Charlie to the rescue
Gabriella McKenzie, 6, poses with her mom, Maria Moyer, and her diabetic alert dog, Charlie, in the family’s Washington home. A few weeks ago, Charlie saved Gabby’s life when he woke Maria in the middle of the night to check on Gabby, whose blood-glucose level was dangerously low.
Charlie is a diabetic alert dog that was trained by Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers in Virginia for Gabriella McKenzie, 6, daughter of Maria Moyer and Sean McKenzie of Washington.
Charlie may be a playful companion to Gabriella McKenzie, but to Gabby’s parents, Maria Moyer and Sean McKenzie of Washington, he is their hero.
One morning a few weeks ago, Maria was awakened by the pounding of paws on her bed. Maria didn’t think much of it at first, but when she checked on her 6-year-old daughter and discovered that Gabby’s blood-glucose level was 41, she knew she would be forever grateful to the energetic canine.
“I can say without a doubt he saved her life,” Maria said.
Charlie, a diabetic alert dog trained by Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers in Virginia, joined the Moyer-McKenzie household two years ago to help Gabby’s family monitor the youngster’s juvenile diabetes.
“He catches things we wouldn’t. He’s another tool,” said Maria, noting that Charlie’s latest heroic act certainly has earned him many kudos.
“I can forgive everything he chewed when he came here,” Maria said. “It was a very scary thing. Unfortunately, I’ve met people who lost their children.
“I had a hard time going back to sleep. The next day, I was very emotional.”
Gabby’s levels have dropped to dangerously low levels before, but someone has always caught it. Maria sets her alarm clock at two- to three-hour intervals every night to check on Gabby. However, on that night, she has no idea what went wrong. Her alarm clock was set for 2:30 and 2:39 a.m.
“I must have turned it off or slept through it,” Maria said.
When Charlie woke her, she said, “OK we’ll check,” not expecting to find anything wrong since she had checked on her daughter around midnight. The low reading was rather ironic, Maria said, because before Gabby went to bed, her readings had been running high all evening.
Of course, Gabby, who will turn 7 on Nov. 16, absolutely loves Charlie, and she likes it when he sleeps in bed with her. Gabby is helping to train Charlie, but they also find time to play. They enjoy playing hide-and-seek, and he doesn’t seem to mind when Gabby lies on top of him. He does, however, get jealous when Gabby pays attention to other dogs.
“He’s like a big, fluffy ball,” said Gabby, who named him after one of her favorite television shows, the Disney Channel’s “Good Luck Charlie.” She also likes “SpongeBob SquarePants,” but Maria told her that it would be silly to walk around calling him SpongeBob.
Maria and Sean purchased Charlie with money from fundraisers and donations from family, friends and even strangers. In addition to training diabetic alert dogs, Service Dogs by Warren Retrievers also provides help worldwide for those with autism, seizures and Aspergers. Its large service area is unusual, Maria said, because most other organizations are geographic- and age-specific. A trainer from Warren Retrievers visits the home every three months to help reinforce good habits.
“Sometimes I have to correct him,” Maria said. “He’s a good boy. The biggest thing, I think, is keeping him focused at home.”
Charlie accompanies the family on shopping trips and many other outings. However, he remains at home when Gabby goes to school. She is a first-grader at JFK Catholic School, where, Maria said, the staff and Gabby’s classmates have been wonderful. One day when Gabby is able to handle Charlie on her own, Maria hopes he can go to school, too.
And Charlie hasn’t made the trip yet with Gabby to Blacksburg, Va., to watch her big brother, former Washington High School standout Shai McKenzie, play for the Virginia Tech Hokies. That day will come when Shai is healthy again, but, until then, Charlie shows his support by wearing a maroon harness with orange piping.
Observer-Reporter readers were introduced to Gabby in November 2009, less than two months after she was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.
Following her diagnosis, Gabby began receiving eight insulin shots a day – two long-acting shots, once in the morning and once before bedtime – and one short-acting shot before each meal and snack. The shots were rotated among her arms, thighs and stomach.
Today, Gabby checks her own blood-glucose level 10 times a day, and she receives one “big” shot every two to three days, which, Maria said, Gabby hates. In 2010, she received an insulin pump that is monitored by a blood-glucose meter that records Gabby’s insulin sensitivity factor and insulin-to-carbohydrate ratios. The meter resembles an iPhone, and readings are transmitted directly to the pump via infrared or radio waves. If Marie notices a change in Gabby’s normal trends, she will change the settings to ensure Gabby receives the proper dose of insulin.
“I forget how amazing it is until I go online,” Maria said. “This is so much more flexible. We tell the pump when to make adjustments. I can increase or decrease the percentages.”
Gabby rotates the site of the insulin pump to avoid skin irritation. “It’s very, very sticky,” Maria said. “Sometimes it catches on something.” And that, she said, is painful.
As Gabby gets older, she is understanding more about her disease. Some days, she’ll yell at God, and say, “Take it out of my body,” Maria said.
But for the most part, she has adjusted well, especially after meeting other children with juvenile diabetes. And when someone asks about her insulin pump, she will patiently explain what it does and why she needs it.
Charlie, too, has been a major morale booster.
“Everybody loves him, and Gabby is so proud,” Maria said.