Meet Jedi: The Life-Saving Diabetic Service Dog

Luke was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was just 2-years-old; his pancreas suddenly stopped producing insulin. Luke, who is also hypoglycemic unaware, can’t tell when his blood sugars are running low.

This is where Jedi comes into the picture. Luke’s family wanted to do all they could do to help him take care of his Diabetes; so they decided to adopt a Diabetic Alert Dog. Jedi, a black Labrador Retriever, is trained to alert family and friends when Luke’s blood sugar levels are too high or too low.

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Last day of 4th grade for these two!

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Diabetic Alert Dogs are a new type of service dog; Jedi can smell dangerous changes in Luke’s glucose level before his diabetic sugar monitor can. He has even beaten the monitor by 10 minutes!

When Jedi senses Luke’s blood sugar levels are dropping he grabs a “bringsel — a short stick used by service dog — and brings it to whoever is home as an alert that something is wrong. Nuttall then trained Jedi to wave a paw if Luke’s blood sugar is high and to bow if it’s low” as written on CNN.com.

The two are best friends, they are inseparable. You can learn more about Luke and Jedi’s journey in their documentary Luke & Jedi that came out in 2018 or on their official Instagram or Facebook page.

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It’s so hard to explain to people how much thought and work goes into diabetes unless they live it. It’s not easy to show how challenging it can be to be a pancreas. Usually at this time of night we are battening stubborn highs because he is growing and when the body releases growth hormones he is very resistant to insulin. (All kids go through this but you don’t really know it’s happening because the body just takes care of everything unless you have type 1). But today he went to a birthday party and he had sooo much fun. For three hours straight he ran, jumped, played football as hard as he could. I stayed close and provided adjustments to his insulin doses and had him eat extra carbs when the activity started to drop him low. The party ended with a low from a crazy game of hide-and -go-seek that was quickly fixed with the frosting of a cupcake and more fun. Phew.. a success. But now even hours after the party and probably through the night we will be seeing different patterns in his blood sugar. His insulin has been turned down, he has had carbs .. now we wait to see how his body will react. We act based on what usually happens or patterns of blood sugar.. so right now I am trying to prevent more lows from the extra active day.. my strategy may work .. or it may lead to another night of highs. As much as I’m tired.. I’m not writing this down as a complaint. I write this down so that others who don’t live it can see what it takes to live with this 24/7. I’d look after him forever if I could.. but I can’t (not sure he wants me to move in with him when he gets married one day 🤷🏼‍♀️) so one day this will all be up to him.. until then we’ve got him covered and I will keep writing because #weneedacure Diabetes isn’t as simple as people think it is and although Luke can do everything anything anyone else can do but the reality is it’s a lot of work and planning and diligence and ups and downs and it’s not always easy. Good low Jedi thanks for waking me up (again).

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