Diabetic Alert Service Dog Training

April 6th, 2021 is a day that changed our lives forever. Little did we know when we took Hunter to the pediatrician for having accidents that we thought were because of his autism that we would hear those words we will never forget. “ Your son has Type 1 Diabetes and you have to take him to the children’s hospital immediately to be admitted”. With his Dad deployed a phone call to my mom to immediately come and meet me on base as Hunter and I were too emotional to go alone.

You see Hunter has Autism and was scared of needles, it took 4 nurses to hold him down for a finger prick. JDRF, Nurses, Doctors and staff at Wolfson’s children’s hospital made the diagnosis day just a little easier! I didn’t fully understand what T1D was until we were affected.

This is a scary illness that is minute by minute and second by second to keep him alive. I am very thankful I work at the same school and can help monitor closey, but even still it’s scary. Just today alone he dropped down to 32 and wasn’t really feeling it. While he has Dexcom and an insulin pump they are just that and technology doesn’t always work. Hunters Autism and his ability to say what he is feeling or even understand what he’s feeling, mixed with technology not working makes it very scary for us as parents.

On January 14,2023 we not planning on going into the Clay Animal Shelter walked in! Hunter has had a love of Husky’s his entire life, and wouldn’t you know there was a 1 year old female husky that just became adoptable. The immediate bond they had, made it impossible for us to leave without bringing “Sheba” as the shelter called her home. On the way home Hunter looked at his new puppy and told her she was going to be his best friend, this is something that broke my heart as I know he doesn’t have any friends. Sheba now goes by the name Skylar Rey (after Star Wars) and is love with her boy. We are asking for donations to help us send her to Diabetic Alert Dog Training to become Hunters service dog. We are saving every penny to be able to do this but very hard to do on our salary’s (Moms a teacher and Dad is an e6 in the Navy).

Having Skylar trained would be another way of helping make sure Hunter’s blood sugars are caught before they became dangerous!