KWOS Jefferson City News Authority
Fundraising efforts are underway in Jefferson City to help a one-year-old boy who suffers from type-1 diabetes be able to get his dog trained as a diabetic alert dog.
The fundraising efforts would help get the dog, whose name is Remmy, certified and trained. Cole County Sheriff’s employee Carla Dziadosz is leading the effort to help one-year-old Greyson Huntley, the son of Allison, another Cole County Sheriff’s civilian employee. Carla tells 939 the Eagle that Greyson was covered in vomit and that he was shaking profusely on October 19. The child’s blood sugars were 584.
“This dog’s going to make a world of difference for this little boy’s life and the quality of it. Anytime mom leaves the door, she’s terrified. Anytime she puts him to bed, she’s terrified. And Greyson deserves to have a healthy, happy life as a child. I mean he’s not even two yet,” Dziadosz says.
Ms. Dziadosz says the aim is to train Greyson’s dog Remmy to be a diabetic alert dog to alert Greyson or whoever is with him that his sugars are getting too low or too high. Carla tells 939 the Eagle that while the family has a device known as Dexcom, a trained dog is needed.
“It will alert the parents when it’s super, super low but it’s almost dangerously low by that point. It’s terrifying. So that’ll wake them up in the middle of the night, whereas if Remmy, the puppy’s name and she’s absolutely adorable, great dog. Remmy is capable of alerting them sooner,” says Dziadosz.
Carla and Allison also praise Mizzou’s Children’s Hospital for saving the child’s life in October. Carla says the family didn’t realize Greyson had diabetes until he refused food in mid-October and wanted only fluids nonstop. Greyson then vomited and was shaking profusely before the parents got him to an emergency room immediately. The child was then taken to University Hospital with sugars at 584.
