Freshman Ashly Romero moved into her college dorm room last month the same way any other student did: she unpacked her belongings, introduced herself to her new roommate and settled in.
But Romero brought with her something that nobody else did: her dog.
A President’s Scholar majoring in anthropology, Romero shares her dorm room at Cal State Long Beach with her three-year-old golden retriever, Wrigley, who holds the responsibility of saving her life.
When Romero was four, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a high-maintenance condition that can cause adverse health affects if not treated properly and timely.
“I don’t remember life without diabetes,” Romero said.
Every summer after the diagnosis, Romero has attended the Bearskin Meadow Camp at Kings Canyon National Park, a summer camp hosted by the Diabetic Youth Foundation (DYF), which educates kids with the disease.
One year at camp, Romero saw something that would forever change the way she managed her condition. Another girl at camp suffered a seizure right in front of her because she was unaware that her blood glucose level was so high.
“Once I saw it, it hit me as a reality,” Romero said.
Type 1 diabetes causes a deficiency of the hormone insulin, which can raise blood glucose levels. If not treated properly, diabetes can lead to seizures, strokes, blindness and even heart disease.
After the incident, Romero and her family proceeded to seek out ways to help maintain her condition. After they weighed out their options, they decided that a service dog would be a good fit to help her monitor her blood glucose level.
Shortly thereafter, Romero was introduced to Wrigley.
“I was actually able to train [Wrigley] myself,” Romero said. “[At camp] they taught me how to train her once a week for two months.”
Wrigley was specially trained to sense when Romero’s blood glucose level rises too high and alert her.
“If that happens, she’ll paw my leg to let me know,” Romero said. “It kind of hurts, but that’s okay.”
Now Wrigley stays with Romero at all times, something that helps Romero to meet new people quite often.
“A lot of people are really curious about her, and that’s how we start talking,” she said.
Now that she’s older, Romero said she looks forward to returning to the DYF summer camp but for a different reason.
“At this point, it’s really about giving back to them the same opportunities and life lessons that I learned there,” she said. “One of the things they instill in everyone is that you aren’t your disease. It doesn’t define who you are. You are a person who has the disease but it’s not who you are.”
Romero said that its important to remember that a disease can’t define a person or deter that person from doing anything.
“It is what you make it,” she said. “I think it’s really important, having that molded into you at a young age that you can do anything and that there aren’t limitations on how you can live your life.”