World Diabetes Day

The following blog post is an excerpt from an email that my wife, DeAnn, sent out to friends and family.

November 14, 2008 was World Diabetes Day. I am writing this just to ask people to remember the struggles that all people with diabetes live with on a day to day basis. I am especially referring to people who have Type I Diabetes. Most of you know about diabetes because of Kennedy's diagnosis last summer at age four. We have lived with diabetes for almost a year and a half. It's something that you live with 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. You never get a break from it and you never stop thinking about it because your life revolves around it.

Having Type I Diabetes means that the part of Kennedy's pancreas that makes insulin does not work. This is the difference between Type I and Type II Diabetes. Kennedy makes no insulin at all which all people need to stay alive. Some people ask us if she will outgrow diabetes which is unfortunately not possible. She does not make insulin, and she never will. Also, no amount of exercise or diet restrictions will ever change the fact that she needs multiple insulin injections every day in order to stay alive. No one knows why a person gets Type I Diabetes. There is no cure. Insulin is not a cure. It is a means to stay alive.

We are grateful to have an insulin pump for Kennedy so she is able to receive insulin through a tiny miniature tube that is inserted under her skin. Instead of receiving about six shots per day which is the amount she averaged before using the insulin pump, we now insert a small needle attached with a tube under her skin every other day. Thanks to technology, she only endures one significant poke (insertion of the tube) every other day. The insulin is then administered through the tube with no pain. She receives insulin every hour on the hour in addition to all mealtimes and snack times. She receives about 30 different insulin doses through her pump every single day.

Kennedy still endures an average of eight finger pokes every day to check her blood sugar (sometimes more if her blood sugar is too high or too low). Rob and I continue to set our alarm every single night to check Kennedy's blood sugar during the middle of the night (1-2 times each night). If her blood sugar would drop too low during the night, it could result in brain damage, coma or death. Too high of a blood sugar is also dangerous and causes horrible, devastating complications such as kidney failure and blindness. Since Kennedy was diagnosed, I have not slept through the night in nearly a year and a half. A good night's rest is appealing, but the risk of not checking Kennedy's blood sugar level is too great.

Our family will be participating in the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) Walk-to-Cure Diabetes event on January 24, 2009. We participated in this event last year and our team raised $1,200. An estimated 18,000 people participated last year. It was shoulder-to-shoulder at times. So many teams had their matching t-shirts on holding signs united in fighting for a cure. It was a very emotional and uplifting experience.

This email is a reminder of World Diabetes Day and a request to ask for help in supporting research to find a cure for diabetes. If you are able to donate to Kennedy's Team we would be deeply grateful and so appreciative. You can donate on-line or mail us a check written out to JDRF which we will present at the walk event in January. To learn more information or to donate on-line please go to Kennedy's Fundraising page at the following link:

http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=87284412

Thank you,

DeAnn, Rob and Kennedy Mayer