My name is Danity Gunter. I will be 7 years old on February 25th. I love princesses (especially Elsa from Frozen), coloring, writing, going to school and cuddling with my family. I asked my mommy if she would help share my story with you guys. When I was born I was always sick. I couldn’t gain weight, I had respiratory infections all the time, ear infections almost monthly and if I got a cut it never healed. I was always sad and cried a lot. My mommy tried everything to make me feel better but nothing worked. I always had bruises on my arms because the doctors had to poke me for blood. That made me sad too. When I got bigger, I kind of got better. I think I was use to always feeling weird so I just ignored it. When I was almost three I started to get worse. My mommy took me to the urgent care everyday for three weeks but they didn’t do anything. I lost 19 pounds, I was always thirsty, I had headaches that never stopped, I smelt like rubbing alcohol, I went potty a lot.. like a lot, a lot and I didn’t like to eat anything. My mommy knew something was wrong but she didn’t know what it was. The doctors told her she was crazy and that she had to stop bringing me in everyday. My mommy and daddy decided to take a trip to Louisiana. I was so excited because it was our first family trip. Just me, my baby brother, my mommy and my daddy. We left really early in the morning. It was still dark out. We drove forever and ever and ever. We got to drive on a highway that was in the middle of the ocean! It was so cool. I really wasn’t feeling well so both mommy and daddy said we should go back home but first we had to stop and say bye to our Grinny. Mommy and daddy talked to Grinny about me and how I was acting, she said it sounded like Diabetes so she poked my finger. Grinny was so scared and yelled at mommy and daddy telling them to take me to the emergency room right away. So we went back to the hospital, again. There were doctors everywhere, running around, poking me with really big needles and yelling. All of a sudden it was quiet and my mommy was crying. The doctors said I have Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes. I had to stay for a very long time until I was ok to go home by airplane. I got older and I didn’t like that I was different. I didn’t like that I had to poke my finger and get 9 shots a day. I didn’t like that my mommy would say no to me having candy. I was so mad at everyone. I hated being me. I kept getting really sick because I had high and low numbers. A year ago I had a seizure because of my Diabetes. I couldn’t move my arm, my hand was tight, I kept throwing up. It was scary. The doctors said it was because my blood sugar was really low and my body had no more energy to fight and that’s why I had my seizure. No tests were done. I was happy for that. On February 2, 2015 I woke up screaming. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t swallow, I was drooling, all of my right side was not working. I heard my mommy talking to me but I couldn’t answer her. Ambulance people came. They were talking to me but I couldn’t answer back. I was so scared. All I could do was cry. My body wasn’t moving. The doctors said I had a seizure again, but they were wrong. I had a stroke. My body is getting weaker and I am getting use to feeling yucky again. That’s not good. My doctor told my mommy that they recommend getting me a service dog that can smell when I am in danger with my Diabetes and that will be my friend so I don’t feel alone, but we can’t afford to get one by ourselves. I am afraid to go to sleep because bad things happen when I sleep. I don’t like seizures and strokes. Please help me get a service dog so I can be and feel safe.