Our Hero!

MaddieCatieUmbrella

My husband and I often say to our youngest (age 12) daughter (pictured on the left in the above drawing)–

“You are our hero!”

We say this for many reasons, but mostly because of the amazing way she handles living with Type 1 Diabetes.

We said it to her when she learned this year to give herself her own inset WITHOUT any lidocaine!

We say it to her when she has to repeatedly prick her finger to get enough blood to test her sugars.

We say it to her when she recounts how a substitute teacher treated her poorly when her pump alarm went off in class.

We said it to her when she stood in a choral group to sing and a teacher ( who did not know her) went off on her about getting rid of her “cell phone”. No alarm had gone off. The teacher just didn’t like the “look” of her pump being visible.

We say it to her when she comes home from school telling us how a student asked her for the umpteenth time–“What’s that?” After she has explained it to her numerous times.

We say it to her when she chooses to do all the things necessary for keeping her blood sugars under some sort of control…testing and eating something when she feels “low”, giving a correction and drinking water when her sugars are high, exercising, etc.

We say it to her when she patiently endures people saying stupid things to her like, “You don’t LOOK like you have diabetes.” Ugh.

We say it to her when she goes to a birthday party or a sleepover and makes wise choices about what she eats and boluses the insulin needed for her to enjoy the party.

Time and time again, she models to us a fortitude in spirit and a graciousness of character to endure on a daily basis, living with Type 1 Diabetes. Randy and I want so much for her to be free of this disease. We want all children and adults who live with Type 1 to have a cure available to them.

And so we Walk.

On November 8th we will walk with her, proud to be her parents. Her older sister (pictured above) and brother are also heroes for the countless times they have stepped in to care for Maddie and to learn all they need to be able to help her live with this disease. We Walk for the amazing heroes of Type 1 Diabetic children and their families who bravely face each day together!

Please join us on our Walk! We would love for you to walk with us in Winston-Salem! Or you can give to help find a cure for our daughter and so many others! Every year, for the past four years, we have been amazed at your generosity!! Should you wish to donate to Maddie’s Mission to find a cure, click here.

**Thank you! To each and every one of you who gives, you are our heroes too!**

***To read  more posts about our life with Type 1 Diabetes, check the Category here.

0 thoughts on “Our Hero!

  1. The Twisted Yarn says:

    She sounds like a wonderful young woman. No wonder you’re proud. But what on earth does someone with Type 1 diabetes look like?! What a bizarre thing to say. From your painting, she looks very beautiful.

    • jenpedwards says:

      A common misunderstanding is to assume she has Type 2 Diabetes. This is what most people are familiar with so they think that you have to be overweight and old to have diabetes. I have actually seen someone look Maddie up and down and then say this. It is infuriating!! I try to be gracious jut they are speaking out if ignorance. Type 1 Diabetes is an auto-immune disease that has nothing to do with weight or whether one has eaten a lot of sugar or not. The disease attacks the beta cells in the pancreas keeping them from producing enough insulin to properly process carbohydrates.

  2. freebirdsings says:

    I’m afraid I would have said something really smarty. Your daughter is doing great handling all these people. I didn’t realize it was that time of year already! I hope it’s a beautiful day for her walk.

Leave a Reply to jenpedwards Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *