Diabetic Alert Dog for Christy Schaefer

As most of you know, my daughter Christy has Type 1 diabetes.  She has had this disease for nearly twelve years. During this time she has been insulin dependent.  Unlike type 2 diabetes, her body does not produce any insulin at all.  She has to administer insulin anytime she eats.  The first two years she did very well and was able to work full time and obtain her teaching degree.  As time went on, her blood sugars became harder to manage and she struggled with high livels.  She was in the ICU six times with Diabetic Ketoacidosis, a life-threatening condition where your body begins to break down fat and causes your blood stream to become toxic.  

After these life-threatening episodes she began using insulin pump therapy which has been a real blessing.  She has to calculate her carb intake and program her pump, which gives her the insulin she needs to process the food she eats.  It also gives her a continuous dose of insulin, replacing the slow acting insulin she had to take before.  She no-longer has to give herself five shots a day.  Through all of this, Christy has handled things very well.  Until very recently she has been working two jobs to pay for her endless medical expenses, besides buying insulin, testing supplies, pump supplies, and meters, which are costly.  

On Monday, June 30th, 2014 Christy was supposed to go have some blood work done.  She had to fast through the night.  She woke up at 3am with a low blood sugar.  She had to eat as the inlusin pump only corrects for high blood sugars.  At 11:30 am, I found Christy unconsious, unresponsive, and seizing.  When the paramedics arrived her blood sugar was only 16 (normal levels are between 80-120).  The paramedics quickly gave her an IV and saved her life.  If I had found her ten minutes later, she would not be here with us today.  Christy has had low blood sugar before, but has always awakened before it became dangerously low.

She is in need of a diabetic alert dog.  These dogs are trained to wake diabetic patients up if their blood sugar goes low (below 80) or high (above 150), so that these levels can be corrected before they become life-threatening.  These dogs can save lives, but do not come cheap.  The end cost of obtaining the dog, training it, getting vaccinations, and having the dog flown out, as well as training Christy on how to work with the dog is $15,000.  Any help you could give to help fund her alert dog would be greatly appreciated.  I know how scared I am to go to sleep now.  I can't imagine how scary it is for her. Than you for your kindness and may God bless you.