Dorrie, the mother of Luke Nuttall, a seven year old who suffers from Type-1 diabetes, has told the emotional story of how their dog saved her son's life when his blood sugar levels dropped in the middle of the night.
Luke was diagnosed with the condition as a two year old and needs constant care and attention to ensure he remains stable. His mother describes how their family check on his blood sugar up to 10 times a day, including during the night, to make sure he's ok.
The family's pet Jedi is a trained black Labrador who can sense, through smell, if Luke's blood sugar spikes up or down too far and it was this that recently saved Luke's life.
Posting on her Facebook page, Saving Luke – Luke and Jedi – Fighting Type 1 Diabetes Together, Dorrie describes the night Jedi's fast action alerted her to the fact something was wrong. Quickly going viral, with 372k shares, it appears as though Dorrie's words resonated with people all over the world.
'Jedi laid on me. I woke up. He jumped off the bed and half on and would not budge when I told him to get back up. I got out of bed, he bowed, Luke's CGM said he was 100 steady' the mum explains in her Facebook post.
'So I told Jedi we would watch and see, he bowed again (Bowing is his low alert), I told him to get up on the bed, he held his ground didn't budge, he refused.' [Facebook]https://www.facebook.com/SavingLuke/posts/981343088606829:0[/Facebook] It was this persistence that made Dorrie check on Luke further by pricking his finger to test his bloods, only to find that his glucose levels were at a low 57, and could have been falling further. Luke's mum explains this count is far too low, and because of a recent tummy bug anything under 70 was worrying at the time.
According to Dorrie Luke has never woken by himself from low blood sugar levels, and wouldn't show physical signs of it either. She continued, 'Luke was laying right next to me, just inches from me, and without Jedi I would have had no idea that he was dropping out of a safe range.'
Image: Saving Luke
Speaking to Inside Edition Dorrie described her future hopes for Luke, saying, 'My goal is that when Luke remembers his childhood, he's going to remember that he's always had Jedi with him. These two are best friends, and they have so much fun together.'
