AVERILL PARK, N.Y. - A service dog will now be roaming the halls of Averill Park High School to help his 14-year-old owner manage his Diabetes.
Isaiah Thomas arrived at school with his Diabetic Alert Dog, Max, on Monday after only arriving to the Thomas' home on Sunday. The two are still getting to know each other, but seem to have an instant connection.
After six months of training, Max is trained to smell changes in Isaiah's blood sugar and alert him. Service dogs, like Max, are life-savers for people with Type 1 Diabetes, especially at night when people may not wake up if their levels are too low.
Edwin Peeples, of the National Diabetic Alert Dog Association says, "When a blood sugar goes low, the dog can smell the keystones and chemical break down of the body and can alert a person to their low before it actually gets seriously low, before it drops to where they may go into diabetic shock or diabetic coma."
Isaiah's Diabetes is under control, but he feels even more confident with Max by his side.
"He's going to help me be a lot safer with my Diabetes," he said. "He's going to help me because my testing can only do so much and now that I have him here with me, he's definitely going to help me a lot more."
Max will be on-duty at school, but Isaiah will also be able to enjoy some play time with his new best friend.
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