Diabetes Walk Revisited

Here is something I posted a few weeks ago. The walk is tomorrow so I figured I would mention it one more time. Jeff is still working on his goal, so feel free to visit his site(link on the right sidebar).

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Our annual Walk to Cure Juvenile Diabetes is coming up on June 7.

Jeff has suffered from Type 1(Juvenile) Diabetes for over 12 years now. Since knowing him, I have had a crash course on how to help him stay on top of it, but every day can be a struggle. I really can't explain the difficulties in words. You truly have to be in it's presence to realize the devastation it causes. Gabbie already knows that Dada does something to his belly. She knows what Dada's glucometer looks like and brings it to him when she finds it places. We DO NOT keep any sort of needles around but the fact that we have to worry about that is an added stresser. We have caught Gabbie many times using her doctor kit to give herself "injections." We are slowly explaining to her why he does this, but she won't truly understand it until she is much older.

I have a 2nd grade student right now whose mom has Type 1 as well. It is interesting to see diabetes through his eyes because it is where Gabbie will be one day. He knows she needs sugar and knows when mom is "acting funny." The mom says he is constantly asking her if she has her glucometer with her or did she bring her Starburst in case her blood sugar gets low. I am sad to know that he along with so many other children have this burden on their shoulders because their parents suffer from JD. I know Jeff and my worry will always be that we hope we didn't pass it on to Gabbie and any other children we have.

What's even worse is there are children out there going through the experience first hand, including a student I had 4 years ago. I had to give him insulin shots numerous times that year because he just wasn't brave enough to do it just yet. In the school system you needed two people to verify the dosage before you could even give it. You had to get permission over the phone from the parent and then sign off on it. He would be "high" or "low" and I had to learn the signs he displayed so I knew what to do for him or when to buzz down for help. He was an active child, so he often didn't exercise caution when he should have. Children are so young to be forced into understanding this complex disease, but it's a fact of life for more children than you know.

That's why this cause is so near and dear to our hearts. We need to kick Diabetes butt!

P.S. Thank you so much to those that will be walking with us Sunday and to those that donated to our cause. We GREATLY appreciate all of your support. :)