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| Landon and Carson at the Blank Park Zoo |
About 2 years ago our nephew, Carson (son of my wife’s brother) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. He had been struggling with health problems for a couple years until they found the cause when he was 3 years old. Also, in the last year a colleague at work discovered his son also has T1D. After this news and seeing the Team JDRF booth at the 2013 JDRF booth, I said enough is enough, I’m doing this. This is the best way I found I could contribute to a better life for Carson and others with T1D.
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| The Jerdee family at the 2011 WDW Marathon |
Recently Kim and I learned firsthand what it is like to care for a child with T1D. We had the opportunity to take care of Carson while his parents took a weekend trip. At first we were overwhelmed by all the details you need to watch: don’t let his blood sugar get too high, if it gets over 280 check his ketones, if his blood level gets too low he might pass out, give him some sugar, but make sure you enter the carbs in his pump, etc. All this seemed a bit much, especially since a 5 year old can’t tell you when his thinks his blood sugar is low or high. I have to admit, the first night was hard for me, I had trouble sleeping. We listened for the Dexcom alarm and panicked when it was really high, but relieved (then frustrated with the Dexcom) when we checked his blood and found it was pretty normal. In the end we took it all in stride, Kim was really on top of everything and was a responsible “mom”. By the end of the visit we learned a lot: don’t panic, but pay attention. The visit ended the same way they usually do, tears were shed by cousins saying good bye for now, but Kim and I gained a new empathy for what Mandy and Kerry go through on a day to day basis. This is a really tough disease to live with and no kid should have to go through all that.
Please visit my Team JDRF page and consider donating to the cause:
http://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR/TeamJDRF/JDRFNationalChallenge?px=2003313&pg=personal&fr_id=3127
2 comments:
Thanks Stan and Kathleen!
Bless your heart for taking on the responsibility to care for Carson while his parents were away, Becky.
xo
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