“After living with diabetes for six years,” observes 14-year-old Drew Roberts of Dexter, “it’s just part of my life. I know what I have to do to stay alive, so I do it.”
Drew says he received a wakeup call to the seriousness of his disease during the first days of his diagnosis.
“I had been sent to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis,” recalls the teenager, “and there was a boy there who had almost died because he was in denial about his diabetes. He wanted to be ‘normal’ so he didn’t do everything he was supposed to do to keep it under control. He was scared, his parents were scared—I was scared. It made a believer out of me!”
Drew’s mother Amy, herself a Registered Nurse, says it is amazing how her son took charge from such a young age and has accepted the diabetes as simply another part of his life.
“There has never been a pity party, or ‘why me,’ ” recounts Amy. “Monitoring his diabetes is as much a part of his daily routine as showering and eating. And I am proud to say that other than the initial admission to obtain the diagnosis, he has not had another hospital stay during these past six years.”
Drew’s sudden onset of Type 1 Diabetes, previously called Juvenile Diabetes, took the family by surprise.
“We had been on vacation in Florida,” recalls Drew’s dad Andy. “We had spent a fun-filled week at the beach, playing in the sun, eating out, all those family things you do on vacation. Nothing was out-of-the-ordinary.”
He continues, “On the way home, though, Drew kept having to stop to use the restroom. Every hour, it seemed like, he would tell me it was an emergency and he really had to go. Of course,” he adds, “like any parent I was getting aggravated and finally told him we would not stop again until we got home. Drew tried, but he finally convinced me we had to stop again.”
Once the family was back home, everything returned to normal, so the travel incident did not seem to be a real concern.
“Drew was going to spend a week with my parents in Indiana before school started,” recalls Amy, “so we did advise them to keep an eye on him and let us know if he started having issues.”
The week passed uneventfully and Drew returned home to prepare for his eighth birthday and the beginning of school.
“Then, one afternoon in August, one week before his birthday, Drew began complaining about being thirsty,” recalls Amy.
Drew adds, “I just couldn’t get enough to drink. It hit me all of a sudden, and I think I drank five full glasses of milk in less than an hour.”
At that point, Amy says her nurse and mom radar kicked in and she realized what was going on.
“All of a sudden,” recounts Amy emotionally, “I just knew what it was. It hit me like a lightning bolt, and you can’t imagine the guilt I felt. I rushed to a local retail store where I was able to purchase a store-brand glucometer. His reading was off the chart.”
A quick visit to the nurse practitioner (NP) confirmed Amy’s initial reading. Labs were drawn, and the NP instructed the family to go home, pack bags, and head to Children’s Hospital in St. Louis.
Amy goes on to say, “We weren’t even to Sikeston when Children’s called to tell us that he would be admitted upon arrival, and that he definitely had Type 1 Diabetes. His blood glucose sugar was 687—normal is 80-120.”
In the hospital Drew was taught how to check his blood sugar and how to draw his own insulin; however, now he wears an insulin pump which automatically injects him with the insulin his body no longer manufactures.
“Diabetes and its monitoring are constants in my life,” observes Drew philosophically. “Some people learn to live with allergies, disabilities, or other types of diseases. I know that if I don’t do what I am supposed to do, and have a serious episode, I will be dead within minutes.”
Amy adds, “Drew carries a bag that has everything he would ever need, for any situation that might arise. He is never without it.”
“I like school, I like PE, I love to swim and hunt,” Drew observes. “I know what has to be monitored and how to do it. In life, I can do whatever I want because even though I may have diabetes, it is only a small part of who I am.”
According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) Type 1 Diabetes results when the pancreas stops producing insulin. Insulin is what manufactures energy from the sugar that is in our blood stream. There is no way to prevent Type 1 Diabetes, no cure, and it is not related to lifestyle or diet.
Research from the Mayo Clinic reveals that more than 200,000 cases of Type 1 Diabetes are diagnosed in the U.S. each year. It is most common in children 6 to 18 years and in adults 19 to 60. It may occur in other age ranges, but those incidents are rare.
The JDRF advises that symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes are the same, regardless of the individual’s age. Common onset symptoms include extreme thirst, frequent urination, chronic fatigue, vision changes, fruity smelling breath, extreme hunger combined with unexplained weight loss, mood changes or restlessness when in conjunction with other symptoms, lethargy, heavy breathing, nausea or vomiting. JDRF adds that symptoms may appear suddenly and may not immediately be recognizable.
The Roberts family lives in Dexter. Andy teaches elementary PE at Bell City R-11, where Drew and his brother Jacob attend school. Amy is director of nursing at a long-term care facility.