Tom was diagnosed with type one diabetes.
It was a big shock to all of us. He had been sick for about a week. I had noticed that he was drinking more than usual and that he seemed hungry all the time. On the Tuesday before diagnosis he started vomiting. I thought he had just picked up a bug. About 48 hours after this, I was talking on the phone with my mother. I wasn't really concerned about the vomiting, I was concerned though that his outer limbs were turning blue. When we held his arm, it would turn white and take a count of 5 to return to the blue colour. My mother convinced me that I needed to talk to a doctor at least. I phoned the doctor on call and got advise about what to do overnight and told to bring him in the next morning.
The next morning I took him to the doctor. She was very concerned about his limbs being blue and an awful nappy rash he had from the high sugars and frequent urinating. She weighed him, gave me a script for some cream and told me to keep his fluids up and to bring him back the next day. In the 24 hours that followed we gave him lots to drink and when we went back the next morning he had lost over 1 kg in weight. (Around 2 pounds). It was at that point that I knew he had something seriously wrong with him.
That afternoon he was diagnosed and we were flown down to Adelaide with the Royal Flying Doctors.
In the last 7 years, diabetes has had an affect on every aspect of our lives. We need to plan everything for Tom. Before the pump, we had to have him eating at the same time everyday. He had to eat a snack in between meals. We couldn't go anywhere without something to treat a sugar low. We never know when a sugar low is going to happen and sometimes we don't know why they have happened.
I was told when we were in Adelaide, there would be a cure for diabetes in Tom's lifetime. There has been huge leaps made in discovering a cure but many people are looking for a cure in the wrong area.
I would love there to be a cure for Tom and for him to never have to rely on a pump or injections again. I don't want it through immoral means though.
Many people think that diabetes can be cured if more money is put into embryonic stem cell research. I will not support any charity that is putting their money into this type of research no matter who they are.
An embryo is a human being. To get an embryonic stem cell, an egg is fertilized and the nucleus pulled out. This kills the young baby. If scientist were to come up with a cure from an embryonic stem cell, Tom would probably be healthy, but it would be at a cost to another human. No one should die, so that Tom can live life without diabetes.
The world has become so desensitized to what human life is and I am shocked at the amount of people that think an embryo is less than a person that is born. All life is valuable, whether it is an embryo or and old lady sitting in a wheel chair. We all need to care for everyone and give all the same rights (even when they are small and we haven't seen them face to face).
An argument I have heard is there are many frozen embryo's that parents are not going to use. The parents have their two children, don't want anymore so they ask for their frozen embryo's to be defrosted and thrown away. Many people think that these embryos should be used for research since they are going to be thrown away.
This is like saying, all the Jews that the Germans have in concentration camps are going to be killed by them so lets take them and do experiments on them since they are going to die. This would rightly cause an uproar. The same uproar should be happening for our most vulnerable. Babies that cannot defend themselves need us to speak up and against embryonic stem cell research.
I have tried to find out the charities that give money to Embryonic Stem Cell Research. I know that JDRF did support it in the past. I have emailed them and haven't received an answer yet as to whether they still do. I have had trouble finding current details of where JDRF spend their money now.
I have come across this group though that state they don't spend any money on Embryonic Stem Cell research. The group is called Children with Diabetes. You can visit them here
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Please pray for a cure for Type One Diabetes
Our sons Tom and Christopher and our daughter Amelia are type one diabetics. We pray everyday for a cure. We do not want one by illicit means though so don't support any organisation that contributes to Embryonic Stem Cell Research. Click on the photo of Tom and Christopher to read about why I am against using Embryonic Stem cells for a cure.
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Tom's and Christopher's insulin pump
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7 comments:
Blessings to you and Tom; this is a difficult cross. Thank-you for this good information, though, and the safe diabetes organization to contribute toward! I hope there's a cure or practical aids to managing this disease soon.
Hi Therese,
My thoughts and prayers are with you and Tom today. I was diagnosed almost exactly six years to the day before Tom was.
I share your exact sentiments regarding stem cell research. Of course, most people don't understand that stance. Then again, they don't realize the extra little sacrifices diabetics can make for others (with each sugar test, injection, site change, low sugar, etc.)
It took me MANY years to be able to say this, but diabetes has been one of the best (hidden) blessings in my life.
God bless you and Tom!
Regan
Thanks Lisa and Regan for your comments. I know what you mean when you talk about hidden blessings. I wrote an article about Tom in our parish magazine the year he was diagnosed about looking for God in our trials. I believe that we can see God working in our lives in any situation when you try to look for it and can find blessings in bad situations. I often think about St. Therese saying how good God is that he doesn't send us trials until he knows we have enough faith to carry us through them.
That IS a tough cross to bear. I do believe that there will be a cure in our lifetime! So much is being done with adult stem cells. I just saw a video of a man who's fingertip grew back (using his own stem cells and some kind of scaffolding)...the whole thing, fingernail and all! Who would have thought that something like that would be possible, even 10 years ago?
My uncle Tommy (who MY Thomas is named after) has diabetes as did his mother (my grandma Laura, who I'M named after). We have a long line of diabetes in our family so I'm really aware of the suffering that happens. My sister (fertlmertl blog) works for Medtronic who manufactures an amazing pump for diabetics. She told me one time about a seminar they had where a mom of a toddler came to talk about how their lives had changed so much for the better since her son had a pump placed to manage his terrible disease. There really is a lot of hope here. Your Tommy sounds like an amazing child. I hope my Tommy has such strengh.
God bless you all.
Hey Laura,
We have a medtronic pump. I bought medtronic because we are hoping one day that Tom will be able to go onto Continuous Blood Glucose Monitoring with the pump. At the moment it is just too much money. It would cost around 700.00 a month for us.
A couple of weeks ago, the pump wouldn't give Tom a correction when I thought he needed one. I rang the medtronic free call number and spoke with a girl in America. Maybe I was speaking with your sister.
WHOA! That is pretty neat! I mean, it's not "neat" that he/you need to go through this, it's just neat that we make these connections and that this big, wide world can be so small and we can be so close sometimes. My sister is a patent lawyer for them now. She used to be an engineer for them and worked on defibrillators. I'll bet if you gave me the name of the person you talked to, my sister would know her, though! It really is one of the best companies in the world to work for. She considers herself very fortunate to be employed by them and work for a company that really strives to make life better for people with big health problems. The story of the founder of the company is truly amazing.
hee hee. I was so shocked to hear an American accent when I rang and I nearly told the girl I was talking to about my blog and all the Americans I talk to on here. I never ever would have thought she would know someone that comes on here or a relation. Maybe if I need to ring the emergency number again I will ask them, are you in Minnesota?
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