Help Leeland Get a Life-Saving Service Dog

Hi, we are the Graham’s and we are asking for help to fund the training of a diabetic alert service dog for our 2-year-old son.

In June 2024, our world was turned upside down. Our playful, funny, wild 2-year-old went into diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and was admitted to Riley Children’s Hospital. He was in the ICU for 3 days with an A1C of over 12 and blood sugars in the 500s. Leeland was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). T1D is an autoimmune disease that causes the pancreas to create no insulin. There is no cure, they have no idea what causes it, and if not caught quickly and treated, it is deadly. Without insulin, the body can only survive for a few short days, but thankfully modern medicine helps keep our boy alive one insulin injection at a time.

This journey has been incredibly hard for Leeland. Being only 2 years old, he does not understand all of the needle pokes, extra doctor’s appointments, having to wear devices on his tiny body, and more. The emotional toll on top of the physical toll is immense. As his parents, there is nothing we wouldn’t do to take this from him. We do everything we can to keep him safe, healthy, and help him live the fullest life with T1D. Leeland now wears a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and an insulin pump. The CGM sends glucose readings to our phones every 5 minutes. This, like any technology, is great… when it works. Unfortunately, over the last 10 months of navigating this diagnosis with our boy, we have found that that “when” hits us far too often. At times, the CGM has fallen off his tiny body, had dangerously inaccurate readings, had error codes where it will not work for hours at a time, and more. This has been so hard as knowing his exact blood sugar all of the time is vital as it can change rapidly. A dangerous low can cause seizures, coma, or even death, and high blood sugars can cause severe illness including diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). Timely treatment is so vital. Many T1Ds can feel the change in their blood sugars as the fluctuations can cause confusion, lightheadedness, dizziness, blurred vision, fatigue, and more, but our boy is only two. While he may also feel the fluctuations, he cannot communicate how his body is feeling or what his body is needing. This adds to the danger for us.

With all of this, we are looking to get Leeland a Diabetic Alert Service Dog (DAD). Diabetic Alert Dogs are trained to detect dangerous blood sugar changes up to 45 minutes before his CGM as they can smell glucose levels dropping and rising. We currently have a 10-month-old English Cocker Spaniel puppy, named Goose, who has been evaluated by MD DOGS in Kentucky. MD DOGS noted that Goose has many of the key personality traits to make a great diabetic alert dog as he already shows remarkable skill, critical thinking, and composure. MD DOGS is where we intend to send Goose for his training. They specialize in training diabetic alert dogs, specifically Cocker Spaniels, and have placed remarkable service dogs with families across the US. Goose’s training will take 9-12 months and will cost up to $25,000. This is no easy price tag to swallow, but one we feel so strongly about making happen as Goose will be a life-changing tool to help keep our boy safe. With Goose, regardless of technology fails or delays, we will have extreme peace of mind knowing that we have another tool in our tool belt to keep our boy safe. Our hope is for Goose to be able to start his training at MD DOGS in June 2025. In the meantime, he will continue to be in our home, bonding with us and his boy. We have created a Facebook group: Talk2MeGooseT1D if you would like to check out more of our story and follow Goose’s training. We thank you so much in advance for your time in reading our story and your consideration of helping make this dream a reality.

With love,

Aaron (Dad), Isabel (Mom), Leeland (age 2), Ellie (little sister), and Goose