Madison's Diabetic Alert Dog

Madison is 16 years old and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 10 in June of 2012. WIth no family history of diabetes and no warning Madison’s own body shut her pancreas down. This has left madison dependent on insulin for the remainder of her life, or until a cure is found. Unfortunately, there can be serious side effects with the use of insulin that can cause a person to have their blood sugar drop dangerously low or run too high. Sometimes, Madison’s body will show signs of low blood sugar and causes her to feel light headed, dizzy, shaky, and have blurry vision, but not always. This can be very scary as low blood sugar without warning can result in a diabetic coma or worse, death. To prevent this Madison’s family has to check on her while sleeping to make sure she is ok. Madison at one point tried a continuous glucose monitor which was attached to her body. Although this device has alarms for when her blood sugar was too high or low, she would not wake up for it when the device tried to alarm her. Turns out Madison is a very sound sleeper. 

This is where a diabetic alert dog can be very helpful. Unlike the alarms that she can sleep through, this animal will be able to physically wake her up. The alert dogs have the ability to sense the chemical change in blood sugar before it occurs to allow their handler to make corrections, so neither a severe high or low occurs. With having this type of service dog it will help Madison and her family have a little bit more peace of mind, especially as she is becoming more independent. 

Training for this dog is costly as it is trained for a specific individual. We are hoping that you are willing to help us reach our goal of getting a diabetic alert dog for Madison.

If we manage to surpass our goal, all extra money will be donated to Ron and Vicki Santo Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation and help another person with diabetes afford the alert dog that they need. 

Thank you for your support!


Diabetic Alert Dog Foundation