CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – The Clarksville Queen City Lions Club had some very special guests at one of their recent meetings. Those guests were Amie Green, her now 5-year-old daughter Layla and 3-year-old daughter Lynlie, along with another beloved member of the family, Jubilee.
Layla and Jubilee were the center of attention at the meeting because Layla is a type 1 Diabetic and Jubilee is the family’s Diabetic Service Dog. The Green family, along with husband and father, Adam, live in Manchester, Tennessee.
Green shared the family’s story about Layla and what can only be called the struggle with Diabetes which Layla was diagnosed with when she was 17-months-old. “That day changed our lives forever’, said Green
Layla wears an insulin pump which supplies her with insulin which her body no longer produces because of Diabetes. The pump allows her to avoid daily shots of insulin with a syringe. She also wears a continuous glucose monitor which keeps a constant check of her blood sugar level and sets off an alarm if her blood sugar level is too high or too low.
Then of course there’s Jubilee, one of Layla’s best friends and her Diabetic alert dog. Jubilee has been with the Green family since she was six months old and has gone through scent impression training as well as obedience training and will react to Layla or one of the family members when the child’s blood sugar level gets too high or low.
The body of an average person without Diabetes will usually maintain a blood sugar level of somewhere between 80 and 120. Diabetics have a different scent when their blood sugar is too high or too low. People can’t detect the difference in the scent but Jubilee has been trained to detect and react to the scent.
Jubilee is almost constantly by Layla’s side and being a service dog she is allowed to be anywhere Layla goes in public. Layla, as well as the whole family have a very special bond with Jubilee which is easy to see when they are together.
Green continues her work in the Manchester community as well as around Tennessee to increase Type 1 Diabetes awareness and along with her family and friends supports fundraising efforts for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).