Living with Type 1 diabetes is complicated, especially if you’re a child. Having to poke your finger, take insulin, and be aware of your blood sugar levels at all times is a lot to take on.
Luckily, people have learned that dogs are capable of being trained to alert parents when a child has low blood sugar. This has led to many people adopting them to watch after their kids.
For Luke, a young child with Type 1 diabetes, his parents knew that he was too young to recognize the symptoms of low blood sugar. That’s why they decided to adopt their diabetic alert dog Jedi, and it wouldn’t be long before they would be thanking themselves for doing so…
Luke was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was two years old. Since he was too young to recognize the symptoms of low blood sugar (a common side effect of the disease,) his parents decided to adopt a diabetic alert dog, who was trained to learn the symptoms.
A person’s blood sugar should be between 70-140. Anything below 70 is considered low and anything above 140 is high. Those who suffer from the Type 1 diabetes have pancreases that don’t naturally produce insulin, so they have to take injections to keep their levels within those numbers.
Luke and Jedi quickly became inseparable, they did practically everything together. The dog understood his role and happily accepted it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t going to be long before he would be putting his training to some serious use…
Recently, while Luke’s parents slept in their bedroom, Jedi started acting strange. His mom recounted the instance in a Facebook post. “This may just look like a dog, a sleeping boy and a number on a screen, but this, this moment right here is so much more. This is a picture of Jedi saving his boy,” her post began.
Luke’s mother went on to say that everything had been fine just five minutes earlier, while she and her husband were in bed. That’s when Jedi came in. “Jedi jumped off the bed, then back on again, though I felt him do this I didn’t wake up. Then Jedi laid on me. I woke up. He jumped off the bed and half on and would not budge when I told him to get back up,” her post continued.
When she went to check Luke’s blood sugar with his continuous glucose monitoring device, it was at 100 — perfectly normal. “So I told Jedi we would watch and see, he bowed again (bowing is his low alert,) I told him to get up on the bed, he held his ground didn’t budge, he refused,” her post continued.
“Then I knew he meant business and the sleepy fog started to wear off and I began to think clearer. I suddenly was fully awake and I knew there was an issue. I pricked his finger and got this, 57 is way too low, and by Jedi’s behavior I guarantee he was dropping fast (he is still recovering from a stomach bug and anything under 70 is low),” Luke’s mother’s post said.
Luke’s mother noted that she had an alarm set to check his blood sugar in an hour, though, that would’ve been too late. Because he is unable to recognize these symptoms himself, his parents have grown accustomed to checking in the middle of the night, every night.
If it wasn’t for Jedi, Luke could have easily slipped into a diabetic coma or even worse, died. Thanks to his three years of training and dedication, their dog saved Luke’s life!
“This is a picture of Jedi saving his boy from a potentially dangerous low. Amidst a disease that does everything in its power to make life so much harder, this is a picture of loyalty and love and perseverance. A reminder that we will not let diabetes win, that we will never give up, and that we will always fight for our children,” Luke’s mother wrote on Facebook.
Luckily, Jedi knew exactly what to do, otherwise, it could’ve been disastrous. These two have an amazing bond!
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