South Brunswick Schools to Help Get a Lab for Logan

When news spread about the hardships 8-year-old South Brunswick child Logan Fech faced in dealing with severe diabetes, the township's schools have joined in to help raise money to get a lab for Logan.

Logan suffers from a severe case of Type 1 Diabetes, commonly known as juvenile diabetes, and needs to have his blood sugar checked throughout the day and night. Type 1 diabetes occurs when the cells in the pancreas that make insulin are destroyed. As a result, people with diabetes need to keep a close eye on the total amount of carbohydrates in their diet. For a kid Logan's age, these limitations can be difficult.

"Logan sees his brother eating things that he can't eat and that's difficult for him," "A few weeks ago he asked why he can't just be a normal kid. We try to make life as normal as possible for him, but he notices that he's a little different than other kids, and that's the hard part for us."

In an effort to try to bring some normalcy to their lives, the Fechs are working to raise money to purchase a diabetic alert dog. The highly trained canines are able to detect significant changes in blood sugar just through the sense of smell. After they detect a drop or increase in blood sugar, the dogs are trained to bark or carry an item to a diabetes patient or parent to alert them to the problem 20 to 30 minutes before any machine could pick up the change in sugar level. Just getting on a waiting list for a diabetic alert dog costs $1,000, while the dog itself costs $20,000. 

Logan's school, Brooks Crossing Elementary School, is running a fundraiser from June 4 through June 15 to help the Fech family. Parents can donate $1 and up to add a picture of a dog throughout the hallways of Brooks Crossing. Brooks Crossing Principal Jodi Mahoney said she's hoping to get other district schools involved in the effort to help Logan as well.

Anyone wishing to help the Fechs raise the money for a diabetic alert dog can visit the Guardian Angel Service Dogs web site by clicking here. Once on the site, there's a link at the bottom of the page to make a donation. After donating, the company will send a return email to ask which family a donation should be directed to.

"It would be amazing to have this dog able to pick up on when his sugar drops high or low," Meghan said. "It could really save his life in an emergency situation when we might be sleeping or aren't around."