Hi there! I’m Devon and if you’re seeing this you likely know Olive. If you don't know Olive...I'll introduce her in a bit.

Olive was diagnosed with Transitional Cell Carcinoma of the bladder in early April. TCC is fast metastasizing cancer and because of its location can pose fatal risks. The untreated prognosis for this type of cancer is less than a few months. We are very lucky that we caught Olive's cancer relatively early and it is still very treatable.

Olive will need to undergo additional testing, radiation and chemotherapy to best treat her tumor and the risk of it spreading. This treatment has the potential to extend Olive's longevity from months to years.

I would never be able to put a dollar amount or limit on the quality or care needed for Olive's life and because of that, we are looking for your support with these treatments. All in, we are looking at upwards of $20,000.

Any luck, love, shared post, cent, or dollar you're able to send toward Olive is very appreciated. We will keep updates on this GoFundMe and will also resurrect Olive's Facebook page to keep people updated.

Olive has come everywhere with me on both Baylor and Missouri State campuses. She sat through two degree’s worth of classes, graduated twice and attended my first job interviews with me. She even helped introduce Becket and me…if you can count “please don’t touch her” as an introduction. She and I both fell in love with Becket. Olive walked down our wedding aisle and watched us get married. She certainly appreciates Becket's love and routine in her life.

Olive kept me safe for the better part of 11 years before retiring. She is now allowed to be a little bit naughty and spends most of her day sleeping on the couch, playing with a tennis ball, or tolerating the cat.

It is hard for me to picture what my life would be like…will be like…without her. She has given me more than we ever expected and I feel incredibly lucky that I’ve been able to share this life with her. She has wiggled her way into the collective heart of everyone we’ve met. I am so appreciative of her love and the love our community has shown her.

All Our Love,

Devon, Becket & Olive

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If you haven't met Olive she is a retired Diabetic Alert Service Dog and active Sweetheart. Olive has saved my life (literally and figuratively) more times than I can count and has accompanied me through college, grad school, my first job, meeting my husband, Becket, getting married, moving across the country and more. Here is the start of our story:

I (Devon) was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was 12 years old. I had begun wetting the bed again. I was constantly dehydrated and no amount of water could satisfy my thirst. I was constantly hungry, but too nauseous to eat. From that moment on in my life, nothing would be the same. I would struggle with testing injections, and taking care of myself every day for the rest of my life.

I had ups and downs, both in blood sugars and feelings toward Diabetes, throughout middle and high school. I was fairly regulated until I left for college. During my senior year, I was recruited by Baylor University to ride on their NCAA D1 Equestrian team.

When I went to college, I enjoyed the equestrian team but it also put stress on me that I had never experienced before, both mentally and physically. Not only was I doing more physical activity I was also working hard as a college student at a difficult school. This had a negative impact on my diabetes. The workouts gave me severe post-workout lows and the stress from school work and overtreating lows led to a dangerous combination of uncontrollably high blood sugars.

As you can imagine, my freshman year at college was difficult. At home, I relied a great deal on my parents, close friends and my equestrian coach to help manage my diabetes. They could tell when I was high or low because of my behavior. When I went to Baylor, I knew a few people but no one I was close to. I passed out twice in my first year from low blood sugar. Because I developed hypoglycemic unawareness, I could not tell when I was dropping. One time my hypoglycemia was so severe an ambulance was called to my dorm in the middle of the night. My roommates thought I was drunk. I came out of my room trying to fold my blanket in the hall of our suite and at first, they thought it was amusing and took a video. I suddenly collapsed to the floor and they knew something was wrong. I still struggled with explaining diabetes to people and admitting that I had a disease. My roommates knew I was diabetic but they didn’t know the emergency protocol. I later explained it to them and I am incredibly lucky that they called my parents and tested my blood sugar and found out that I was at a dangerously low level.

I stopped giving the correct amount of insulin so that I could stay at a higher level. This is dangerous for both short and long-term health issues. Being at an elevated level also made it difficult for me to compete on the team and focus on my academics. When you are high you experience symptoms like fatigue, extreme thirst, lack of hunger, and frequent urination. It is incredibly hard to concentrate on anything when you are high, it is like a blockade. You want to focus but something is holding you back, you can read and understand the words but it doesn’t stick or click.

Halfway through my freshman year, I decided I wasn’t going to live my life in fear of chronic disease. We did some research and started talking to Rachel Thornton and Wildrose about getting a DAD. At the time, Continuous Glucose Monitors were not easily accessible and were fairly painful to wear. Now I’m able to tightly control my blood sugars with the use of a Dexcom CGM and insulin pump.

I applied for a DAD and scheduled an interview with Olive’s trainer, Rachel Thornton. Rachel said they were hesitant to give college students DADs because they are so busy and most don’t have time for that type of responsibility. Rachel and I kept in close contact for the next few months and after numerous emails, texts, calls, and Facebook chats later my Mom and I decided to visit Wildrose in Mississippi for a DAD workshop in early May right after I finished my freshman year.

I was at the workshop for maybe fifteen minutes and a DAD alerted me that I was low! He grabbed a bringsel (a squishy baton that hangs off of leashes for dogs to grab when alerting either high or low blood sugars) that was attached to his leash and everyone nearby pulled out their meters to test. Whatever skepticism I had disappeared after his alert.

After the workshop Rachel and I discussed bringing home a DAD to train for the summer. Rachel and Mike Stewart (Wildrose Owner) decided Olive was the best match.

Olive and I worked hard and diligently as a team all summer to try and improve her assertiveness when alerting. Because Olive was so well trained, she was not very confident in grabbing the bringsel to alert.

This was never a problem for me. Olive was never very aggressive with alerting - even after a decade of training. It didn’t matter. I always understood when Olive was alerting, she sits up abruptly or gently nudges me a few times in a row. It is hard for me to think about the exact things she does because it is like a conversation with us.

At the end of July, I was supposed to send Olive back to Wildrose. I still remember this day vividly. Even though it was a beautiful Colorado day, it felt unbelievably somber. I was supposed to meet Mike and Cathy in Vail to give my beloved Olive back. I kept my composure in the car ride over but when we were walking Olive to meet them I was crying. Olive had become the best part of my life and the thought of giving her back was devastating.

As we reached Mike and Cathy I tried to pull myself together. We spent about an hour talking about dogs and Olive and how great she was. As we neared the end of our time together, Mike told me that they didn’t really have a place for her at the kennels right now and that it would help them out if I could keep her until October.

Olive and I carried on as usual. About a week after meeting with the Stewarts I received a wonderful email from Rachel saying I could keep Olive as my DAD if I chose. It came as a complete surprise. I should have guessed something was up when Mike drove an hour and a half to tell me I could keep the dog for another few months. It is one of my favorite moments with Olive and something I will truly cherish is the day that I found out I would be her forever home.