BUNKER HILL - Karrington and Zachary Bostick of Bunker Hill are raising funds to obtain a Diabetic Alert Dog (DAD) for their youngest son, Declan, who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in January 2024.
The fundraiser aims to cover the extensive and costly training required for the service dog, as well as travel expenses for trips approximately six hours away.
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Declan is hypo- and hyper-unaware, meaning he does not recognize when his blood sugar levels are dangerously low or high. According to Karrington Bostick, a DAD could alert the family 15 to 30 minutes before Declan’s Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) detects a problem, potentially preventing emergencies.
“Those minutes could be the difference between a normal day and an emergency,” she said.
Bostick shared an example to illustrate the potential benefit of a DAD: “He had been dosed for a snack and then we had an impromptu dance party in the living room. His CGM told me that he was at 85, which is a perfectly safe number but I could tell from his graph that something wasn’t right. We did a finger poke and my intuition was correct. An alert dog would be trained to catch lows before it got this low.”
Bostick said the dog would be trained to alert when Declan’s blood sugar drops to a specific threshold, likely around 75, providing a buffer before reaching his low number of 69. Beyond safety, the Bosticks say the dog would serve as a companion and guardian for their son.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to support their goal of acquiring and training the Diabetic Alert Dog.
