
High School Graduate With Type-1 Diabetes Accepts Diploma With Life Saving Dog At His Side
Being a kid is challenging enough. Adding a life-long chronic illness to the mix makes growing up even harder. Meet Tyler McCready and his dog Sinatra. Tyler is a diabetes warrior! According to the Diabetes Research Foundation, “The more severe form of diabetes is Type 1, or insulin-dependent diabetes. It’s sometimes called “juvenile” diabetes, because type 1 diabetes usually develops in children and teenagers, though it can develop at any age.”
A few years ago, Tyler had such a drastic drop in blood sugar that he began to slip into a coma. His parents knew he needed more support than testing his blood sugar a few times a day. They decided a special service dog could literally save Tyler’s life, so they adopted Sinatra.
Sinatra is specifically trained to detect dangerous drops in blood sugar and then alert Tyler. According to Tyler, Sinatra has saved his life thousands of times.
Sinatra doesn’t just help Tyler with his diabetes, he gives him the companionship Tyler craved. Because of his illness, Tyler began to battle depression, even becoming suicidal. He felt like an outcast, and isolated, and really needed someone who would understand him. Sinatra is there no matter what and never judges Tyler.
As high school progressed, the two became inseparable. Where there was Tyler, there was Sinatra. This earned the duo a special spot in the yearbook.
For two years, these two have been side-by-side through it all! This past weekend, they did something tremendous. They graduated high school… together!
“It was awesome,” Tyler told The Dodo. “I got the loudest ap
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