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When Ian Christensen, age 4, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2016, his devastated family quickly turned to one of their own – Ian, Ian's uncle , who was diagnosed with the disease in adolescence and eventually lost her sight and kidney in 1996.
"You can not let diabetes control you," Aaron recalls in front of his nephew. "You must control it."
So when Ian, now 6 years old, discovered that he would not be allowed to take the school bus this year with his friends because of his illness, he decided to take action.
It all started a few months ago when the Tri-County Area School District in Sand Lake, Michigan, told Ian's parents that because of the extremely sensitive fluctuations in his blood sugar, Ian could not take it. bus only.
His parents asked the school for help but were refused. The two parties then turned to other options for Ian, including a private bus ride, according to Ian's mother, Katrina Christensen. But this last option would have meant that his son had to travel on a private bus and go to school after all the other children – which was not the case with Katrina Christensen.
"You do not do that to my child, he will not be different from what he is already," the mother told ABC News.
"It's my child and I have to do what I have to do," she added.
Courtesy Katrina Christensen
In the end, Katrina Christensen and her son had the idea of sending him on the bus with an alert dog that can quickly detect the fall or spikes of Ian's blood sugar. This idea was born a year ago when Ian started harassing his parents for an "ordinary" dog.
"I talked to Ian about it … and we said:" If we're going to have a dog, let's take one that is trained, "said Katrina Christensen.
To prepare, the family spent time watching YouTube videos about alert dog training, hoping to make Ian understand how much time and money it took to these dogs are up to the task. The family also met another diabetic child from the district who raised money for his own alert dog so Ian could ask questions and learn more about his experience. Regardless of their preparation and research, Katrina Christensen and her husband had to explain to their son that it would take time – at least a few years – to raise the $ 25,000 needed to buy the dog.
Courtesy Katrina Christensen
So while his family was selling vegetables from his backyard garden outside their home, Ian started selling lemonade, enthusiastically explaining to everyone why he was collecting these funds. And when the summer season began, Ian decided to continue selling pumpkins – a seasonal product his family has sold for decades – in order to contribute to his fund.
His smile and optimistic attitude quickly seduced his customers, who simply gave him $ 20 or $ 50 bills for pumpkins that the family usually only sold for $ 5 or $ 8, depending on their size.
"We were expecting to reap a few hundred and organize some fundraisers in the next year," said Katrina Christensen, who said her personal Facebook post was quickly picked up and shared 1,500 times over the next year. First 24 hours.
In a few days, the message was shared more than 10,000 times, encouraging Katrina Christensen to create a fundraising page to facilitate the flooding of donations she was receiving.
"I was not prepared at all," she said.
"The first night we raised almost $ 2,000, and I said," I'll be happy if it's more than $ 2,500 tomorrow. "And when I woke up, it was $ 15,000!" She exclaimed.
"You can not even imagine how it feels to see so many people showing you so much support and love," she said. "There is a person who has donated $ 1,000, I do not know who this person is, I have never met her, but someone has the heart to give $ 1,000 to a boy who they never met, how can you even understand that? "
Courtesy Katrina Christensen
People have been driving for four or five hours, insisting on standing in line so they can talk to Ian themselves, the mother said. His story has also touched other families in the district struggling with their own battles at school.
One of the parents, whose child was not allowed to board the bus because of health problems, even dropped a letter at his home, thanking the Christensen family for "his courage and determination" and inspiring others to "make changes to our schools. "
Courtesy Katrina Christensen
District Superintendent Al Cummings told ABC News that he could not comment because of a federal law banning the disclosure of personally identifiable information about students, but issued the following statement :
"In order to protect the rights of the family and students (FERPA), we can not [to] comments on specific students and / or their personal needs. Schools in the Tri-County area are committed to supporting our students in everything they do and helping them achieve their goals. The well-being of our students always comes first. "
Ian's fundraising page, which raised nearly $ 24,000 on Tuesday afternoon, secured Ian's new dog, which will come from Alert Service Dogs in Indianapolis, Katrina Christensen said.
So how did the parents announce the good news to Ian?
"When we got it back to school yesterday, I said:" Dad wants to tell you something, "said Katrina Christensen.
"Guess what?" Jeff Christensen, Ian's father, asked.
"What?" Ian replied.
"You have collected all your money, you have your dog," said his father.
Courtesy Katrina Christensen
Ian started screaming and applauding, according to his mother, but he did not stop there. When he learned that their fundraising page had gathered more than they might need, Ian insisted that wealth be spread.
"Any money left over," said Katrina Christensen, "Ian plans to donate so that another kid like him can get a dog, a pump or anything to ease diabetes because he knows to how difficult it is. "
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