Romeoville Mom Working to Buy Infant Daughter Diabetic Alert Dog

When the diagnosis first came in on Easter Sunday, her world was rocked.

Now, Romeoville’s Ashley Stednitz has come to grips with the fact with 2½-year-old daughter Kylie is a Type 1 diabetic. And she has turned her attention to Kylie’s quality of life and is asking friends and family members to help by donating to her GoFundMe campaign.

The Stednitz’s are trying to raise enough money to buy Kylie a Diabetes Alert Dog.

“These amazing puppies are trained to detect high—and most importantly—low blood sugars,” Stednitz said in a letter to friends on GoFundMe.com. “They can sometimes even alert when sugar is rapidly dropping. A CGM is wonderful but even our best technology cannot alert that quickly.”

Ashley Stednitz said her family stumbled upon the teaching website “Jerry the Bear” when researching online how to help Kylie learn to cope with her diabetes.

“Every kid should have a friend that goes through what they go through, especially in this situation,” Ashley said in her GoFundMe letter. “Jerry would have blood sugar checks, pump changes, and can actually enter in the information for what he eats.

“Within a few years, Kylie will have to learn how to take care of herself in case of an emergency and Jerry can help us teach her how to do that.”

The Stednitz’s have set a goal to raise $15,000. And they’re at $1,421 right now.