Daniel's Life Saving Dog
Donation protected
Hello Friends,
As many of you know, I've had Type 1 diabetes since I was a kid. It hasn't been an easy road and I am not used to asking for help. Earlier this year, I learned about an incredible new "tool" that will greatly improve my quality of life and perhaps even save it. Certain dogs have been successfully trained to sense high and low blood sugars and alert the person to treat it. I need the support of my broad reaching and beautiful community (you) to help me get one of these amazing dogs. Please read on for specific details, or you can skip down to the last paragraph. If you’re already in, please donate today!
Type 1:
It's not the usual diabetes you hear about. Type 1 causes your body to become insulin dependent, meaning you must use insulin injections (i.e. insulin therapy) to stay alive. In conjunction with insulin therapy, it is a near constant effort to track your blood sugar in order to properly dose the insulin. Everything (food, exercise, stress) affects blood sugar levels. Maintaining a safe blood sugar range becomes the name of the game...and it's exhausting. Chronic high blood sugar leads to a host of debilitating conditions (blindness, neuropathy, kidney failure) and severe low blood sugar can lead to a coma, brain damage or death. Diabetes is like tending to a recently sprouted small plant during the heat of summer...and the plant doesn’t mature...so you never get a break. The nature of this disease and the limitations of the tools we have can create serious struggles even when one follows every protocol in the book around management. However, a dog that can accurately sense the shifting of my blood sugar is very likely the most powerful tool I could ask for.
The Amazing Dog:
A handful of breeds have been identified as well suited to this kind of work. Think service dog (that's exactly what they are). I am going to get a Labrador since their disposition is phenomenal with strangers and my work entails constant interaction with new people. The dog is scent trained to my exact chemical profile during the beginning stages of a high or low blood sugar. The dog is trained to immediately alert me by pawing on my leg. They are also trained to sense blood sugar fluctuations while both of us are asleep! I know it sounds impossible, but a dog’s nose still works while sleeping- and the scent can wake them up. This is a tremendous benefit since low blood sugars while sleeping are one of the largest threats to Type 1's, especially if you live alone (which I do). The dog can go anywhere with me, another incredible benefit, given that movies, airplane rides, social events, solo wilderness treks etc. are some of the most challenging environments in which to track and treat changes in blood sugar. In essence, the dog becomes a continuous glucose monitor, with surprising accuracy.
The $ Details:
An already fully-trained adult diabetic service dog costs $20,000 dollars.
Working with trainers and raising the dog myself will cost $15,000 dollars.
There are many business getting into this kind of work lately, some of them on the sketchy side. I have yet to find any standards set by an outside organization. Purchasing a fully-trained adult dog is the most common choice, but I’m opting to go a slightly different route and work directly with the trainers. This option will save me $5,000 dollars while yielding some very important benefits. I get to forge a bond with the dog while it's still young- which is crucial for the dog to be motivated to work with and for me. I get to desensitize the dog to the exact specific aspects of my work environment: large equipment, deep wilderness, job sites, groups of children and adults, etc. And, I get to verify the quality of the training the dog receives, which I believe is extremely important given the highly variable styles and methods of training available.
The Ask:
I’m asking for your help in raising this money. Any size of contribution is welcome. My work, however rewarding socially and spiritually, has not made me wealthy enough to shoulder this cost. The current expense of managing my diabetes is a whole other story, and adds up every year despite being shared with an insurance company. Indeed, as much as I’m asking for your dollar contribution, I’m also asking you to share this with your community. This will not only help me, but will raise awareness of this amazing opportunity for other Type 1 diabetics. I also humbly invite your feedback, ideas, and questions.
I am eternally grateful to know every one of you, and I deeply thank you for taking the time to consider supporting me on this journey.
Woof Woof,
Daniel Aaron Francis
As many of you know, I've had Type 1 diabetes since I was a kid. It hasn't been an easy road and I am not used to asking for help. Earlier this year, I learned about an incredible new "tool" that will greatly improve my quality of life and perhaps even save it. Certain dogs have been successfully trained to sense high and low blood sugars and alert the person to treat it. I need the support of my broad reaching and beautiful community (you) to help me get one of these amazing dogs. Please read on for specific details, or you can skip down to the last paragraph. If you’re already in, please donate today!
Type 1:
It's not the usual diabetes you hear about. Type 1 causes your body to become insulin dependent, meaning you must use insulin injections (i.e. insulin therapy) to stay alive. In conjunction with insulin therapy, it is a near constant effort to track your blood sugar in order to properly dose the insulin. Everything (food, exercise, stress) affects blood sugar levels. Maintaining a safe blood sugar range becomes the name of the game...and it's exhausting. Chronic high blood sugar leads to a host of debilitating conditions (blindness, neuropathy, kidney failure) and severe low blood sugar can lead to a coma, brain damage or death. Diabetes is like tending to a recently sprouted small plant during the heat of summer...and the plant doesn’t mature...so you never get a break. The nature of this disease and the limitations of the tools we have can create serious struggles even when one follows every protocol in the book around management. However, a dog that can accurately sense the shifting of my blood sugar is very likely the most powerful tool I could ask for.
The Amazing Dog:
A handful of breeds have been identified as well suited to this kind of work. Think service dog (that's exactly what they are). I am going to get a Labrador since their disposition is phenomenal with strangers and my work entails constant interaction with new people. The dog is scent trained to my exact chemical profile during the beginning stages of a high or low blood sugar. The dog is trained to immediately alert me by pawing on my leg. They are also trained to sense blood sugar fluctuations while both of us are asleep! I know it sounds impossible, but a dog’s nose still works while sleeping- and the scent can wake them up. This is a tremendous benefit since low blood sugars while sleeping are one of the largest threats to Type 1's, especially if you live alone (which I do). The dog can go anywhere with me, another incredible benefit, given that movies, airplane rides, social events, solo wilderness treks etc. are some of the most challenging environments in which to track and treat changes in blood sugar. In essence, the dog becomes a continuous glucose monitor, with surprising accuracy.
The $ Details:
An already fully-trained adult diabetic service dog costs $20,000 dollars.
Working with trainers and raising the dog myself will cost $15,000 dollars.
There are many business getting into this kind of work lately, some of them on the sketchy side. I have yet to find any standards set by an outside organization. Purchasing a fully-trained adult dog is the most common choice, but I’m opting to go a slightly different route and work directly with the trainers. This option will save me $5,000 dollars while yielding some very important benefits. I get to forge a bond with the dog while it's still young- which is crucial for the dog to be motivated to work with and for me. I get to desensitize the dog to the exact specific aspects of my work environment: large equipment, deep wilderness, job sites, groups of children and adults, etc. And, I get to verify the quality of the training the dog receives, which I believe is extremely important given the highly variable styles and methods of training available.
The Ask:
I’m asking for your help in raising this money. Any size of contribution is welcome. My work, however rewarding socially and spiritually, has not made me wealthy enough to shoulder this cost. The current expense of managing my diabetes is a whole other story, and adds up every year despite being shared with an insurance company. Indeed, as much as I’m asking for your dollar contribution, I’m also asking you to share this with your community. This will not only help me, but will raise awareness of this amazing opportunity for other Type 1 diabetics. I also humbly invite your feedback, ideas, and questions.
I am eternally grateful to know every one of you, and I deeply thank you for taking the time to consider supporting me on this journey.
Woof Woof,
Daniel Aaron Francis
Organizer
Daniel Francis
Organizer
Riverside, CA
