Here are a few of our Testimonies
Katie and Grace
The miracle of Grace started just 2 years ago. I was looking at diabetic alert dogs. T1 is a 24 hour a day job. Constant blood checks, carb counting and insulin dosing. It’s very unpredictable and no day is ever the same. Having a DAD would ease so much pressure off the family.
I came across Honey’s garden. Where I found they where Just starting to train DADs in South Africa!!!!! I contacted Lucy and she told me about what they were doing. She emailed me the information along with cost etc for me to look over.
I looked at them and printed out the forms. But that’s really where it ended. They sat on my desk and I would chat to Dorian about it often and we would sit and talk about how we could finance such a “luxury”.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about all of this. I chatted to my sister and cousin about it while chatting about other things. A few weeks passed and the forms still sat on the desk and life ticked over. We would do this. Just not now it wasn’t financially possible.
I came across Honey’s garden. Where I found they where Just starting to train DADs in South Africa!!!!! I contacted Lucy and she told me about what they were doing. She emailed me the information along with cost etc for me to look over.
I looked at them and printed out the forms. But that’s really where it ended. They sat on my desk and I would chat to Dorian about it often and we would sit and talk about how we could finance such a “luxury”.
But I couldn’t stop thinking about all of this. I chatted to my sister and cousin about it while chatting about other things. A few weeks passed and the forms still sat on the desk and life ticked over. We would do this. Just not now it wasn’t financially possible.
Then the miracle happened. It was a random week night. I was in the kitchen making supper, my husband was at his desk finishing up work. Kids were watching tv waiting for dinner. Just another night. Like any other. My phone rang, it was my sister. Now she has 3 kids too and the golden rule is no calls during suicide hour...... unless of course it’s VERY VERY important. I answered wondering what could possibly be so important to call when you have hungry kids, baths pending etc?????
She asked me if I was sitting down!?
I said I was ( I wasn’t- I was actually getting something out of the freezer). “Katie, Jason has Just deposited the money for Grace in my account, I will be transferring it to Honeys Garden when I get off the phone with you”. I was speechless!!!!!! All I could do was cry. I had no words to express how I was feeling. Dorian was so worried. I was crying and I just couldn’t compose myself enough to tell him.
The rest of that night is a blur of joy and tears! Anyone who understands this disease will know what it means to have this opportunity. We will sleep soundly again. Knowing that Jamie will be safe. It’s a feeling that cannot be expressed.
She asked me if I was sitting down!?
I said I was ( I wasn’t- I was actually getting something out of the freezer). “Katie, Jason has Just deposited the money for Grace in my account, I will be transferring it to Honeys Garden when I get off the phone with you”. I was speechless!!!!!! All I could do was cry. I had no words to express how I was feeling. Dorian was so worried. I was crying and I just couldn’t compose myself enough to tell him.
The rest of that night is a blur of joy and tears! Anyone who understands this disease will know what it means to have this opportunity. We will sleep soundly again. Knowing that Jamie will be safe. It’s a feeling that cannot be expressed.
We will forever be in debt to you Jason and Angie.
Gracie has been home with us now for just over a year.
We cannot imaging our lives without her. She is Jamie's best friend and guardian, as well as my comfort when things get tough.
She has brought such peace of mind to our lives. she has on many occasion, come up to me when my mind is on other things, and alerted to a low. She has honestly saved Jamie's life more than once.
She is a guardian angel with four legs and fur!
Lucy and her team are amazing, we are so grateful for their love and dedication to helping so many families. We are part of a group from Honeys Garden that post pictures and videos of our DAD's. Its amazing to see the difference they have made in so many lives in such a short time!
Lucy you have no idea how grateful we are to have met you. We will forever be in your debt!
Jana-Mari Cronje and Bramble
"I’m type 1 diabetic and Bramble is my diabetic alert dog. Bramble has now been a part of my life for more than a year and I cannot even begin to describe how much he has changed my life!
Since Bramble has been part of my life I’m no longer scared to do anything because my blood sugar may go low and I won’t know it because I know Bramble is there and he will alert me if it happens. Bramble is my superhero because he saves my life on a daily basis! Thank you Honey’s Garden for training these amazing dogs!!"
Niel and Basil
Just an email to say thank you for the great job you guys did with Basil.
He has really grown in his training over the last year.
He now warns me on both highs and lows in different ways like you
trained him.
High is a tap with the paw (This goes with a lot of licking prior to the
tap) and the low'she just launches himself with both paws on my lap (Followed by grabbing me by the arm and trying to get more of my attention)
The other day he warned me whilst I was busy with our support meeting on
Skype that it was low. He started getting really upset with me not responding
immediately.He went looking for the girls, but they were not at home.
He then brought Sasha along and she joined in. ( Every time Basil jumps,
she barks so I had to put the meeting on hold.) When I checked it was 2.9
THANKS BASIL
As my sugar is mostly high he warns me quite frequently.
Over time the number of highs has come down a lot as well as the
threshold for the warning.It use to be about 18 - 19, but he now warns on 13. Seems like we are working our way down to 9.
He has now adapted quite well to the home and has become good friends
with Sasha.The main event daily is tug-of-war between the two and his walk.
I can truly say that he is one of the best things that has happened to me.
Kindest regards
Niel Coetzee
He has really grown in his training over the last year.
He now warns me on both highs and lows in different ways like you
trained him.
High is a tap with the paw (This goes with a lot of licking prior to the
tap) and the low'she just launches himself with both paws on my lap (Followed by grabbing me by the arm and trying to get more of my attention)
The other day he warned me whilst I was busy with our support meeting on
Skype that it was low. He started getting really upset with me not responding
immediately.He went looking for the girls, but they were not at home.
He then brought Sasha along and she joined in. ( Every time Basil jumps,
she barks so I had to put the meeting on hold.) When I checked it was 2.9
THANKS BASIL
As my sugar is mostly high he warns me quite frequently.
Over time the number of highs has come down a lot as well as the
threshold for the warning.It use to be about 18 - 19, but he now warns on 13. Seems like we are working our way down to 9.
He has now adapted quite well to the home and has become good friends
with Sasha.The main event daily is tug-of-war between the two and his walk.
I can truly say that he is one of the best things that has happened to me.
Kindest regards
Niel Coetzee
Lizelle Marais and Holly
"In 2017 we received Holly. A wonderful beautiful dog that changed our lives forever.
My daughter, Lize was diagnosed just before her first birthday. Life with diabetes is full of worries. Always checking your child's blood sugar, feeling their skin, looking at their hands, looking for colour changes in their faces, testing at night, making sure there are snacks, juice boxes. Counting carbs, correcting for highs, changing sites. The list just goes on and on.
This list, by no means gets shorter when you get a DAD, but it makes me a lot less stressed. It feels as if I have another helping hand, and what a wonderful hand Holly is.
Holly has alerted Lize so many times now, that I have lost count. I have a little more peace sending Lize off to school or a hockey game. Leaving her alone was never an option and now she and Holly can go and do what they want without a stressed out mother - I know Holly will alert her before she goes low.
What a blessing Honey's Garden was for me and my girls. They came into our lives when I was desperate to help my daughter cope. They changed our lives forever... Holly is an absolute angel straight from heaven."
Jina Rabinowitz and Xara
This is a picture of my two younger daughters and our dog Xara. My middle daughter Micah (in the blue shirt) is 7 years old. She is also a type 1 diabetic. Xara is a diabetic alert dog. Xara is trained to alert Micah when her blood sugar drops below 4. Xara has a really excellent nose and she rarely misses a low. She live alerts when Micah is playing or sleeping and hasn’t checked her blood glucose level. Micah uses a CGM device to monitor her sugar. It gives us pretty accurate readings but once or twice Xara has alerted persistently when Micahs readings have been 4.7 or 4.8. We then did a finger prick test to find that Micah’s sugar was actually in the 2’s! Xara has also caught a low of 2.6 when we changed Micah’s sensor. It takes an hour for the new sensor to warm up and produce readings. Micahs BG dropped very quickly from an 8 to 2.6. Micah thought she was high as the feelings can sometimes be similar.
Xara takes her job very seriously and checks everyone in the family. She is the most loving dog and has been a great comfort to Micah. Another amazing thing about Xara is that she has started to alert for high blood glucose as well even though she has not been trained to do so. When Micah is asleep Xara comes to get me. On a few occasions when Micah has gone to sleep with her levels in range and BG levels have climbed during the night. Xara can smell that something isn’t right.
Honeys Garden is a nonprofit, 2016/387235/08 organization whose mission is to place quality service dogs with people within South Africa who are under privileged, fighting with disabilities or diseases, and veterans who have lost use of limbs or hearing. We also help with animal rescue, and educate the public regarding use of service dogs in public places.
