Metro Atlanta woman struggling to raise funds for service dog with lifesaving skills
Bowie
ATLANTA - Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a metro Atlanta woman is having a tough time raising the funds for a Diabetic Alert Dog that has life-saving skills. First, she has had to cancel fundraisers because of social distancing concerns. And then she is at high risk because she has Type 1 diabetes.
Dominique Trappio’s service dog Bowie is already in training. He will alert Dominique to low blood sugar caused by Type One Diabetes. Bowie will be ready soon for her. The question is will Dominique be ready for him? Meaning, can she cover the $20,000 cost of a service dog? With COVID-19, fundraising has been a struggle.
“A lot of my fundraising was going to be based off of group events,” Trappio said.
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Dominique is trying to get the word out for her Go Fund Me Account. She is also selling T-shirts.
Dominique shared with us that a critical role for Bowie is to wake her up at night when she is experiencing low blood sugar. Alarms are not foolproof, and Dominique says they aren’t really working for her.
Bowie alerting to low blood sugar.
Bowie has shown tremendous skill in what could be a lifesaving intervention for Dominique.
“He would be able to smell when my blood sugar is dropping,” she said. “ He would be able to tap me or jump on me to get me up.”
Bowie is in training at Lone Star Diabetic Alert Dogs and Dominique is working with a non-profit foundation called Dylan’s Alert Dogs for Diabetes. Without the funds, Bowie could go to another patient.
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Dominique Trappio and Bowie
And one more thing about Bowie, Dominique named him after actor Chadwick Boseman whose heroic battle against cancer inspired her. She has a Black Panther costume for Bowie and hopes that she and her service dog can be advocates for others in need.
“ I thought it would be a nice way to honor him by naming my little hero after him,” she said.
You can help out at her Go Fund Me Page and her T-shirt sale.