What a diabetes assistance dog can do

It’s tough being a diabetic or having a diabetic child, things change everyday so not everyday is the same. One thing may work one day the next could be a different story. My son (Jaxon) is the first in the family to be diagnosed with diabetes, so when Jaxon was diagnosed I went into shock! I had to learn fast and on the spot, some days I felt like I was a lousy back up pancreas. During this Jaxon has learnt so much even tells people that his pancreas is broken.

When I was researching diabetes assistance dogs (DAD) I had came across videos on YouTube, the videos showed how a diabetes assistance dog has helped people. Some videos was of a family with a child who has diabetes, the dog alerted to the child's low sugars and grabbed the child’s glucose monitor and gave it to her. Another video showed how a diabetic went low in the shopping centre and alerted them to the low sugars. A diabetes assistance dog can detect low sugars using its sense of smell, to get a trained dog like these costs over $30,000.

When Jaxon and I applied to get a service dog through smartpups to help Jaxon with his diabetes. When we applied Jaxon had been in and out of the hospital having trouble with his sugar levels or him being sick with a virus that affected his sugars.

In 2020 I had to contact the emergency services for Jaxon as Jaxon went really low in sugar that he went unconscious and started to have seizures. During this moment I was so scared, it was the scariest moment of my life, I was in tears and felt like my heart was racing.

This is not the only time he had to go to the hospital. Just recently I had to take Jaxon to the hospital to get help to bring down his sugar levels. Jaxon caught a virus that made his levels high that even ketone started to climb. As his ketones went high 3.7 (should be at 0) Jaxon started to vomit everywhere. The hospital put Jaxon on a drip to put fluids into his body.

There would also, be times where we would be on a walk and Jaxon had randomly dropped in sugar levels and I didn't realise it dropped until I tested his sugars when we were about to get lunch. He does have a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) but he has allergies to adhesive tape. We have tried numerous types but all the tapes would either rip the skin off, cause blisters and or cause a red rash. These CGM’s are meant to last a week but every time I put a new one on the ends up scratching it that much he rips it off so it only lasts either a couple of hours or lasts a day. One of these dogs won't replace a CGM but it will help him, allow me to have some sleep. The dog won't only save his life but it will be Jaxons best friend who he can count on. If you would like to help Jaxon get something that can help him by donating by visiting this link. https://www.smartpups.org.au/campaigns/smart-pup-for-jaxon-38216/

Who are SmartPups?

If you're asking yourself who are Smartpups? Smartpups is a not for profit organisation that has rehomed over 200 pups that have been trained by smartpups to help special needs and medical needs children. They also help adults too.

Smartpups encourages families to fundraise $20,000 while they try to fundraise the last $10,000. Jaxon and I have worked hard to fundraise the $20,000. We have written blogs on what we have done. We now only have $2000 to go and only 13 months to go till we get our pup and we are so excited. Jaxon has told me that he wants a black dog with a pink bow and then he goes on to tell me that pink is his favourite colour. As we get closer to the time when we get the pup, Jaxon and I will be sharing our journey and our adventures with the bonding, giving Smartpups his low sugar samples to help train our pup and bringing our pup home to Jaxon.

If you like our post please give it a like and a share. If you would also like to see more of our adventures with Jaxon and his diabetes service dog please help with a small tip, all proceeds go towards this amazing charity that will help many children.

Much love and thank you from Tanika and Jaxon. ❤️

Once we get the assistance pup we will be showing videos and phots of our journey getting the beautiful pup.