[D-Blog Week] Diabetes Hero.
Today's D-Blog Week prompt: "Let’s end our week on a high note and blog about our “Diabetes Hero”. It can be anyone you’d like to recognize or admire, someone you know personally or not, someone with diabetes or maybe a Type 3. It might be a fabulous endo or CDE. It could be a d-celebrity or role-model. It could be another DOC member. It’s up to you – who is your Diabetes Hero??"
I remember being at Rhode Island Hospital, sitting in my room with Eddie, the boy who had been bitten by a spider. He and I compared notes on our injuries - "My leg is swollen from the bite of the spider," he said, gesturing to his leg in the traction. "I have diabetes," I replied, not knowing what that meant or what it should look like.
And then we went home. And my brother and sister were waiting. My family, all of my aunts and uncles and cousins, and my friends and my classmates, they were all the same. The only thing different was this low-hanging, cumulonimbus cloud of type 1 diabetes that we didn't fully understand or fear or hate or embrace, but we knew it caused emotions to rain down, at times.
I do remember climbing trees. And playing in the backyard with my brother and sister. I remember building blanket forts with my friends and going to sleep-overs. I remember family trips to Disney World. I remember going to the beach and school dances and having a crush on a boy named Mike when I was in fifth grade. I remember riding my bike and scraping my knee. I remember our pet cat, Dippy. I remember tap dance classes and building little garden homes for worms in the backyard. I remember feeling just like everyone else almost all of the time. Diabetes did not own any part of my childhood.
There are lots of people who have helped me get "here," to this place where diabetes doesn't define me but just explains some of me. But none more than my mother. She has paved this road of life with diabetes to be simply life. And there aren't enough words in the world to thank her enough.
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(Also, am I the only one who hears the word "hero" and immediately thinks of Varsity Blues?)
Comments
it would have to be my husband...
He has lived through this type 1 with me for 40+ years.
There are times when it was downright ugly, but,for better or worse, richer or poorer, and yes, the final ,in sickness and in health, we are here.
( and, most of the time, we are still friends...=)
Posted by: ria | May 20, 2012 03:34 PM
No, but when I think of Varsity Blues I immediately think "I don't want your life!" :)
Your mom is awesome! I love it when you share stories about her. I remember my hospital roommates too but their stories were not as cool as a spider bite!
Posted by: Sara | May 20, 2012 03:40 PM
Beautiful, Kerri.
Posted by: Mike Hoskins | May 20, 2012 05:16 PM
Beautiful... Just beautiful!
Posted by: Andrea Borchgardt | May 20, 2012 08:24 PM
Another beautiful post, Kerri! Thanks!
My mother is also my diabetes hero, because (way back in 1982, or so) when she had her own blood glucose tested at some sort of "health mobile," she noticed that all they did was stick her finger and put a drop of blood onto a strip. She called my endo at the time, and said "Isn't there a way my diabetic son and daughter could buy that sort of testing equipment, rather than just testing their urine?" Our endo assured her that no such device existed, so she found us another endo in a hurry!
Posted by: June S. | May 20, 2012 09:41 PM
Lovely post. As a new mom to t1d, this has deep meaning. Thank you, as always.
Posted by: Liza Cardinal Hand | May 21, 2012 12:11 PM
Beautiful!
Posted by: Lindsay | May 21, 2012 01:25 PM
My hero is my 21 year old daughter who is working hard to keep things steady. She is a "foodie" interested in organics and eats very well. Her last lipids are reflective of this and she has brought them down nicely with simply good diet and exercise. Love you Kate.
Posted by: Jean Adamski | May 21, 2012 09:11 PM
My D-hero is my daughter without a doubt. She's only ten and has lived with D for over 3/4 of her life. She also has other autoimmune diseases, including severe allergies, severe asthma, Celiac, and a rare disease that causes anemia, bleeding/bruising and chronic infection.
She's been through more than I can imagine, even as her mom. But she doesn't let it get her down. She's still bright, quirky, sweet and outgoing despite it all. Definitively my hero!
Posted by: Libby | May 22, 2012 06:35 PM
i've got tears. your mom is my hero too.
Posted by: shannon | May 23, 2012 01:10 PM
As parents its our job to protect our children and when they have d1, there are times we feel helpless. I hope that one day my daughter feels the same as you do about your mother. Thanks for sharing!
Posted by: Alaina Dean | May 30, 2012 12:28 PM