Bayville Family Edges Closer To A Dog For Deven

Type 1 diabetes doesn't get better.

That's the hard lesson 's family has learned ever since the boy was diagnosed two Christmas Eves ago.

"It's never-ending," his mother Sherry Kriss-Dillane said. "We try to manage it. We can't control it. It's up and down, up and down."

Deven's blood glucose reading dropped to an alarming 23 one night, just two weeks after to raise money for a Diabetes Awareness Dog (D.A.D.) for him.

He went to bed at 9:30. An hour and a half later, he called his mother.

"I feel low," he told her.

"I wasn't going to check him until midnight," Dillane said. "He's supposed to feel it before it gets that low. I was setting my alarm for 12. I gave him chocolate milk and he went up to 140."

Setting the alarm to wake up several times at night to test Deven's blood glucose is a way of life for Dillane, Deven's stepfather Frank Dillane and Deven's father Christopher Rusnak.

The night his blood glucose level dipped so slow Dillane and her husband stayed up with the boy until midnight. Then they set the alarm for 1 a.m., 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. and took turns getting up.

"I'm exhausted," Kriss-Dillane said. "I have severe chronic fatigue syndrome and depression."

A mother's quest

A D.A.D. would make life a lot easier for and his family. And Kriss-Dillane has been on a mission since early this year to get Deven one.

She began organizing events to raise money for a D.A.D. from Virginia-based Warren Retrievers. The initial cost of the dog is $19,000. Dillane has raised roughly $17,900. But the additional training for the family and required follow-up visits means she has another $5,500 to go.

"The cost does not stop with the price of the dog," she said. "We have to raise money for the care kit, the phone, cage, collars, leashes, vests for service dogs. The trainers come back every 90 days for two years. They come back and recertify the dog. We have to pay for mileage or airfare, motels and food, life insurance on the dog."

The phone is a phone pad for the dog. The dog is trained to hit the pad with its paw. The phone then dials 911. A precorded message then plays, which alerts police dispatchers that there's a problem.

Unfortunately, donations have dropped off since the Forked River House fundraiser.

More fundraisers planned

So Kriss-Dillane has planned several additional fundraisers and is also selling heavyweight red Gildan T-shirts with a D.A.D. dog on the front. The shirts, designed by artist Dan Hockenberry, are 100 percent, pre-shrunk cotton.

"It's a good quality T-shirt," she said.

The t-shirts arrived at the Dillane home in Bayville on Monday. Adult sizes are $20, children's sizes are $15.

Kriss-Dillane will be at Walmart in Toms River on May 19 for a "tagging" event.

"I'm going to sit there with two jars, T-shirts and sheets with diabetes information," she said.

She also plans to be at Veterans Park in Bayville on June 10; at the Berkeley Shores Homeowners Civic Association's garage sale on June 16; and at an Aug. 11 car show at Veterans Park.

Kriss-Dillane has also become an advocate for Type 1 diabetes education in public schools.

"Everybody that works in school systems should be educated," she said.

She and Deven are slated to speak at the Manchester Middle School on May 25 about the disease.

"Deven wants to speak," his mother said.

Kriss-Dillane gets upset with people who say diabetes doesn't keep a person from doing what he or she wants to do. Sometimes it does, she said.

"When an issue arises, you have to correct what's wrong and wait until you get to a safe number," Kriss-Dillane said. "Diabetes can stop you right in your tracks. It doesn't get easier for my son."

People who want to donate for Deven's dog can do so online at www.GuardianAngelServiceDogs.org and donate under the name "the Dillane family."

To order T-shirts, contact Kriss-Dillane at 732-674-5116, or e-mail her at Diabetesmom2009@gmail.com.