Living With Type 1 Diabetes – The Daily Record (registration)

Diabetes walk and health fair this Saturday.

By RICK CURL

Of The Record Staff

Theres no doubt one of the great medical issues plaguing, not only the United States, but the world, is diabetes.

It affects all ages, all races and both genders without discretion and sometimes with a reckless abandon that few can truly understand.

Whether its cause is born into its victim or the disease is borne of patients neglecting themselves, the disease had grimly risen to the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States by 2010.

In order to raise awareness, Blessing Box Ministry is conducting a Diabetes Walk and Health Fair Saturday at Dr. P.K. Vyas Park in Benson. The event will include a 3K walk and several vendors, as well as a car show.

The walk will get under way at 10:30 a.m. and judging for the car show will end at 1:30 p.m.

There is an entry fee of $25 per car and a prize will be awarded to the winner.

The walk and health fair is created to bring awareness to the community and part of the proceeds will go to the American Diabetes Association (ADA) in the name of a Four Oaks youth.

There are two distinct types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. The words that describe the two diseases are simple enough. Yet, they are a disease with different roots.

According to the ADA, Type 1 is usually diagnosed in children and young adults. Previously known as juvenile diabetes, only about 5 percent of people with the disease have this form.

It comes about when the body doesnt produce insulin the hormone excreted from the pancreas that gets metabolized sugars from the bloodstream into the cells of the body.

Type 2, which is the most common, is when the body doesnt use insulin properly and causes blood sugar levels to rise higher than normal.

The most severe Type 1 is also the one that strikes the most innocent of victims.

One of those is 7-year-old Zion Alexander Hawkins of Four Oaks. He was diagnosed See Diabetes, Page 3

Daily Record Photo/Rick Curl

To raise awareness for diabetes and the American Diabetes Association there will be a 3K Walk and Health Fair in Benson on Saturday starting with the walk at 10:30 a.m. One of the inspirations for the event is the story of 7-year-old Zion Alexander Hawkins of Four Oaks.

Continued From Page One

with the disease last October when he slipped into a diabetic coma.

Its been rough, his mother Shilinda said. We dont hardly get any sleep. Hes a little more angrier.

She says Zion began the process of learning how to deal with the disease and realizes the situation hes facing.

He passes out sometimes at school because his sugar drops too low, she said. He wants to eat everything. He understands he has diabetes, but hes still a child and still wants all that stuff.

The effects on the body of a diabetic can cause them to go from one extreme to the other within a days time.

Mood Swings

In the morning hes very tired, it took him a long time to get adjusted, Ms. Hawkins said. Then in the afternoon, hes very hyper. But, his sugar will be way up.

Like others, he also is faced with the task of taking insulin shots. In Zions case its four times a day.

At night he gets a set dose of long-acting insulin and during the day his shots are short-acting based on a sliding scale determined by his blood sugar levels at meal time.

We try very hard to make sure he takes it, Ms. Hawkins said. Hes getting used to checking himself.

Hes also starting to learn his body and how to react.

Hell remind us its time for his insulin or hell say, Mom Im feeling kind of light headed and such, she said. Its just something to get adjusted to.

Because of his age, Zion is faced with controlling his blood sugar with the help of others.

I still give them to him, Ms. Hawkins said of the shots. Were trying to get him on the pump. I think it would be better.

According to the ADA, insulin pumps are computerized devices that deliver insulin in two ways in a steady measured and continuous dose (the basal insulin) and as a surge or bolus dose at the direction of the user around mealtime.

Doses are delivered through a flexible plastic tube with a small needle attached that is inserted through the skin into the fatty tissue and is then taped in place.

But, until Ms. Hawkins gets the approvals from her insurance and gets the doctors approval which she expects to happen soon Zion will continue to face the every day tasks of being a diabetic who uses injections.

Trips To School

Ms. Hawkins has often had to leave her job after getting calls from the school nurse it seems like a daily trip for her.

I think the school gives him too much insulin, Ms. Hawkins said. Theyll text me and tell me theyve given him seven units of insulin or eight.

Which is a larger dose than hes received at home.

Ive never given him that much, she said. The most Ive given him of the (short-acting) is five units.

At one point Ms. Hawkins got word Zion had been victim of a diabetic episode and became unresponsive.

Its very scary, she said. I dont get a lot of sleep, I probably dont go to sleep until 3 oclock in the morning trying to make sure hes OK.

Making his situation more difficult is his battle with ADHD and OCD. The problem is adjusting his medications to keep his diabetes in check.

Its kind of hard to maintain those, she said. Then with him having diabetes, theyre trying to find medication that wont affect his diabetes.

There are both ups and downs for his mother and family as well. Ms. Hawkins has a stable and solid support system from her family, but theres still those thoughts that linger.

The easiest part is Ive got a lot of help, she said. The hardest part is knowing that he has diabetes and it will be with him the rest of his life.

Ms. Hawkins faces many possibilities when it comes to Zion, many that families not touched by the disease face.

He can be asleep and his blood sugar will drop down real low and Ill not know it, she said. Or he can slip into a coma like he did the first time.

Diagnosis

Speaking of the terrifying time last year when doctors put all of the pieces together, Ms. Hawkins said the coma was the final piece of the puzzle.

He had surgery back in September when he had problems urinating, Ms. Hawkins said. So they did surgery and when we went back to get a check up they told us it was coming from his kidneys.

From there it was another couple of weeks when he began falling into the nightmare that all diabetics face. He just got real drowsy, Ms. Hawkins said. I didnt know what was going on. I didnt know if he just wasnt feeling good or not wanting to go to school.

A short time later he went into the diabetic coma that changed his and his familys lives.

After waking up from the coma about a week later, Zion was worried about getting into trouble.

When he woke up out of the coma he said we were going to be real mad at him for this, she said. I told him, no, we werent, then he wanted to eat everything. He was so hungry because hed been in a coma for week.

She said it took a little while for him to realize the gravity of the situation.

He didnt understand at first, but now hes understanding, Ms. Hawkins said. Hell ask me, Mom, can I eat this and take my insulin and I cant tell him no because hes still a child.

People who have never been exposed to diabetics often dont realize whats good and whats not and one of the biggest culprits of trouble is fruit.

Because of the natural sugars in them, it makes eating fruit tricky.

He loves fruits, she said. And thats the hardest thing to take away from him because hes a fruit baby.

Ms. Hawkins is also in the learning stage herself, trying to keep all the things she needs to focus on in perspective.

I knew about diabetes, but I never knew how serious it was until it hit him, she said. So, by him having it, I try to keep myself taken care of too. If it popped up on him, it might pop up on me too.

comments

Read more:
Living With Type 1 Diabetes - The Daily Record (registration)