On New Year’s Eve 1998 my son Andrew was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of only 16 months! It was very traumatic as his primary doctor had previously miss-diagnosed the symptoms as a viral infection, he became extremely ill and lethargic so I rushed him to the emergency room where immediately the medical team jumped into action. They called a code on him and within seconds he was being treated, his poor little body had begun to shut down, the only way they were able to find a vein they could use was by shaving his head. After they had managed to save him and correctly diagnose Type 1 diabetes the doctor told me I was very very lucky that Andrew had survived and that if I had brought him in 15 minutes later the outcome could have been completely different. I will be forever grateful to Dr. Lewis and his medical team for saving Andrew’s life.
16 years later I am so proud of Andrew and all that his has overcome and what he has achieved in his life, he is a great example to any young person who has diabetes. Andrew has never let his condition get in the way of anything that he has wanted to do, he is currently at college taking a course in Public Services and his goal is to become a police officer. The course is physically demanding with a large part of it taking extreme outdoor activities like running miles carry a log, assault courses and playing soccer in the rain.
The thing that inspires me the most about Andrew is he never ever complains about having diabetes, doing endless BM’s, injections or changing his pump. I asked him about this and his reply was “there’s no point in complaining it’s not going to change anything!” I thought this was such an incredible way of thinking.
I couldn't be more proud of Andrew and all that he achieves everyday of his life!
Somerset, MA
