Type 1 Diabetic Girl - Gracie Sevilla - Runs a Successful Fundraising Campaign; Receives Her Beloved Diabetic Alert Dog

By: Issuewire
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Gracie Sevilla, age 7, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at age 4 and is an exceptional athlete, excelling in Gymnastics, Baseball, Softball, Football, Boxing and Soccer. A generous donor and many friends helped to achieve her campaign goal.

Temecula, Oct 18, 2020 (Issuewire.com) - As a small business owner, Tommy Sevilla works remotely from his home office, at the time, in Riverside, California, and now Menifee, often into the wee hours of the night. Noticing from downstairs, Sevilla began to get an uneasy feeling watching Gracie, then age 4, wake up numerous times in the middle of the night to pee and finally, tell her dad that she was "super thirsty" and needed some water. Sevilla, knowing about Type 2 Diabetes and remembering "Juvenile Diabetes" commercials late at night when he was younger, immediately suspected that Gracie might now be a Diabetic and after some Google searches, his worst fears were realized as a few days later when Gracie's mother, Melodie, took Gracie to her Pediatrician where Gracie was then diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and the family's lives changed forever.

Gracie Sevilla, now age 7, receives multiple daily injections of Insulin as a Type 1 Diabetic. Type 1 Diabetes, a chronic, incureable auto immune disorder,  is looked upon these days as a misnomer in the Type 1 Diabetes community as it is believed to be more accurately known as, "total pancreatic failure" says, Tommy Sevilla as, the Pancreas, which produces Insulin and is needed to metabolize carbs, no longer functions and she needs to receive the life-saving Insulin from outside the body, in her case, multiple daily injections via syringe.

"Gracie refuses to even consider getting an artificial pancreas, known as an Insulin pump, and is content wearing the Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitor, which she can barely stand and hence, the injections, which she doesn't mind and takes like a champ; she's even able to inject herself if need be and 'Kaj', her new Diabetic Alert Service Dog, is a new, furry added layer of protection in the process of her Diabetes management. The pup, a Yellow Lab, is scent trained to sniff out blood glucose highs and lows much quicker than the Dexcom and alert the T1D (Type 1 Diabetic) and or those around them." 

Diabetic Alert Dogs typically cost between $20,000 - $30,000 fully trained but, there's always on-going training and one must get one from a reputable, well-researched breeder. Two weeks ago, the family returned from Salt Lake City, Utah, where Gracie was finally introduced to "Rona", named by the breeder in association with the global Corona Virus Pandemic, as all others were in the litter, who would then be renamed, "Kaj", Armenian for "courageous" and "brave", and in honor of Tommy Sevilla's Armenian friend and business partner and close friends who are Armenian.

"We have an affinity for Armenia and the Armenian people who have been so warm and supportive in our friendships with them, especially my business partner and friend, Steve Magdesyan, his wife, Gayane and their sons, Hrak and Shant. They exemplify what we've come to know from Armenians: family, unity, respect, generosity and strength and we thought it would be a nice gesture to have them name Gracie's pup."

The Sevilla's are grieved over the recent Turkish aggression in support of Azerbaijan against Armenia currently, as the countries are now at war, and "Kaj" has even more special meaning.

'We started the campaign for Gracie with some trepidation as, it wasn't necessarily about the money, but rather about using the crowdfunding platform to our advantage to raise awareness about this terrible disease. It became a way for us to let others know that we must take this bad with the good and that we we're all in, now warriors in the fight with Gracie against Type 1 Diabetes. The idea of GRACE FOR THE CURE was then born, and we began to associate with others like, Ease T1D, a local non-profit, a wonderful organization started by two mothers of T1D children whose life mission is to educate and empower others about Type 1 Diabetes and for all to be able to recognize the warning signs as the window between pancreatic failure and death can be subtle and easily dismissed and misdiagnosed resulting in death."

The Sevilla's were absolutely blown away by the generosity of a complete stranger who contacted Tommy via email, seeking information about the campaign and its progress. This person would turn out to be a mother of a Type 1 Diabetic child, now grown, who fell in love with Gracie, who has been well publicized for her athletic prowess, in her philanthropic search for a child in need of a Diabetic Alert Dog. This person, a business owner (high-end custom furniture) from Southern California, more than took Gracie to the finish line of her campaign goal, and now has established a non-profit to do more of the same for other Juvenile Type 1 Diabetics in need, having recently made the purchase of a dog for a young boy, as she did for Gracie.

"We are so grateful to Gina for her compassion, thoughtfulness and generosity toward Gracie. For her to notice Gracie's articles for sports on the Internet and develop a heart for her, resulting in such an awesome gesture toward her is beyond words as she has made her so happy."

Gracie's puppy, "Kaj", is 2 1/2 months old and receives on-going training every Monday via Zoom meetings with the Breeder, Tattle Tails Scent Dogs, Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah. Gracie's mother, Melodie Sevilla, not only home schools Gracie and her brother Luke, but also "Kaj".

"Melodie is a champ! It's not easy doing all she does. We don't get much sleep but its all worth it and there's nothing she and I wouldn't do for Gracie and our children or grandchildren."

Gracie, currently playing Softball for Menifee Girls Softball and training as a Gymnast, is eager to take "Kaj" with her to practices, especially to her brother Luke's wrestling practice where his coach also brings his dogs, for all to see, once she is up to date on her shots and can mingle in unfamiliar places and with other animals.

Gracie and her family would like to encourage everyone to donate to their favorite charity, Ease T1D, whose mantra is: Education - Awareness - Support - Empowerment, so that no child or adult would ever have to die from this disease from lack of knowledge and awareness: Donate Here:

Snapshot 24Snapshot 21Snapshot 22Ease T1d LOGO 2 24 20 Revised

Media Contact

Sevilla Local Media


tomsevilla@gmail.com

19512891710

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http://SevillaLocalMedia.com

Source :Grace for the Cure: www.GraceForTheCure.org

This article was originally published by IssueWire. Read the original article here.

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