My inspiration, my daughter, my Jadria

It was the week before halloween 3 years ago (2010). On Thursday night Jadria was thirsty, tired, eyes sunken in a bit. She was cranky but otherwise felt ok. That night she woke up because she had an accident. Her first experience with bedwetting so she & I both were confused. She woke up & seemed fine so we sent her to school. Her teacher noticed she was running to the bathroom a lot friday & tired so she let her rest her head on her desk. When she got home she told me about her day, still going to the bathroom & thirsty so I promised Id make her a dr appt. for monday but until then i bought her some Azo (cranberry pills) thinking it was a urinary tract infection & had her drinking lots of water.
Come Monday she wasn't any better & I had Googled her symptoms over & over all weekend & already knew type 1 Diabetes was the culprit, but seeing it was hereditary I hoped I was mistaken. Sure enough they took a urine sample, there was glucose in her urine. Then they sent her to the hospital for an a1c. The Dr called me the next day with the news, he said "you were right!" Her blood glucose level is in the 800's, she needs to be rushed to Children's Hospital asap. 3 days before halloween @ 7 years old. I was a wreck. I tried explaining it to her but she just didn't understand & I wasn't sure where it had came from. My dad had been adopted. About a year later we found out his biological brother had a daughter who was also Type 1. 3 years later this child is an inspiration to me. She endures so much yet still continues to keep a smile. My daily reminder that no matter what life throws at ya, keep on keeping on. She still doesn't understand why it happened to her, questions it daily but she is happy to be alive & thankful there is insulin to aid in that!

Rainbow Brown
Middlesboro, KY