10-Year-Old Diabetes Patient Has a Newfound Buddy, His Diabetic Alert Dog
Recent reports presented a 10-year-old boy from Campbell County who found a new buddy in a diabetic alert dog. According to Grady Lucas' parents, Lauren and Geoff, and his younger eight-year-old brother Grant, they are happy to welcome the dog to their family.
Seven months, according to reports, Las Vegas, Nevada-based Diabetic Alert Dogs of America trained the Golden Doodle. Following this, a trainer flew to Kentucky to have the dog delivered.
She reportedly spent two days training Grady, a Type 1 diabetes patient. As such, the trainer taught him how to give the dog commands and play scent games every day with it.
Grady's shared they just see one happy and healthy kid. The mom added that's why it's so "important to have all these safeguards." When one has Type 1 diabetes, it is possible for him to have low levels of blood sugar "at any time."
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Lucky, the Diabetic Alert Dog
Reports also said, the dog now knows Grady's scent. More so, the said animal is also trained to alert the diabetic boy if "his sugar levels get low." Grady described the dog as "really cute" adding, he was going to help him with his diabetes.
Also, according to the young boy, initially, he planned to name his dog Bob but eventually chose to call him "Lucky" instead.
News report about Grady first came out in 2019, shortly following his "diabetic emergency at school" and he did not receive any alert from his monitoring device.
News reports said the nurse at school recommended that the family consider going through the process of acquiring a "diabetic alert dog."
The community where Grady's family belonged helped him raise funds so they could get the dog. Consequently, after their community rallied behind them, Lucas's family was reportedly able to raise over "23,000" which they said, was enough to secure the alert dog for Grady.
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Timely for School Reopening
Lauren shared, their mind can perhaps, not be on their child's condition for 10 minutes and allow "Lucky" to do his job. She added it's definitely "going to be nice."
Both of their sons are expected to return to school come the middle of September. The Lucas household opted for the "blended learning" choice, so both boys are going to have face-to-face or personal learning at school two days each week, and online learning, three days each week.
This 10-year-old boy's mom also excitedly shared; this will be the first school year for Grady to have Lucky by his side.
The dog, Grady's dad, said, will be in control and "know what to do and how to tell his peers" to acct properly.
How the Diabetic Alert Dogs Work
Diabetic alert dogs like "Lucky" are trained well, to alert their handlers ahead of their hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, as well as their hyperglycemia or high glucose occurrences even before they turn hazardous.
Early detection of a diabetic alert dog lets the handler take the appropriate measures to return their glucose level to a normal range.
Specifically, the Diabetic Alert Dogs of America provides services to individuals regardless of their age, and families suffering from diabetes across the United States.
The organization believes every diabetes patient needs to have an added protection provided by a diabetic alert dog, no matter what his financial situation is.
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Check out more news and information on diabetes on MD News Daily.
Aug 14, 2020 07:34 AM EDT
