Labrador a potential life saver for diabetic girl

When 16-year-old Abbie Dolezal was diagnosed with diabetes, she and her family never imagined that the ordeal would lead to a new family friend.

But with the help of a higher power and the support of a loving Gonzales community, the Dolezals are raising a black Labrador retriever named Shado to help protect Abbie as she battles the disease.

Shado is an 11-week-old puppy that will soon begin training to become a diabetic alert dog.

He will go into training starting in May, and the Dolezals are keeping him right now so he and Abbie can bond.

“He needs to get used to going with me to school and being around other kids,” Abbie said.

Shado will train for a month, then return home to Abbie for another month. The program will take about five months to complete. Once fully-fledged, Shado will be able to accompany Abbie constantly - from when she leaves for school in the morning to the time she goes to bed.

In fact, Shado sits in on Abbie’s mom Michele’s high school art class. “Once he’s had a couple of months’ training, he’ll be able to go from class to class with Abbie,” Michele said.

Through scent training, Shado will be able to notice if Abbie’s blood sugar gets too low, below 70, or too high, which is above 300.

“I’ve read that they can detect such things up to 45 minutes before,” Michele said. “For instance, in the middle of the night, if she has a high or low, if she can’t wake herself up Shado will recognize that. He’ll then try to wake her up, and if he can’t, then he’ll come wake us up.”

Initially the Dolezals were overwhelmed by the price of the dog’s training, which - with all sessions included - would come to a total of $15,000. But new friend Barbara Wright managed to put together a fundraiser of sorts that got them well on their way.

“Barbara contacted us in November,” Michele said. “She told us about a grant we could get. The litter of puppies were born in December, and we had to get a payment plan figured out by February.”

The Dolezals put in an application for a grant through the Gonzales Elks and were told they would find out the results in a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, the puppies were born right on schedule.

“We found out eight puppies were born, and there was one black male,” Abbie said. “That was so lucky!”

In January the Dolezals went to an Elks meeting and discovered the members were opposed to the grant, and walked away with a feeling of hopelessness. However, it was at that time that Wright took a hand - quickly raising $1,200 in funds.

“Barbara is a gift from God,” Michele said. “She went out and did that on her own; she’s a wonderful person.”

As it turns out, the cost for Shado alone totaled some $2,500. And each month-long training session runs $2,500.

“The guy we are getting Shado from breeds labs for service dogs, like PTSD victims,” Michele said. “In fact, three of the puppies from Shado’s batch are already training for PTSD.”

Meanwhile, Wright persisted, and during the next Elks meeting a grant for $4,784.22 was approved - taking a large chunk out of the overall cost. Further generosity came courtesy of Connie Kacir, who organized a 5K run that will take place on April 25 that will hopefully recruit 200 runners. Kacir’s goal is to raise $5,000 for the Dolezal family.

“We have raised $10,000 as of this point,” Michele said. “I honestly believe God played a big part in this, and we cannot thank him enough for helping us get Shado.”