(written Aug 2012)

It is football season now one year later...August heat in our town and young boys sporting green and gold jerseys on Fridays at school signifies POP WARNER season has begun!
Sean was a part of this scene last year 2011, and found his place on a team and among friends easily.  He lost 10-12 pounds, and found a love for running and got in great shape.  He even began keeping up with his teacher during the Tuesday morning run at school!  It was an exciting time to see his confidence and strength soar.  As the season progressed, he continued to drop weight quickly.

Sean loved football. He never missed a practice or game. But one evening, just minutes before it was time go, he got really nauseous with a headache as well.  Sean pronounced that he couldn’t go play. Forty-seven practices straight and seventeen weeks of 100% commitment, and he couldn’t go? I didn’t even question it, I trusted his word and he stayed home.

The next night he went to practice and took a hit but didn’t fall.  Again he complained of a headache and because practice was so late (7-9pm) and the summer heat so intense, we figured the water bottle he took to bed was due to dehydration. We even thought to ask the coach for more water breaks! But the next morning I took him in to the doctor anyways. They told me his season was over (there was only one week left) and he had a mild contusion.

The next morning I woke to Sean’s brother next to my bedside yelling, “He’s throwing up!” and I thought maybe Sean got an overnight virus from being at the doc, or something he ate (Sean always had tummy problems his ENTIRE life). So me freaking out over him vomiting wasn’t happening.  But I got him the barf bucket and settled comfortably, then got the other kids off to school quickly.

Sean's problem had ceased for a time, but when he began to vomit again, it wasn’t normal by any means.  I put him in the car and headed straight to the ER.  I thought he had a more serious head injury.  They poked him and asked him questions and the next thing you know, (after a cat scan) they came in and told me his head was fine, it was his appendix that had to come out! They got him ready and ambulanced him to another hospital for the surgery.
-This happened November 4, 2011. We caught the diabetes this past Jan 31st.  His testing showed if they had ran a simple blood sugar test, (even a quick finger prick), they would have caught the diabetes then…

Sean’s POP WARNER season finished up and his team had their award ceremony while he recovered.  He made good friends that season, one in particular with a boy who is a Type 1 diabetic. Our families knew one another before they played, so by the end, the relationship had developed even further.  We had a lot in common with this family, so once we met up after a San Diego Charger/Miami Dolphin game in the parking lot.  A Dolphin player handed us VIP passes to meet and greet some players, so we did, then we handed the passes to our friends to do the same! Their family and I had lived in Miami, attending Dolphin games. So we shared this incredible moment with our boys, it was priceless!

Shortly thereafter, we were given tickets to a UCLA game, and invited this family to join us. Little did we know by the weekend of that game, Sean’s body had been adjusting to an average 500+ blood sugar, which eventually began shutting down his system. His stamina was very on/off but then suddenly he couldn’t keep any food down, and he had dark circles under his eyes and was lethargic.  A trip to the Urgent Care and the famous, “I knew it, I Googled my symptoms” quote later, Sean was rushed to the hospital, only to be ambulanced to a pediatric ICU at a different location.  He spent the next 2 days getting stabilized, while our whole world flipped upside down as we learned an entire new vocabulary of words and definitions....like "keto-acidosis." Unfortunately, THAT was the ONLY word I knew all to well. My best friend lost her life to Type 1 from that same, ugly word...

He spent a week in the hospital, and came home to miss the UCLA game, much to his disappointment.  On the way to pick up the tickets, however, our friends left a gift for Sean at our home. It was a blue and yellow UCLA baseball cap accompanied by a hand written “Get Well” card from his pal. It was the first acknowledgment from someone who really understood, (a fellow Type 1 diabetic) and from that day forward, this hat is his absolute favorite!

It’s football season again, the August heat has come back to our hometown. Kids are sporting green and gold POP WARNER jerseys at school this week, but this year Sean is a Type 1 diabetic.

His blood sugar is now regulated between 90-120, and to go severely below or above those numbers, can result in seizures, coma or death. Managing his health is an hourly concern. He handles, on average, 9 needles a day entering his body. He draws blood about 4-5x/day and injects insulin before every meal, anytime he wants a snack beyond what he is allowed, and before bedtime. He must eat 3-4x a day and snack 3-4x a day. Each meal has to be rounded out properly between carbs and proteins. And we count carbs and measure everything. Thank God he is a math whiz “)

He did not get this disease because he ate candy or could loose a few pounds. It’s not reversible. This is Type 1 diabetes and until there is a cure, there is a huge rally of parents and organizations seeking support because the worst place disease could land on, is our KIDS…

Our family has been looking into what it would mean to get a “Diabetic Alert Dog” for Sean. These dogs are bred, imprinted, & trained to alert their diabetic when they drop or spike out of range. This helps a diabetic significantly.

  
Most times we can tell when Sean is high or low, because of the severe affects on his attitude and mood.  He’s usually unaware of its affects until someone (me) intervenes.  I believe a dog would help him in the beginning stages of mood and health swings before they get so extreme, due to alerting him as (or before) they start.
          
These animals alert by “bowing” for a low blood sugar range, or “pawing” for a high. They can sense the smell off the diabetic as they are bred and imprinted with the scent at birth! These unique dogs will even wake from their sleep to alert. This is important because Sean drops at night, which is very common for type 1 diabetics. 1 in 20 children die in their sleep from this. And we check Sean every evening at 2am because of this.  Currently, he has been ill for the past 5 weeks and we have to adjust and check his blood sugar every 2-3 hours around the clock.  Diabetic Alert Dogs can sense a blood sugar spike or drop within 30min beforehand, actually. So as you can see, these dogs save lives. A significant high can cause a coma, and a significant low, cause seizures.

This is so important to us, so we have just submitted our application for a puppy to begin our journey to have a service dog for Sean. We hope you can come alongside us in support, through prayer and will keep you updated! 

 

About Sean... & how it began Aug 2011