When I was 12, my mom called me after a doctor appointment and told me news I would never forget. My 8-year-old brother, who of course was my arch nemesis at the time, had been diagnosed with diabetes.
Unfortunately, I knew a decent amount about this disease already. My dad has diabetes, and all through my childhood, I saw him struggle with it. His lack of taking care of his own disease had sent him to the hospital many times, and he is now epileptic as a result.
At the time, it was just my mom, Jake and me in our family. We were pretty tight knit, but I had no idea at the time how much his disease would actually bring us together and improve us as a family.
Before I knew it, my mom made the decision to hold my brother back in the second grade to help make his transition easier. I never objected the decision, but I knew it'd make Jake stand out amongst his peers for the rest of his primary school years.
My mom worked full time, so Jake and I spent a lot of time together. He had to have three shots of insulin in his arm during the day and one shot in his butt at night. He also had to test his blood sugar six to 10 times a day. On top of that, we had to count out all of the carbohydrates in Jake's meals to decide how much insulin he needed to take at meals.
My mom still gives me credit for how quickly I took to giving Jake shots when I needed to. I had never really considered any other option. Jake was 8 years old; I didn't expect him to give himself shots. My mom worked full time; I didn't expect her to sneak home from work – which was a 25 minute drive – a few times a day to give him shots.
Soon, I was giving Jake shots in his butt when I would shove Mom out of the house on the occasional weekend night to socialize with people her own age. She even designated pairs of underwear for Jake to wear on those nights with a hole cut in the bottom so I knew where to inject him with insulin.
I feel like I learned a lot of responsibility at a young age because of Jake's disease, and I know he has learned even more himself.
Jake has been taking on all of his own responsibilities for quite a few years. He'll turn 16 in September — right after starting his freshman year of high school.
He now has an insulin pump to give him insulin throughout the day when he needs it. This cuts down the injections to only one to change out the pump site about every three days. My help is only needed when I am home and he needs a new site taken to him at school when he accidentally yanks it out of his stomach.
I just hope he is accepted among his peers in school, which has surprisingly been a problem. He has been attending the Diabetes Youth Foundation Camp Until a Cure every year since he was 10. Next summer, he'll go to the camp as a junior counselor.
Seeing him with the people there is wonderful. He thrives being with students his age who have also faced the same adversity.
Without Camp Until a Cure, it would be hard for him to go to a summer camp because of his disease. Diabetic camps are just about the only safe way for children with the disease to get the overnight summer camp experience, and for that I will always be thankful.
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