Explain This to Me Like I’m a 7 Year Old

March 14, 2018

By Megan Aikman (wife of a type 1 and mother of 2 type 1s) of Beyond the Syringe
Original post here

Last week I spoke to my 7 year old daughter’s class about diabetes. I did this last year too, and will likely do it every year until Walker and her 10 year old type 1 brother, Ollie, are comfortable taking on that role. Their classes travel together through the grades and their teacher follows them from 1st grade to 5th. This allows us to build upon new levels of understanding and compassion each year. The children become like a family and they watch out for each other and take care of the needs of their friends.

A little girl in a green shirt is holding an ice cream cone.

So into the classroom and this is how I explain Type 1 to children:

All of us need energy to make our muscles, and our heart, and our brain do the work they need to do. We get our energy from the food we eat. We eat this food and it goes into our belly and our belly works to turn all this food into energy, or sugar. This sugar goes into our blood so that it can be carried around to all the different parts of our body that need it. For people like you and me, who don’t have Type 1 diabetes, this sugar moves into our muscles and we don’t have to do anything. But for people like Walker, and Ollie, and their dad this isn’t how it works. The food they eat still turns into sugar and gets sent into their blood, only it gets stuck there. It can’t move from the blood into the muscles without some medicine. I like to think of this medicine like keys that unlock doors. If they eat 3 crackers, then they need 3 keys to let this sugar go into the muscles. Every time they eat they need to also add some keys. But sometimes they might not get enough keys to let all the crackers in and then their blood sugar gets high. Or sometimes they get too many keys and then it lets more sugar into the muscles than is supposed to be there and then their blood sugar gets low.

So when their blood sugar is too low, the only way we can get it up is to add sugar. The quickest way to do this is with juice or candy, like the candy they carry in their packs. This isn’t a treat, it’s just as important as their medicine.

If you were to see Walker acting funny, in a way that’s not like her normal funny self, but more like stumbling around or saying nonsense words, you should let a teacher or grown up know. Or, if you were to find her asleep on the ground, you should definitely run to a grown up. Her blood sugar is probably very, very low and she would need our help to be safe and we would give her juice or special medicine to bring her blood sugar up.

She also might act sleepy or really grumpy. Sometimes she has to pee a lot, or is very thirsty. This probably means her blood sugar is high. Normally this isn’t as dangerous, or at least not so dangerous you need to run and find a grown up. When her blood sugar is high it means she needs a little extra insulin, or those keys we talked about, to bring her blood sugar down. Just be patient with her, and if you’re really concerned you can always talk to a grown up.

At this point in my talk with the children they usually have lots of questions. The things they ask are quite amazing, better than any questions I’ve heard a lot of adults ask. I appreciate the bluntness of the questions. Things like:

“How did she get diabetes?” We don’t know. Even her doctor doesn’t know for sure. We do know that her body just decided to treat her pancreas like it didn’t belong to her anymore. Sometimes a cold or the chicken pox or some other illness confuses the body and it starts fighting with her pancreas. Something in her body, something that she was born with that has always been there, just switches on and confuses her body like this.

“Is it contagious?” No. You cannot catch diabetes.

“Will she grow out of it? Will it go away?” No. She’ll always have diabetes, until they find a cure.

“What happens if her blood sugar gets too low?” She could get very, very sick. She could even die. But that’s why we check her blood sugar so much, and have candy and snacks all around the school, and she wears her CGM (and her adults can see her blood sugar on their phones). All these things keep her safe so that hopefully her blood sugar never gets so low.

“What happens if her blood sugar gets too high?” She can still get very sick, but it doesn’t happen as quickly as low blood sugar can happen. If she doesn’t get her medicine to bring her blood sugar down that can be very dangerous. But like I said, this takes a little longer to happen so she can get the help she needs before then.

“Can she do everything that everyone else does?” Yes, yes, absolutely yes. It just might take a little more planning and attention, but there is NOTHING someone with Type 1 diabetes cannot do.

“Does she like to eat all that candy? I wish I got to eat as much candy as she does!” It might surprise you, but no, she doesn’t really like to have to eat all this candy. It’s not as fun to have to eat sweets when you’re not in the mood for it. And by now she thinks of candy as something she has to do when her blood sugar is low, and that’s not a good feeling for her.

“I HATE shots! I would never be able to take so many shots.” I know, and Walker doesn’t like shots either. But she doesn’t have a choice because if she didn’t get all these shots then she’d get very very sick.

“Wow, Walker’s really brave.”

At which point I try to breathe through the welling of tears and bring our discussion to a close.

There are no stupid questions. I’d rather answer the same question 20 times than have someone assume misinformation. Only through understanding will my family, and all their Type 1 friends, be safe.

A group of people are posing for a picture in a living room.

From Generosity to Legacy: Honoring My Father’s Impact on Type 1 Diabetes this Father’s Day

June 14, 2024
By: Stacy Robinson With Father’s Day just around the corner, I am thinking about my dad even more than I usually do. He was a special man who lived a remarkable, impactful life right up until the day he passed away at the age of 98, a little over a year and a half ago. He was a decorated World War II veteran, a bookie in Vegas during the Rat Pack era who married the love of his life between rounds of a prize fight, and who later went on to become a successful entrepreneur. Most importantly though, he was a devoted husband, father and grandfather.
A man and a woman are posing for a picture in a parking lot.

Cheers to The World’s Greatest T1Dad!

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Author: Lindsay Klatt Being the dad of two daughters already has its highs and lows; having one of them (who admittedly was already a little feisty) diagnosed with type 1 diabetes makes him a saint. My wonderful dad navigated these challenges with such love and grace. As we approach Father’s Day and as I recently celebrated my 27th Diaversary, I reflect on the things he deserves to be thanked for. There are too many to count and no way to properly express gratitude for the additional struggles type 1 fathers face, but here’s a toast to a few of the things etched on my heart: Cheers to my dad who, when I was diagnosed, had the best balance of acknowledging the sadness of the event and being encouraging for the future. It made me feel seen to see him upset, and to see him determined. He has always maintained that balance I am so grateful for.
A person is riding a go kart on a track.

Racing Against the Odds: Dylan Archer’s Triumph Over Type 1 Diabetes

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Hi, my name is Dylan Archer and I have type 1 diabetes, and I LOVE to race! Type 1 is NOT stopping me! When I was 5 years old, way back in 2013, Dad picked me up from school, and (as usual) we started talking about racing. Dad started racing when he was 16, and we often talked about how much fun it was. Well, this conversation ended a bit differently because Dad asked if I was ready! I got my first go-kart that summer, and in no time, I was hooked! It was a little scary at first, but once I started to go fast I sure had fun! For the first couple of years of racing, I was reaching for the stars. That first trophy made me feel so good, and I knew that I had to get more! But then in 2016, I wasn’t feeling so good, so Mom took me to the doctor. Turns out I had type 1 diabetes. Wow, I wasn’t ready for that news (and neither was my family). It turned my whole world upside down. We had to figure out a way to manage this unexpected, scary thing that was happening to me.
Two girl scouts are standing next to each other in a room filled with boxes.

Eagle Scout Project on Type 1 Diabetes

January 9, 2024
By: Sarah Hathaway On October 10th, 2022 I earned my Life rank in Scouts BSA and began focusing on what was once a faraway goal: Eagle Scout. I had some ideas for my project and I knew I wanted to do something that means a lot to me and benefits as many people as possible; this led me to think about the Children’s Diabetes Foundation. I am an advocate for the organization and I know CDF has made an impact on others just like me so I was hoping I could come up with a plan to help families affected by T1D. I reached out to the Community Engagement Manager, Sydney. I believe that she was really confused and might not have heard about Eagle Projects before so she asked all about what I was looking to do and we talked about different options for projects. I asked her about the newly diagnosed onset bags for people with T1D that I remembered receiving from CDF when I was diagnosed in 2021. This was last June and we were both volunteering at the T1D Strong soccer camp. As camp went on we talked a lot and I offered some more ideas and the plan started coming together. I started to talk to diabetes-related companies to get additional informational materials to put in the bags. I got in contact with Dino from Omnipod and he was very helpful. He sent me a lot of informational packets, games, and even fake Omnipods for new patients to try before spending a lot of money on new technology. Unfortunately, other companies and organizations were not as responsive but there was already a lot of helpful stuff from CDF to go into the bags. I also did a fundraiser before my Eagle Project workday. I set a goal to raise money to put a restaurant gift card in each new onset bag because I remember going to lunch together as a family when I was discharged from the hospital. I knew that families could use that gift card and not have to worry about where to go. As I was fundraising, I found out that the Scouts BSA district person that I was working with, Pat, was associated with KFC. Pat put me in contact with the Regional Manager of KFC and through this contact, KFC donated 100 gift cards for the bags. Finally, on November 11th, 2023, I was able to carry out my project. I had been planning this for months and I was both nervous and excited. Sydney was kind enough to be at the CDF office on a day that she does not normally work and was so supportive. We set up the office to pack the bags and then people started to show up to help. We were able to do the project and even though we were only going to make 100 bags, the group ended up filling about 150 bags in less than an hour! Sydney and I then did a community information talk to over 30 people about our experiences with T1D and answered a lot of questions. It was awesome to look out in the audience at my Scout friends, neighbors, teachers, and family.
A young woman wearing a red shirt that says uchealth is standing in a field.

On the Field: Competitive Soccer with T1D

January 9, 2024
My name is Gracie Lambrecht and I have been living with type 1 diabetes for 12 of the 16 years of my life. Even though I lived for a few years T1D-less, I can’t remember a life without it and while I wish I could say it’s been a walk in the park to deal with, it most definitely has not. As a kid, the burden of pricking fingers, changing pump sites, and treating low blood sugars at midnight was not something that I was really tasked with handling. My parents took the responsibility of my diabetes care so I could be as “normal” of a kid as I could be. As I got older, I began taking more responsibility for my care and now, as a junior in high school, I completely manage my diabetes on my own. As an extremely active high school student, finding time to do anything outside of class, mock trials, and competitive soccer is pretty difficult. Starting off, I want to say that no matter the final exam you have or the big game you might have coming up, your health ALWAYS comes first. Never procrastinate or ignore the needs of your T1D health for any reason and always prioritize taking care of yourself over everything else. While balancing school, sports, and T1D can be stressful at times, taking the right precautions and handling your diabetes care in the moment can make it easily manageable. I want to share, specifically how I manage playing soccer with type 1 diabetes. I have been playing soccer since I was 4 years old. I actually started playing soccer just before I was diagnosed with T1D. I don’t remember much of that time in my life, but my mom knew something was wrong when I would only play for 5 minutes before begging to come off the field for water. After being diagnosed, I stopped playing soccer for a few years in order to better understand how to manage my T1D. After those years, I joined a club soccer team and haven’t stopped playing since. I currently play for the Colorado Rapids North ECNL- Regional League team. On this team, I have the opportunity to play against some of the toughest competition in the nation and the opportunity to be scouted by college soccer coaches. Most games that I play with this team involve at least an hour of travel when we play in Colorado, but we also travel out of the state to Utah, North Carolina, Florida, and other places. A usual week of training consists of: -(3) 1.5 hour outdoor trainings -(2+) 90 minute games -Occasional strength training In order to keep my blood sugars in a target range for playing (I feel most comfortable with my BG between 100-150), I not only make sure that I am eating the right foods in the right amounts, but I also utilize the exercise mode function on my Tandem (T-Slim) insulin pump. “Exercise mode” is a function on my pump that keeps my BG around 150 mg/dl by suspending insulin delivery when my sugars start to drop below 150. To go into further detail, for me, a typical game day looks like this (depending on the time of the game): -3 hours before: I eat a large meal (with a good amount of protein and carbs). My favorite pregame lunch is a Turkey and Cheese sandwich with a small bag of chips and a cup of chocolate milk. -1.5 hours before (30 minutes before warmups): I check my BG via my Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitor and if: Under 100: treat with 15 grams of sugar (I usually drink a 15g Apple Juice box) and go on Exercise mode for 3 hours. 100-150: Have a 15-20 gram snack (I would usually eat a granola bar) and go on exercise mode for 3 hours. Over 150: Go on exercise mode for 3 hours. -10-20 minutes after the game: I check BG and have a snack/meal with protein to replenish nutrients (I like to drink a Nesquik Chocolate milk right after the game to hold me over until I can get a meal). This plan is also very similar to how I prepare for a normal weeknight training session (minus eating a large meal 3 hours before).
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Insulin More Cost Effective for T1Ds

July 17, 2023
Eli Lilly has a ripple effect on making insulin more cost effective for T1Ds. Every day patients make critical decisions in rationing their insulin and we are hopeful this will help stop families from having to make such sacrifices. Thank you to Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi! Watch the interview with Dr. Satish Garg: Diabetes doctor says it’s “high time” insulin prices are lowered Read more here:
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Dr. Satish Garg to Win TTD Lilly 2023 Insulin Centennial Award

July 17, 2023
Congratulations Dr. Satish Garg for being named the winner of the ATTD Lilly 2023 Insulin Centennial Award. This prestigious award is given to doctors who have made significant contributions to diabetes treatment. Dr. Garg has been an international leader for insulin therapy in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, with expertise in clinical trials and methods of insulin delivery. Dr. Garg joined the BDC in 1988 and founded the adult clinic as senior faculty in 1992. He has also served as the director of the ATDC Keystone Diabetes conference since 2005
Two women are standing next to each other in front of a golf course.

The Only Constant is Change: Sending Your Type 1 Diabetic Off to College

November 22, 2022
By Lori Finch
A person is being tested for diabetes by a doctor.

Type 1, Type 2 and Gestational Diabetes-How They Are Completely Different Diseases

November 2, 2022
It’s important to know that Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes are extremely different diseases . While they both deal with insulin and the body, their causes and treatments are very different.nn Type 1 diabetics CANNOT make their own insulin. Type 1 is a genetic, auto-immune disease. It is thought that type 1 is present in the body’s genetic code and then it presents at various times. Basically meaning, it’s lying there in wait and decides to show itself at various ages. The majority of type 1 patients get diagnosed in their childhood and when they are adolescents, however it can happen later in life as an adult. The body begins attacking its own pancreatic cells, specifically the islet cells that make insulin in our bodies. It attacks these cells so aggressively that the patient stops being able to make any insulin whatsoever. Insulin processes the carbohydrates we eat and feeds our cells. If we don’t feed our cells, we have too much sugar in our system which wreaks havoc on everything from your kidneys to your eyes to the mood you are in. You cannot live (for long) without insulin. Only 100 years ago, a person diagnosed with type 1 diabetes would be lucky to stay alive for two more years and that life would be oneof misery and starvation. This auto-immune attack on the pancreas cannot be prevented. If it’s in the genetic cards for you, you can’t stop it. Type 1 cannot be caused by an unhealthy diet, eating too much sugar, obesity or lifestyle issues. It cannot be cured (yet!) and patients will live with the disease for the rest of their lives. Thankfully, we now have treatments and technology to manage type 1 diabetes but that is what it is-a lifelong management. Patients take synthetic insulin via injections or by using an insulin pump and do all of the work and insulin calculations a normal pancreas does naturally in the body. They also constantly monitor their blood sugar numbers, trying to stay within a normal range. But when we say we manage it, we mean it is at the top of our minds every minute of every day. Tons of different things affect blood sugar. Food is the biggest one, but blood sugar is also affected by exercise, illness, sleep, co-occurring conditions, menstruation, stress, medication, altitude, weather… and the list goes on. Managing all of these things and injecting insulin for the various situations is a full time, exhausting job. And even the type 1 patients who have a lifetime of good control will feel the affects of the disease on their body and through various complications. Only 5% of the total diabetes population has type 1 diabetes, although the number of newly diagnosed type 1 patients is increasing each year.
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Star-Studded Gala Raised Over $1.7 Million for the Children’s Diabetes Foundation and the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes

October 9, 2022
Diane Keaton Honored at the 36th Carousel of Hope Ball Event Featured Emcee Howie Mandel and Performers John Legend, Andy Grammer, and Deborah Cox