Ray LeMay, an 11-year-old known throughout the River Falls community for his egg stand, is fighting diabetic ketoacidosis with the help of many supporters backing him.

Ray runs Ray’s Hen House, where he has offered a variety of eggs including chicken, quail and duck and hatching eggs for people to raise their own chicks.

“Ray is chicken obsessed. He knows every chicken breed you can think of, facts about them and what color eggs they lay,” Billie LeMay, Ray’s mother, said. “He has, right now, over 40 chickens of his own. Most of them he incubates and hatches out and raises. In the spring, he sells chicks, and he sells hatching eggs, and he sells eating eggs. He does it all.”

Ray had been experiencing symptoms including weight loss and thirst, but pediatricians cited a growth spurt as a likely cause. As the symptoms worsened over the next few weeks, Billie’s mother Connie Glass, a travel nurse, came to town to visit on the weekend of Oct. 25.

“He just got significantly more sick in that two days. She was actually due to leave town and start a new nursing contract,” Billie said. “She decided before she left that she would get a glucometer, and we would just, based on her instincts, check his blood sugar.”

Billie said they found Ray was in full diabetic ketoacidosis.

“She could have saved his life that day, she very likely did,” Billie said about Connie’s observation.

They rushed him to the Children’s Hospital of St. Paul where he spent a few days in intensive care and a few more in the hospital as a whole. Eventually, Ray was released from the hospital but needs to be awoken every three hours for finger pricks and insulin around the clock. He will go through that process until he qualifies for a monitor and pump, which the family currently does not have a timeline on.

“He is so resilient, and he just took this on as his new normal right away,” Billie said. “It’s almost like he didn’t have a transition period. He just began his new life as soon as he got his diagnosis.”

He ultimately had to close the stand for the remainder of the year. As soon as he is feeling better, the stand will be back up and running.

The community support has been there the whole way, something that has meant a lot to the family.

“It means everything. I never imagined having this much community support. River Falls has come together so much,” Billie said.

When Ray was in the hospital, Billie promised him a therapy dog.

“The first thing Ray said to me after, we were in the emergency room, and he looked up at me and said, ‘Did you know that diabetic people have service dogs,’” Billie said. “I was like yes, and we will get you one. I made that promise in the moment when I had a very sick, weak child, and now I’m going to do absolutely everything in my power to make that dream come true.”

Billie mentioned the process is not quick nor cheap, so they are asking for donations through gofund.me/1ec1ed581. Technology can be inconsistent at times, so the LeMay family is looking to provide a safeguard for Ray’s health.

“I knew nothing about Type 1 Diabetes. I just think the public needs to know more, because I didn’t ever think my child would have that,” Billie said. “I think if we raised awareness, less kids would get as severely ill as Ray did.”