Wells’ Type ONEderful Wish for a Service Dog!

On November 8th, 2023 our family had just finished a day of celebrating our oldest daughter’s 10th birthday when our entire world stopped on a dime. Our 3 year old son, Wells, had been incredibly thirsty for a few weeks and was suddenly having potty accidents again. Upon checking his blood sugar with a glucometer at home (I thank my hypochondriac heart for thinking to do this), we discovered his blood sugar was 600. A normal blood sugar range being 80-120, we knew immediately we were in for the scariest ride of our parenting journey… and we couldn’t have been more right. I rushed him as quickly as I could safely drive to Wake Med Hospital where we bipassed the entirety of the very full waiting room. We were rushed to the back as nurses and doctors flooded into our room by what seemed like the dozens, they immediately placed 2 IVs, started fluids, and began saving his life. Let me tell you, your 3 year old being the largest emergency in a full emergency room is a horrendous feeling. I can still feel the pit in my stomach today when I think back on it.

It’s been nearly 6 months since his diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes, and I wish I could say his symptoms are better or that this is easier on him and on us. The ugly truth of this disease is that it never really gets easier, we just grow stronger as we go through it. Wells has become braver than any 3 year old should EVER have to. His fingers are poked with needles many times a day, as well as insulin pump insertions every 2 days and Dexcom (his continuous glucose monitor) insertions every 10 days. We could not be more proud of how resilient he has been. Unfortunately, despite how resilient we have all become through this, we still live in a very scary reality that this disease can and does take lives. A blood sugar too low is an immediate threat to our sweet 3 year old’s little life, and it’s a fear that is on the forefront of our minds as parents 24/7. Because Wells is so young, he is completely asymptomatic with his high and low blood sugars. Even scarier, he still goes into the dangerously low zone many times a day and night. His Dexcom does help us some with this, as it helps us keep a continuous monitor on his numbers. However, the Dexcom has a 15-20 minute delay (because it reads interstitial fluid instead of blood) and usually Wells is well into the danger zone by the time we are alerted. Additionally, the Dexcom (as much as we love it) is just not perfect technology. Sometimes the entire device fails, the number readings are often drastically wrong, sometimes the app it runs on goes down, it doesn’t work at all while in water (bath, swimming), every time we change it there is a 2 hour warm up cycle where it does not give us his numbers at all, amongst many other things that make us unable to solely rely on his Dexcom. Most recently at a birthday party he dropped to a blood sugar of 40 while running around playing and none of us had a clue until I saw him walking a little funny, all because of the 15 minute delay on his CGM. I’m pretty sure my face went ghost white when I saw that number, and I’m still so thankful he did not go unconscious and start seizing that day.

The idea of a service dog (diabetic alert) for Wells was mentioned to us by many people shortly after his diagnosis, and we have been researching ever since. Diabetic alert dogs are INCREDIBLY valuable tools in a diabetic tool belt, as they can smell a change in blood glucose and alert up to 30-40 minutes before a continuous glucose monitor can! These are truly life saving minutes to a diabetic. Additionally, diabetic alert dogs can help with retrieving emergency low treatments, provide deep pressure during site changes, can retrieve help from another adult in public in the case of an emergency situation, as well as many other helpful or even life saving tasks. After tons and tons of research, we truly believe a diabetic alert dog could and would help us continue saving Wells’ life every single day. But, a hero with 4 paws does come with a cost. Service dog programs spend between $40,000-$60,000 to raise and train each dog from puppyhood. So much time, energy, effort, and love goes into these beyond special dogs. We know their price is justified, we just need a little help from our community to get there!

We are so thankful for all of our family, friends, and strangers near and far that have supported our journey since November. You have all continued to love us so well, at our highest highs and on days where we felt like we couldn’t take another step. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you. Every dollar, comment, like, or share means the absolute world to us, and to our Type ONEderful Wells.