Sadie’s Story: The Girl With Down Syndrome And Her Guardian Dog
Discover the story of Sadie: a girl who suffers from type 1 diabetes who lives with her dog who takes care of her health and safety. Since the two have been together, emergency room visits at the hospital have reduced and their parents are much more peaceful.
Having a child with Down syndrome is not easy.
This is due to a fact: they tend to have many health problems.
If there’s one thing families like to do, it’s always pay the maximum attention and watch over their well-being so that their beautiful smiles never leave their faces.
Sadie Brooks came into the world in 2012 through a complicated birth and spent many days in the incubator . Nowadays, she has respiratory problems and diabetes, which made her parents apprehensive until recently.
They feared losing her at any moment, as her illness could tear her from their lives unfairly, tragically.
However, their lives took a 360-degree turn when Hero, this handsome Labrador with a wise eye and patient attitude, came to them to take care of what they love most: their little Sadie.
We will tell you your story below.
The fear of losing a child
We are sure that many fathers and mothers will understand this situation. When our children come into the world with an illness, we often feel anger or disappointment at first. Why did this happen fair to us? Some people even wonder.
Taking on a disease or a genetic anomaly makes many parents feel obliged to experience grief first.
Later comes acceptance. And, little by little, around their hearts, a beautiful armor melts that has only one purpose: to love this creature and do everything for her, make her life incredible, intense, wonderful, and offer all of most special she can get.
Sadie has the best parents you could wish for. But for a time they feared losing her. They were afraid that changes in her sugar levels would kill her at any moment. So they decided to make a decision: get help.
The arrival of a puppy and love at first sight
Michelle and Greg, Sadie’s parents, found a Facebook group of diabetic alert dogs. After a few days, they introduced Hero to little Sadie, and the connection was immediate.
According to the parents’ report, an instant affectionate bond was established between the girl and the dog.
Hero knew what his role was: meeting the girl’s needs. On the other hand, Sadie, far from seeing Hero as an animal or a simple dog, saw in him a friend.
Over the course of 6 months, the puppy finished his training and began to detect both peaks and falls in the girl’s sugar levels at all times.
To dogs, the high sugar level resembles the smell of rotten fruit. While the low sugar level resembles the smell of metal.
Continuous injections decreased: Sadie now has quality of life
At first, the girl’s parents injected the girl regularly to avoid spikes in her sugar level. They knew that her high and low sugar levels could mean going to the emergency room, and they constantly wondered if she would get over it or not.
Sadie’s parents were in constant panic. They even switched shifts at night to see if the girl needed anything.
Until, little by little, Hero demonstrated that his sense of smell never failed.
The way the Labrador alerts the family is simply amazing . He approaches his parents and places his left paw over their hands or nuzzles them if Michelle and Greg are standing.
So they just need it to know. And they do everything now more smoothly because Hero is there and never fails.
Your guardian angel even from a distance
This news was published in several media, mainly in journals specializing in diabetes.
In December 2015, when Sadie was in high school four miles away from Hero, he started getting nervous and getting Michelle’s attention.
Scared, she called the school to ask if the girl was okay and to ask them a favor: if they could test Sadie for blood glucose.
In fact, as curious, strange and astonishing as it may seem, her blood sugar levels had dropped and she needed an injection.
As we could see, Hero again got into action. Regardless of distance.
This 4-legged hero will take care of his little human sister’s health for a long, long time.
We are very happy about it!
