Facebook post about service dog saving boy from low blood sugar goes viral

Jedi, a service dog, alerted Dorrie Nuttall to her son's low-blood sugar last Friday. (Facebook / Saving Luke)

Last Friday, Dorrie Nuttall was roused from her sleep by son's dog Jedi.

Jedi had jumped off her bed, jumped back on and when Nuttall didn't wake up, he laid down on top of her.

The black English Labrador is her son's service dog, who is specially trained to help monitor his Type 1 diabetes.

When seven-year-old Luke's blood sugar is high or low, Jedi alerts Nuttall so she can provide him with the proper treatment. Nuttall says Jedi, who she helped train, doesn't get "everything" but he's another "tool" that she uses to help Luke cope with the disorder.

And on March 4, Jedi bowed his head to a groggy Nuttall, indicating that Luke's blood sugar was low.

Nuttall then went to Luke's bedroom and pricked his finger for a blood-sugar test.

Sure enough, Luke's reading was 57 milligrams per deciliter, which Nuttall says can be "uncomfortable" and unhealthy, but not "dangerous."

"That was just a sudden drop that Jedi told us about that we were able to fix right away," Nuttall told CTVNews.ca in a phone interview from Los Angeles, Calif.

"When I saw the 57, I always have glucose tabs in his bag, and immediately gave him the glucose tab."

Nuttall shared the experience in Facebook post along with a photo of Luke and Jedi that has since gone viral with more than 180,000 shares. In the post, Nuttall said "this is a picture of a Jedi saving his boy."

She also shared a video of Jedi's techniques in a video on March 7.

Luke was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at two-years-old. In people living with the disorder, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, which is required to break down sugars and starches.

Just over three years ago, Nuttall brought home 11-week-old Jedi. Nuttall said it has taken three years of intensive training to perfect Jedi's techniques, but she says his help is now invaluable and he often alerts her to Luke's blood-sugar issues before other tools.

"The bond Jedi and Luke share is amazing … I really worked hard to get it where it is," she said.

"He's a living, breathing creature -- he doesn't get everything. He does miss stuff. But he alerts a lot. We get multiple alerts a day that something is happening."

Nuttall says Luke sees highs and lows every day, but can't panic, because "they're not all emergencies but they all need action to be taken."

In addition to Jedi's aid, Nuttall also sets overnight alarms, uses a glucose monitor and gives her son daily shots of insulin to help his body break down sugar.

Nuttall hopes all the attention Jedi and Luke are getting will help bring awareness to the disorder that affects between one and three million people in the U.S.

"Luke looks like a typical kid: he goes to school he plays baseball, he plays sports. You would never know that we have to monitor him 24 hours a day, that he gets eight to 10 finger pricks and gets shots every day." she said.

"It is an invisible disease. I feel like if we don't share our stories how will people ever know that we need a cure."