January 2012.. Our 12 year old son craig just wasnt feeling right. He was constantly tired and eating. I figured he was just growing..
He was always thirsty and having to use the bathroom every 20 minutes. Thats when we knew this wasnt just a growing 12 year old, something was wrong.
I took him to the doctor assuming he had some kind of infection or something. I waited in the waiting room as he went in because, well he was 12 so he was "too big for mom to come".
I figured he would come out with a prescription and we would be on our way.
The door opened and the doctor called me back. He sat me down and said "I think your son has diabetes"
I looked at my healthy, active, young boy and wondered how this could be true.
The doctor explained that it was an autoimmune disease and sent us home to get some labs done the next day.
Well, the next day, he was sent to the hospital and was there for 4 days. My heart was broken.. I wished I could take this disease from him..
Our life quickly became a lot more complicated. Days were filled with finger pokes, calculations, insulin shots and a lot of worry.
Craig was getting 6-7 shots a day, fighting highs and lows, learning to live with this lifelong disease. He had to adjust at school, and with his baseball, he had to sit out if he was too low to play, he had to do a lot of things that most kids cant even imagine.
Just 3 and a half months later our 4 year old Madi was showing some of the same symptoms, going potty every 20 minutes. I wouldnt let me mind go there.
I thought maybe she was just being a 4 year old who was having too much fun she didnt have time to go potty.. My husband took her to the doctor and again I really thought she would just get a prescription and be fine.. I called him to see if they had gotten to see the doctor yet and he said "well, we did and now we are on our way to the lab, they think Madi has diabetes too"
My heart broke again.. I just couldnt believe it.
That day we ended up in the hospital with her blood sugar up in the high 400s.. We were there for 3 days..
We have learned to deal with the daily struggles of Type 1.
We have learned that anything can affect a persons blood sugar. Stress, illness, excitement, activity, even sleep. On a daily basis they do calculations, finger pokes, shots, and struggle to keep their numbers in range. We have had several 2 am lows, which involve their blood sugar dropping, me running downstairs to get juice and and waking them up to drink. Their sleep is completely interrupted, their life is filled with responsibility, worry and a lot of pokes. In one year, each child has at least 2500 finger pokes and 2000 shots.. per year.
Anything they do, they have to constantly be checking their blood sugars and insulin to make sure they are in a safe range.
These kids cant go swimming ,
play a sport
or do anything without focusing on their diabetes and making sure they arent too high, or too low and have a seizure. Their bodies go through ups and downs on a daily basis.. It is a lot for a child to worry about.
Type 1 diabetes is a 24/7 disease.. It doesnt care if its a holiday, if you have plans, are on vacation or even if its your birthday. Madi spent her last birthday in the hospital with complications of this
disease.
This is why we walk and fund raise. For these 2 kids.
.and for all people with T1D around the world.
I fully believe there is a possibility for a cure in their lifetime.
There are trial happening right now, transplants, beta cell testing, bionic pancreas testing..
We raise money for a cure.. for research. With your help, research can continue.
I asked Craig to tell me what a cure would mean to him..
"life with a cure would make me feel more secure. My life would have less worries. I could play baseball and do things I love, and do them like a normal kid. I wouldn't have to get shots and finger prick several times a day. "
then I asked Madi, what she would say if there was a cure and she said "Yahoo!"
So this is why we do it all... we raise awareness and funds for research so they just be kids.
http://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR?team_id=81558&fr_id=2410&pg=team
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