Jack had always been a poorly baby, in and out of the doctors since infancy, but without any clear diagnosis. It wasn’t until he was four years old that the cause was eventually identified - Type 1 Diabetes. 

To Jack’s Mum, Heather, and Dad Boo, this news came as a complete shock and for a few seconds it felt like her life had stopped before being turned completely upside down.

Post diagnosis life was extremely hard. Unfortunately their extended family were unable to offer support and so they were left to fend on their own, trying to teach themselves how to manage Jack’s condition. Heather was up every hour in the night to check Jack’s sugar level and the fatigue she felt was indescribable. Looking after Jack was a full time job, so also holding down a paid job would have been completely impossible. Heather found herself unable to switch off at any time, her brain was always on alert, and she was unable to get any respite as she could not go out and leave Jack with anyone else. On top of all this she constantly had horrible fears that the worse would happen, especially at night, when she worried that Jack wouldn’t wake up in the morning.

Life improved slightly after Jack was fitted with an insulin pump at the age of seven and it was also around this time that a family member happened to mention that he had heard of assistance dogs for Diabetics. Jack immediately set about researching all he could on the subject and it was during one of his internet searches that he came across the Medical Detection Dogs. At this stage Heather was sceptical, believing there was no point in pursuing it further as it was very unlikely anything would happen because of the long waiting lists and that both Jack and herself were very nervous of dogs. 

Despite this Jack persevered and applied to the charity. After assessment Jack was accepted on to the waiting list and the formal process began. Initially the charity spent a lot of time working with Jack and Heather on their nervousness of dogs, spending time just playing and socialising with them. Then when their confidence had increased the charity started working on the matching process.

Shortly after Jack went to meet with two dogs, one of whom was Dottie, a Labrador cross Golden Retriever whose training programme had been sponsored by a Kent diabetes charity, the Paula Carr Diabetes Trust. Jack and Dottie struck up an immediate bond, with Jack loving her character and Dottie proving how in tune she was with Jack by alerting him within the first few minutes of meeting him.

Dottie has been with Jack and his family, including his brother Thomas, for about six months and the change to their lives has been profound. Heather, is definitely more relaxed, reassured by Dottie’s superb sense of smell, warning the family when Jack’s blood sugar levels are too low, although Heather can never switch off completely. The more she sees of Dottie working (she will now alert Heather when Jack is in a different room or the garden, and overnight) the more relaxed she feels, and at last is managing to sleep more soundly. Before Dottie, Heather would have woken up at the sound of a pin dropping, but now Dottie has to paw at her to wake her up because she is so deeply asleep. Heather has seen a change in Jack too, he is gaining more independence and more confidence, or cheekiness as she calls it!

Jack is absolutely overjoyed with Dottie. “My life has changed. Dottie is truly amazing and I couldn’t have done it without her. She was like a missing piece in a jigsaw puzzle. She is like a second Mum to me because she looks out for me just like my Mum does.”