When Life Gives You Lemons.
On Saturday, Post Falls had the sweetest lemonade stand around.
Camdyn Thompson, 7, was selling lemonade to raise money for a type 1 diabetes medical alert dog.
Thompson was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on Thanksgiving in 2016 when he was four years old, said parents Wade and Terina Thompson. Wade said he returned home after a day of hunting to find his son thirsty, irritated and refusing to eat food. They took their son to the doctors believing he had caught strep-throat from a friend. After multiple tests at Urgent Care Camdyn was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. There is an estimated 200,000 people under the age of 20 have type 1 diabetes in the nation.
Camdyn currently uses a pump and a dexcom g6, a continuous glucose monitoring device, which sends glucose readings to Wade and Terina’s cell phones and a phone he carries around. The parents want to get a diabetes medical alert dog for extra precautions.
“We are trying to save up money to get a diabetes alert dog because it knows his numbers better than any of the technology,” Terina said. “When he is low, when he is high, the dog would be great to make sure he is okay.”
Wade said the family has been doing garage sales and lemonade stands for two years now in order to save up for a dog. Terina said the dogs can cost from $10,000 to $12,000 but the price varies depending on where they choose to get the dog from. The family has done four total garage sales where Camdyn makes an appearance to sell his lemonade.
Dylan Anderson and his nine-year-old daughter Bree stopped by after seeing a post on the Northwest Type 1 Diabetes Facebook page. Bree attends Greensferry Elementary with Camdyn and also has type 1 diabetes.
“Her mom, my wife, saw the Facebook post and so we went to find the address and knew we had to stop by,” Dylan said.
Wade said he is unsure how close to their goal they are but they have had some amazing people and organizations stop by. Camdyn said his favorite was a group of motorcyclists.
“I liked the motorcycles because they are fast and cool and that kind of stuff,” Camdyn said.
The Post Falls Police Department, Kootenai County Fire- Rescue, neighbors and Facebook followers all stopped by to help the Thompson family achieve their goal.