Sweet Kai....what would we do with out you and a SWEET DEAL!

It has been a very long time since I could honestly say, I am not afraid of Type 1 Diabetes.  I personally do not have it, but the love of my life does.  Type 1 changes you.  You worry constantly about your loved one because you never know if the wrong dose of insulin could kill them while they sleep or when the threat of complications such a neuropathy might set in.  It's a constant costly battle that I go through with my Bradley.  I can honestly say that since Kai has come into our life, I don't worry about those things.  I look at his sweet face and find peace.  I don't worry about scary life threatening lows while Brad sleeps.  Just two nights ago Kai started to whine and got very restless.  He woke me up.  I go and wake Brad up.  Fortunately Brad was able to wake up.  I say to Brad "Kai is restless and whining, we need to check."  Brad gets up and Kai paws.  I scratch Kai's head while Brad checks.  68.  This was at 2:30 in the morning when we would not have gotten up until 7am.  This could have been deadly.  We celebrate and praise Kai.  Brad gives his buddy a treat and I love that pup up while Brad eats some snacks and drinks some milk to get back into range.  Once again Kai has saved the day.  Are the no limits to what this dog can do?  He is a companion, lifesaver, and pup all rolled into one amazing being.  How did we get so lucky to have him in our life?  Not to mention the peace of mind I get knowing that if our daughter, god forbid, ever starts showing signs of Type 1.  I know Kai will have her back.

Service Dogs By Warren Retrievers has given me my life back.  I was a worried ball of nerves until Dan Warren told me that all was going to be ok.  Brad could be free and be the father that he deserves to be.  Thank you Dan.  Thank you Cheri, Phil and all the wonderful trainers!  Without you, I could not finally be able to think about something other than Brad's sugars.  THANK YOU!!!

Hopefully this post has made you think!  It has me.  We still need to raise funds to pay for training for this wonderful guy.  We are 60% of the way there.  This is where you can help!  From now until Valentines Day, SDWR is going to DOUBLE every donation, up to $2000.  This means if you donate $1.00, that becomes $2.00.  Please help us meet our goal.  All donations are tax deductible and with your help, we can get to the homestretch in our fundraising.  Please go to the following link and make a tax deductible donation.  Thank you so much for your support!!

http://sdwr.donordrive.com/campaign/cashforkai

From our family to yours,

The Bates

Follow our journey on Facebook!! http://www.facebook.com/FightingType1

Kai

Pictures of Kai and our family since delivery

It's been a while....

Hello Fighting Type 1 Supporters!

It's been a while.  I am sorry to be away for so long.  There has been some drama concerning Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers so I took the blog a little silent.  I didn't want to get wrapped up in the drama.  But that is over in my opinion.  I have to brag on our sweet boy!

He is amazing.  There is so much we are working on.  He is still a pup so obedience has been the biggest thing we are working on.  He is an AMAZING alerter.  I am amazed by him daily.  The most recently he alerted to Brad when he was 115 with 1.3 units on board.  He caught a low before it happened.  He then alerted again probably about a hour and a half later and Brad was 60.  He is awesome! 

Brad went to the endocrinologist in February.  His A1C went from 8.2 to 7.5.  We owe that awesomeness to Kai!  He is awesome.  I could not be happier with him.  We feel like we have an ally in this fight against diabetes.  I know as Brad's wife I am not as anxious because I know that Kai will try his hardest to tell him, hey, you are changing.  I love him so much.

We recently had our training with our trainer.  She was tickled with how awesome of an alerter he is.  It would make her giggle every time because it was so clear.  This journey is lots of work, but it is so worth it.  I cannot believe we are 6 months into having Kai and it seems like he has never been away from our family.  I love that.  We are currently working him on Public Access Training, building up his confidence with Brad and making sure he listens to all of the commands he needs to know.  He is going to be even more amazing.

I am hoping to schedule a fundraiser in the near future so that everyone can come and see how he is doing and support us.  We are half way to our goal.  I am thinking a trivia night would be fun!

Here are some pics of our sweet boy.

Please stay tuned to the blog for more information in the future about fundraisers!

Giving Credit where Credit is due! Part 1

I just have to take a moment to brag about a couple of the wonderful folks who have helped us get to where we are right now.  These business or individuals helped with donations for Auctions/Raffles or just getting our journey started all together!  (These are in no particular order, by the way)

First up is Off The Leash Grooming on Manchester Road in Ballwin.  Brad's Aunt Steph takes her puppies there to get groomed.  Judy - her wonderful groomer has been so supportive.  She has sold bracelets for us and has pretty much just talked to everyone she know about making donations or buying a bracelet.  She has raised over $180 for us!  Please go and check out Off The Leash.  I can tell you Tug and Gus look amazing after they have visited there!

Off The Leash Grooming

14746 Manchester Rd Ballwin, MO 63011 

636-230-6326



Up next we have our most favorite pizza place in the WHOLE WORLD!  We are regulars (large pepperoni pizza).  Faraci's Pizza is a family owned, pizza made from scratch kinda place! The owner Vince knows his customers and makes them feel so welcome.  He and his brother Pete own Faraci's.  Seriously, if you are in the area, you have to check out their pizza.  It is outta this world.  I honestly cannot find a pizza that is better than Faraci's.  I love the staff too!  They were all so eager to help when we told them about the Cocktails for Kai event.  Go check out their story on their website.  I am pretty sure Vince would die if I told him I have been eating their pizza since I was 8 years old - pretty much since they moved to Ballwin/Ellisville.  I'm serious.  You bite in to a piece of their pizza and it is like you hear a choir of angels singing.  That.  Freaking.  Good...

www.faracispizza.com

15430 Manchester Road Ellisville, MO 63011

636-230-0000



We received a wonder donation from Pure Harmony Day Spa for our raffles/silent auctions for Cocktails for Kai.  I have been there a couple of times and let me tell you, RELAXATION TO THE MAX!!  The staff is friendly and so helpful.  They make you feel pampered and can give one heck of a pedi!  I always feel like it is such a treat to get to go there.  Make an appointment for a pedi and a mani!  You will feel so special afterwards!

http://pureharmonyspa.com/

Pure Harmony Day Spa

13030 Manchester Road

Des Peres, MO 63131

(314) 822-9907

These are just a few of the business or individuals who made donations for our fundraiser.  Stay tuned tomorrow for more!  If you would please go and patronize these businesses.  They are so wonderful and have opened up their hearts to help us out! 

Tiffany

Cocktails for Kai

This weekend was such a big weekend for us!  Kai went to his first St. Louis Cardinals Game!  The people at the stadium were wonderful.  They were so excited to have a Diabetic Alert Dog there!  There were many people who asked ton's of questions and we even had perfect strangers ask if they could take his picture.  I think folks are just so amazed to see such a young puppy already doing his job.

Yesterday we had our first "big" fundraiser.  Cocktails for Kai was a HUGE success thanks to all who attended.  We invited out everyone we knew for a night of fun so that people could get to know Kai and see how much he is going to help, and has helped our family.  More than the funds we rasied for Kai, I love how we were able to raise awareness of how much Type 1 Diabetes has affected our life.  We got to tell everyone how Kai is changing Brad's life.  It brings a bit of a tear to your eye.

I am sure you are interested in the grand total raised for our wonder pup.  DRUMROLL PLEASE....$5248!!!!!  I am so SO very grateful for the generosity that everyone has shown us.  We are forever grateful and appreciate your help so very much.  Here are some picture from the evening.

 



I am using a slightly bigger font to drive home the point.  Thank you.  Thank you all who attended Cocktails for Kai.  Thank you from Bradley, myself, Sabrina and our whole family.  THANK YOU THANK YOU a MILLION TIMES THANK YOU!

Our next fundraiser is on October 5th at Chick-fil-A. It is a super easy fundraiser.  All you have to do is come out and eat lunch or dinner between 12pm and 8pm.  YOU HAVE TO TELL THEM YOU ARE THERE FOR GUARDIAN ANGEL SERVICE DOGS.  They will dontate a porition of the proceeds to Guardian Angel Service Dogs for Kai.  How easy is that?  Come out an have a tasty meal!

Thank you to all our family and friends for a wonderful weekend!  You mean the world to us!

Tiffany

Our Buddy Kai

How this week has been is beyond words.  It has been tiring.  It has been enlightening.  It has been so many things.  Our trainers Katie and Cheri are awesome.  We learned so much from them.  Kai is so sweet, calm and eager to learn.  He has also been an alerting machine.  In less than a week he has alerted to Brad and then came and alerted to me.  He was saying, Momma, Daddy is High or Low, we need to fix him!  When Brad's sugars are out of range and we show him the meter, Kai goes NUTS!  He's like YES, that's what I have been trying to tell you!!

We have been doing Public Access Training a good chunk of the week.  This way Brad can get a feel for having him with him while in the store.  He is doing so well.  Kai really loves his daddy!

Just the other night Brad woke up at 2am.  His blood sugar was in the 400 range.  So he decided to take a walk.  When he got back at almost 4am, as soon as he walked through the door, Kai went nuts!  He just started moving all over the bed and acted like he could not find a comfy spot.  Then, he started to lick my face.  I told Brad that we needed to check.  He was 98 with insulin still on board.  GOOD LOW KAI!! 

Sure all of this is hard work.  He does not catch every single low or high, but he is doing REALLY well.  This is a process as I told the trainers.  I totally understand that.  He is not completely trained for two years BUT he is already doing his job!  Can you believe that!

During the week while the trainers were here, we met with the Des Peres Fire Dept.  Cheri and Katie explained to them what Kai would do and that in the next couple of years we were going to be doing training for Kai dialing 911 with a special device.  If Brad drops too low and won't wake up, Kai will call for help.  My jaw dropped on that one.  He was so chill the whole time.  Sabrina thought it was neat to see the ambulance up close but mostly played while Daddy, Katie and Cheri talked to the fire fighters/EMTS's.

Here are just some really cute pics that I took of Kai!