Children with diabetes find comfort at camp – Bismarck Tribune

For about a week, Griffin Kyes will get to be a normal child at summer camp. He'll do all the traditional camp activities: running through the woods, swimming, watching skits and playing in the GaGa ball pit his favorite.

Along the way, Kyes will also master how to control his Type 1 diabetes.

"I've learned that you need to control your diabetes or else your body could get really harmed," said the soon-to-be fifth-grader at Pioneer Elementary School in Bismarck.

This will be Kyes third time at Camp Sioux, which is for children ages 8 to 15 who have diabetes. It's the only camp like it in the state, located in Park River, just northwest of Grand Forks.

Camp Sioux is sponsored by various organizations, including several Lions Clubs, such as the one in Mandan. The American Diabetes Association runs the camp, according to Carol Holten, associate manager of community health strategies for the Midwest Division of the ADA.

"We just want them to be normal kids and know that their diabetes won't hold them back," Holten said.

The kids do this while also learning independence. There aren't any formal educational sessions or classes, but instead "teachable moments," Holten said.

There will be dietitians to help count carbs. Some of the children will learn to take an insulin shot for the first time.

Kyes was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 4 years old. His mother, Lisa Rask, said the chronic disease doesn't run in the family, and she began noticing Kyes' symptoms, such as being constantly thirsty, weak and wetting the bed,when he was younger.

It was super hard to drop him off the first year when a kid is diabetic you cant just let them go to a party or sleepover, it doesnt work like that," she said. "When you walk into camp, you have a parent meeting and they line up all the nurses and doctors, and you just feel better."

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2014

In 2014, about 49,000 adults in North Dakota were living with diagnosed diabetes, and an estimated 37 percent of the population, or more than 202,000 people, had prediabetes.

There are two types of diabetes: Type 1 is most common in people under age 20, and it occurs when insulin-producing cells of the pancreas are damaged. In this instance, little or no insulin is produced, and patients need insulin injections to control their blood sugar.

Type 2 diabetes is diagnosed in people who produce insulin, but not enough. This type can be managed by controlling a person's weight, diet, regular exercise or by taking oral medicine or insulin injections.

There are some serious complications associated with diabetes, including lower limb amputation, blindness, kidney failure and cardiovascular disease.

Holten said 150 children plan to attend Camp Sioux this year, up from 134 in 2016. She said the increase in children attending the camp can be attributed to a general rising trend in the number of children with diabetes, but also to more doctors getting the word out to newly diagnosed patients.

Such gatherings aim to help children control the disease while also helping them meet others who are experiencing the same things. Many of the camp counselors are former campers.

"Many of the younger kids aspire to (become a counselor), and the older kids love being able to be in that staff position," Holten said.

KateyNick, a nurse and diabetes educator at Sanford Health in Bismarck, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 3.

"I don't remember it any other way," said Nick, 26, who has gone to Camp Sioux on and off since she was 8 years old.

Nick has been a camper, counselor and, this year, she'll go back as a nurse.

"Growing up, I didn't really want to take care of myself. I wanted to be a normal teenager; eat what I wanted," said Nick, who struggled to control her diabetes.

But the camp helped her feel normal, and she's made some lifelong friends along the way.

"It helps kids really learn that they're not so different. They have this chronic disease, but it's manageable," Nick said.

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Children with diabetes find comfort at camp - Bismarck Tribune