Our son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 16 months old. When we found out he was diabetic he was in a horrible state. He feel into a coma, lost 16lbs and had developed an adult size duodenal ulcer from the stress of the diabetes. He is now 7 1/2 years old. In 2007 Anthony developed Epilepsy. As what is explained to me by the Neurologist is that because my son has had so many seizures (11 to date) due his low BG it has actually triggered an epileptic condition that is separate from his diabetes.

    What brought us to Heaven Scent Paws aka HSP is that right before his Epileptic diagnosis my son had 3 seizures in a 36 hour span (progressing in intensity and time). The last of the 3 seizures stopped his breathing and left him limp on my hallway floor “lifeless” as the EMS workers put it. My other son was under our dining room table screaming that his brother is dead and my husband and I were screaming and crying so loud that 3 of our neighbors came to our house (mind you this is at 2:30AM). EMS finally got to the house which felt like an eternity and “revived” Anthony. They also got his BG to come up above 45 by mixing Sprite with ¾ cups of sugar. It does not takes much for Anthony to have a seizure. We went to 2 hospitals that night rather morning. The 1st hospital evaluated him and they agreed that he needed more specialized help then they were able to offer. That is when he was transferred to the Children’s Hospital in New York. We were not surprised by their decision as Anthony is admitted to the hospital at least twice a year for about an 8 day stay.

    This time after the Epileptic Diagnosis my husband, Frank, felt helpless that he could not help his son and that Anthony’s disease is now branching out. As a parent he felt as if he failed his son. As a human he knew that there had to be something out there to help Anthony. We alternated nights at the hospital, the 4th night he called me at home around 12:00am to tell me he found a company on the internet that provides service dogs for Diabetics. That was the first time I heard about Heaven Scent Paws. This was a NO BRAINER. I told him to go ahead and go forward with what ever we have to do. That night/morning 12:30AM he emailed them. Within an hour we received a phone call at the hospital it was Heaven Scent Paws. They answered all the questions my husband had and told us to put the application thru and to call them when we are discharged and settled at home. We did just that, we spoke to Michele Reinkemeyer about EVERYTHING we could possibly think of. She completely put us at ease and told us that we are accepted for the February 2008 class. We were thrilled and scared at the same time. We did not know what we were getting into (we had to stay in Missouri for 3 weeks) but we knew Anthony needed some type of intervention.

    February came and Anthony and I flew to Missouri. The 1st day (Sunday) we were there we went to church with the Reinkemeyer’s and any other family that wanted to go. Monday started our official class sessions. There was a lot to learn, but we did (I thought I learned more then my son, but now that we are home he reminds me if I do something incorrect). I was there with my son and he was a handful, at times he would not want to work with the dog or even check his BG. There were a couple of times that he got dangerously low and there was always support from HSP staff and some families. HSP staff helped my son learn to do ALL of the obedience work. I was surprised, due to Anthony’s age, to see him walking in public with a service dog, perfectly, but these dogs and the trainers were amazing with him. The trainers took their time in order for Anthony to absorb what he had to do to make it work. When Anthony thought that this was not going to work for him, HE spoke to Michele Reinkemeyer directly and said we need more help. That night one of the trainers helped Anthony and I on issues that we were having but could not fix on our own. They helped us until WE got it right. The HSP staff were all professional, courteous and responsive to our issues. The first day we received our dog in Missouri, we had an issue with a grocery store we went into (we weren’t treated to nice, to say the least). We immediately called Michele, she was there within 15 min and took care of the situation. We were NEVER treated rudely, pushed to the side, yelled out nor received threats. We did what we were told to do, and it work! We graduated with a Service dog that is AWESOME in obedience and GREAT at alerting.

    Now that we are home: Anthony has not had any seizures since graduation and his Service Dog, Jana is alerting to most of his lows and a few of his highs. Just the other night my husband woke up to Jana’s barking. Anthony had his bedroom door closed and Jana could not get to us so she started barking to get our attention (3:00am). When we came into the room she was licking Anthony’s face to wake him up, but he wouldn’t wake up (he sleeps like a log). We took Anthony’s BG it was 72. We can’t put into words how much we appreciate and respect both HSP and Jana. We have trained Jana some other obedience and fun things as she is a quick learner. We taught her the stand command using words and hand signals, we taught her the command “bring” we can now have her bring a few different items when we include the word bring with it. We have also perfected her opening the fridge door. It took 30 min for her to learn that one and she has not forgotten it (as stated earlier she is a quick learner)! Yesterday we went to a POW WOW and Jana was no more the 9 feet away from the loud drums, she did not flinch once. This is exactly what I am talking about amazing dogs. I along with Anthony work with Jana EVERYDAY with our homework, we try to spice it up for her as it is old school for her, but she loves working! It is not always peachy there are times when Jana is off or Anthony doesn’t want to work her, but at the end of the day you compare life before and after Jana and we would not change a thing. She has given Anthony confidence, security, healthier living and a whole NEW outlook on life. We will continue with Heaven Scent Paws for all of Anthony’s Diabetic life.

Thank You Heaven Scent Paws for Anthony’s Service Dog Jana. Jana is our CURE for a disease that can be so detrimental to so many people!

• Anthony, Frank, Samantha and JANA, our life line