Mom Will Give Son Kidney: When Jace Glenn was four weeks old, he had both his kidneys removed. He has been on dialysis ever since, awaiting an age when he would be old enough to undergo a kidney transplant operation. Now three, all he needs is a donor. He found one in his mom.

Police Officer Saves Women From Car Sinking In Lake: Saturday night, Ngac Do and Nhi Tran took a wrong turn on Dalrock Rd. off I-30 and drove their Honda Civic into Lake Ray Hubbard. A police dash cam caught the rescue.

Ruby is alerting Faith that her blood sugar is not within the 100-180 range. Photo by Type 1 Diabetes Foundation

Often, while in the middle of a deep sleep, I start dreaming about food—sandwiches, doughnuts, steak, peanut butter cups, gnocchi. It doesn’t matter what it is, I dream about it all. Slowly, I start to wake up. And that’s when I realize my blood sugar is low. I stumble into the kitchen, and in a half-conscious state, dig through the pantry and eat. The next morning, I go back to the kitchen and am ashamed of what happened during my “midnight feeding.” It’s amazing what combinations of food seem like a good idea when I’m half-awake. (Apparently, peanut butter goes with everything.)

This is just what life’s like for me, a type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed when I was 3. Two-year-old Faith Wilson was diagnosed when she was 9-months-old. She doesn’t dream about food when she’s low. She doesn’t wake up. Life for her, her siblings, and her parents has been a nightmare. But things got just a bit easier a year ago when the Wilsons got Ruby, a British Lab.

It was a string of miracles that led the Wilson family to Wildrose Kennels in Oxford, Mississippi, to pick up Ruby. Even though it can take years to match a Diabetic Alert Dog (DAD) to its family, the Wilsons were picked for Ruby within a matter of days. It also takes quite a bit of time to secure the $10,000 this highly trained Lab costs. But, again, through multiple miracles, including the Diabetes Friendly Foundation’s help, the Wilsons were able to go pick up Ruby with money in hand.

That first night was an indication of just how badly the family needed Ruby.

The day had been spent getting to know the young dog. Oddly, 18-month-old Faith’s blood sugar had been normal the whole day. Not once did Ruby alert, which is what she does when Faith’s blood sugar is below 100 or above 180. (Ruby alerts by retrieving a stick called a bringsel, or if she can’t find it because it’s not in its designated place, she takes the glucometer to Faith’s mom. She uses smell to “test” Faith’s levels.) But as the Wilsons got Faith ready for bed, Ruby suddenly alerted. They tested their daughter’s blood sugar. It was 160, a perfectly normal number for her to go to bed with.

Fifteen minutes later, Ruby alerted again. This time, Faith’s blood sugar was 80. Sarah, Faith’s mom, treated the low by giving her some sugar. Fifteen minutes later, Ruby alerted again. This time, Faith was 60. Sarah gave her more sugar. Fifteen minutes later, same thing. But this time, Faith was 50. At this point, Sarah began crying. “This is exactly the help we needed,” she says. Fifteen more minutes pass, but this time, Ruby doesn’t alert. Sarah takes Faith’s blood sugar anyway. It’s up to 110. “We started off with a bang with Ruby,” Sarah says.

Before Ruby, Sarah says, their lives were difficult. Sarah would set her alarm clock to go off every two hours during the night so she could get up to test Faith’s blood sugar levels. “We needed some kind of help,” she says. “I really didn’t think she was going to make it if something didn’t happen.” That something was Ruby. “I can count on my fingers the number of times she missed an alert,” Sarah says. “She has made the most difference.”

I tell you all this because the Diabetes Friendly Foundation, which provides money for diabetic children to obtain a DAD, is having a benefit this Saturday at F.I.G. If you’d like to learn more about DADs or the event, go here. If you’d like to hear of some great midnight recipes involving peanut butter and pickles (yes, that’s actually happened), shoot me an email.

Larry Hagman

It appears that Tim won’t be meeting Larry “J.R.” Hagman tomorrow night at the Cattle Baron’s Ball. Larry just told TV Guide that he has been diagnosed with cancer. The good news is that the doctors have told him that it is “highly treatable.”

An inside source reports that due to this development Larry will be unable to attend the party, but will be part of the new “Dallas” series that starts production next week.

Ironically, CBB is one of the country’s most successful fund raisers for the American Cancer Society.

Perry Tries to Downplay Racist Name of Family’s Hunting Camp: So who had  a worse weekend, Tony Romo, who threw three interceptions to lay the ground for the worst collapse in Cowboys history, or Rick Perry, whose family’s hunting camp, we learn, has been long known by a racial slur? Perry spent much of the weekend denying the report.

UT Southwestern Professor Shares Nobel Prize for Medicine: Bruce Beutler, who will soon rejoin the faculty of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine along with Frenchman Jules Hoffman and Canadian Ralph Steinman for their work on immune system defenses. His most important discoveries were made, in part, during a previous stint at UT Southwestern, when he discovered a molecule that plays a role in the nervous system’s first line of defense against disease.

According to Parkland’s board chairwoman Lauren McDonald, Anderson is not being fired. Rather, he will be given a newly created position in January.

More Woes for Parkland: A new federal report on Parkland Hospital discovered numerous instances of unsanitary and neglectful conditions, which may put the hospital at risk for losing hundreds of millions of federal health care dollars. The threat of cutting funding, health experts say, is extremely rare, highlighting just how bad investigators believe the situation is at the hospital. Meanwhile, Parkland chief, Dr. Ron Anderson, just happens to be in negotiations for a new contract, and after three decades on the job, it is hard to imagine he will continue to lead the hospital for much longer.

Man Beaten To Death By Homeless Man He Let Live in Backyard: Gilbert Spira began letting a group of homeless people he was friendly with camp in his backyard as a way of deterring burglars. But then one of those men beat him to death. After the crime, the other homeless people restrained Spira’s assailant until police arrived There is no word on a motive.

All kidding aside: most of the people who signed that letter are rich, and some of them even know what they’re talking about. I would love to know what sort of phone calls Jim Moroney is getting about his paper’s coverage of Parkland and UT Southwestern.

Update (3:49): I overlooked the names John Eagle and Carl Sewell on that letter. Both men are far too savvy to consider pulling their companies’ auto ads over such a thing. Right?