Labrador family seeking dog to help 3-year-old cope with diabetes

A 3-year-old boy with diabetes and his family are raising money for a better way, they believe, of coping with his condition and their solution is of the K-9 variety.

"We just think a dog would just make it a little more natural day-to-day," Rhea Dale said.

She hopes to get enough money together to get a diabetic alert dog for her son Nathanial, who has Type1 diabetes.

The dogs are trained to alert their owners that their blood sugar levels are too low or too high. It's a tool that could help give Rhea and her husband some peace of mind and keep Nathanial safe.

"I think his age made it the scariest for me," Dale said.

"I think there is a challenge with every other age but for us, this age is really, really scary because he can't tell us and he doesn't understand when he has to eat."

Dale saidNathanial has to be monitored at all times to keep him safe. She and his father check his blood sugar about 15 times a day.He wears a device called acontinuous glucose monitor which is inserted into his skin.

Dale saidit's a wonderful tool, but for a kid Nathanial's age, it does present challenges.

"If he goes out of range, it shuts off," shesaid.

"It's already been ripped out a bunch of times and because of the fault of the sensor. Just because of his age and his climbing, the way he iswhich is great I don't want to stop him from doing those things."

'A great option'

Right now, his parents spend nights awake, worrying and checking on Nathanial's blood sugar levels. A couple of times he didn't wake up even though he had a blood sugar level of two, a very low reading.

"This will help protect him especially in the nighttime. The dog will just be a companion that will help him keep his blood sugars regulated," Dale said.

"I just felt like it was a great option for him. He loves dogs, we're a dog loving family," she said

No cheap venture

Dale plans to get the dog through Diabetic Alert Dogs of America. She said the only Canadian option was the Lions Club, but it was only for children over the age of 10.

The dog itself costs about $2,500 but then it has to be trained. All in, Dale said it will cost the family $20,000.

"We're doing our best to get it for him but it is expensive," she said, "we weren't going to do it but people kept saying that people want to help and this disease is very scary."

There's an online campaign to raise money for Nathanial's dog. Rhea also plans to hold a couple of fundraising events around the community as well.

It isn't just, 'you can't eat sugar'

Dale saidit was out of her comfort zone to speak publicly, but she felt it was important to shed some light on what families who have kids with diabetes go through.

"It's not quite as simple as people think it is, it isn't just, 'you can't eat sugar'. The monitor and the dog, these just came from friends and family that just told us," Dale said.

"I've had so many people reach out to me because they know how hard it is."