Hi, my name is Abby Hoover and I am a 22 year old Type 1 Diabetic. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 11 years ago at the young age of 11. Growing up with such a demanding disease forced me to grow up faster than other children my age because I had to learn to manage my health on my own. I, along with my family have done everything to help me live my life as normally as possible. After countless doctors visits and weeks upon weeks of hospital stays over the first 5 years after my diagnosis, my blood sugar levels finally were consistent and I finally felt normal

Flash forward to my sophomore year of college, I had a traumatic diabetic episode at the age of 19. My blood sugar dropped so low that I fell into a diabetic coma and was unresponsive and was not able to be woken up. My parents called 911 and the paramedics gave me me an injection to raise my blood sugar and help me regain consciousness. Thankfully, I have not had another incident like this since then, but my body no longer wakes itself up anytime my blood sugar falls below the normal range without someone in my family waking me up or the loud alarms from my Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGM). I am constantly living in fear that I won’t wake up because my blood sugar dropped too low too rapidly.

In the spring of 2020, I adopted Milo, a now 2 year old goldendoodle, with plans to train him to be a diabetic alert dog. With the proper training, he would alert me to any changes to my blood sugar that fall outside of the normal range. Milo has successfully passed his preliminary obedience and basic service trainings that qualify him to be enrolled in the extensive diabetes alert training program. As soon as he is enrolled he will start Scent Training so he can detect any fluctuations in my blood sugar.

Now, Milo and I live an hour away from my family on Slippery Rock University’s campus as I work towards my degree in Public Health in hopes to one day help kids with similar stories. Accessing this training for Milo comes with a great expense that I am unable to afford on my own as a college student. Having Milo finish his Service Dog Training would bring so much peace of mind to myself and my family.

I am starting this go fund me in hopes that the generosity of others will be able to help me in achieving my goal of training Milo as my Diabetic Alert Dog and ultimately help me live independently without fear that I won’t wake up one day from my disease. Thank you for taking the time to consider donating to our cause!

Any additional funds raised over the goal will be donated to Paws with a Cause, a nonprofit organization that provides service dogs to people in great need at no cost.