael’s quality of life and also offer him an emotional companion that will always be there for him in the highs and the lows. Thank You! ~~~~~ 2 de abril de 2019: por dos noches consecutivas Gael (5 años) se orino en la cama y se despertaba durante la noche a pedir agua a causa de la sed insaciable que le perturbaba su sueño. Ese martes 2 de abril mamá sintió que algo extraño ocurría con él y lo llevo a la doctora para que le hiciera exámenes que ayudaran a entender que sucedía. Al recibir los resultados y evaluar la sintomatología, la doctora decidió enviar a Gael directo a la sala de emergencias donde procedieron a evaluarlo. Al recibir los resultados de glucosa en sangre de 537 mg / dL (los niveles normales oscilan alrededor de 80 mg / dL) y la presencia de cetonas en la orina, el médico nos dijo que Gael estaba al borde de una cetoacidosis diabética o lo que comúnmente llaman coma diabético y que su vida estaba en peligro. Fue ese día, ese preciso momento en que nuestra vida dio un giro dramático. Desde ese día, Gael, papá, mamá, abuela y maestros hacen lo mejor que pueden para funcionar como el páncreas no funcional de Gael. Con la ayuda de la tecnología, hacemos nuestro mejor esfuerzo, pero no somos perfectos. Inicialmente, pensamos que, conectando Gael a una bomba de insulina y un glucómetro continuo finalmente tendríamos un descanso, pero no es así. La tecnología ayuda, pero cuando fallan, como pueden hacer todos los dispositivos electrónicos, un perro entrenado puede proporcionar información para salvar vidas. Es por esta razón que entendemos que al brindarle a Gael la asistencia de un perro de alerta diabético, podemos tener un componente adicional que ayudaría a garantizar que Gael tenga una vida larga y segura. Estos perros están entrenados con el olor de la saliva de sus pacientes para detectar niveles altos y bajos de azúcar en la sangre y alertar al paciente de inmediato. No solo alertan esos números, sino que pueden detectar un aumento repentino o una caída dramática en el azúcar en la sangre a medida que ocurren. Así como los humanos usan el sentido de la visión, el perro captura la mayoría de la información del mundo a través del olfato. El humano tiene alrededor de 5 millones de receptores en la nariz, mientras que un perro tiene alrededor de 220 millones de receptores. Los científicos entienden que la capacidad de los perros entrenados para identificar cambios en la glucosa en sangre humana se debe a los diferentes químicos presentes en el sudor, el aliento y la saliva de los humanos y que los perros tienen la capacidad de detectar estos cambios con una precisión cercana al 80 - 90%. Desafortunadamente, los perros de alerta diabéticos (DAD) son extremadamente caros y con razón. El entrenamiento es tan riguroso que dura aproximadamente 1.5 a 2 años. Los perros de alerta para diabéticos o DAD pueden costar entre $ 15,000 y $ 20,000 durante sus usuales 10 años de servicio. ¡Necesitamos tu ayuda! Su donación nos ayudará a hacer esta mejora en la calidad de vida de Gael y también le ofrecerá un compañero emocional que siempre estará ahí para él en los altibajos. ¡Gracias! Compártelo.