Living with diabetes can be difficult — monitoring blood sugar levels with prick after prick and making sure to keep some candy on you, just in case. The consequences of missing an insulin injection or a meal can be fatal. Now imagine being a kid and trying to live with a condition you might be too young to understand!
That’s why three-year-old Olivia-Mae is lucky to have Bonnie, a 15-week-old Cocker Spaniel puppy trained to detect low blood sugar levels in the toddler and warn an adult. Even though Olivia-Mae’s mother, Jodie, stabilizes her daughter’s blood sugar with insulin, there’s always a chance that the little girl’s levels could fluctuate, putting her into a diabetic coma that could leave her brain-damaged. That’s when Bonnie steps in, pawing and barking until Olivia-Mae is seen to.
Dogs like Bonnie are not unusual, but when Jodie originally looked into obtaining a trained medical aid dog, she discovered they came with a hefty price tag. So she took matters into her own hands, and with the help of trainers, began teaching Bonnie how to sniff out life-saving signs with samples of Olivia-Mae’s sweat and blood.
Bonnie accompanies Olivia-Mae everywhere she goes. She’s more than just a pet, but a precious guardian of the little girl’s very life.
