SAND LAKE, Mich. - The six-year-old boy selling pumpkins to pay for a diabetic alert dog raised more than $20,000 in four days after his story went viral.
Ian Unger, a kindergartner from Sand Lake with Type 1 Diabetes, started his roadside pumpkin stand in late September. The family is fundraising for a dog to supervise Ian's blood sugar on bus rides to and from school.
“A service dog for a diabetic alerts the person to their blood sugars about 45 minutes before your blood sugar will show up on the meter,” said Katrina Christensen, Ian’s mother. “We want him to be a normal kid. With the dog, he will have a better chance of that."
Christensen said a diabetic alert dog could cost $25,000.
Word of Ian’s pumpkins circulated around West Michigan over the weekend on Facebook. Customers came to his home in droves, buying more than 150 pumpkins Friday and Saturday.
Since the story was first publicized, Ian and his pumpkins went viral. More than 650 people donated to the Facebook fundraiser, raising over $23,000.
“I was in tears all day with all these people coming and just the love they are showing to him is amazing,” Christensen said Saturday. “No matter what, everybody has something that is wrong or bad. It's just what you make of it. And he has that in his heart."
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