Every
night around midnight, we tiptoe into Miya’s room while
she is sleeping to poke her finger for at least the 8th time
each day.
Miya is
6 1/2 years old and has had over 2,300 shots and more than 12,055
finger pokes, and 480 insulin pump site changes since her diagnosis
at 15 months old. Diabetes strikes suddenly and lasts a lifetime.
It is high maintenance, expensive,
and deadly.
On July 7th, 2005,
Miya was put on an insulin pump, which delivers insulin 24 hours
a day according to a programmed plan unique to Miya’s
changing needs. When Miya eats, we must tell the pump to deliver
a dose of insulin to match the amount of carbohydrates Miya eats.
With all of the good changes the pump brings, it has its share
of bad. The insulin is delivered through a thin plastic tube. This
tube has to be inserted into Miya using a large needle every three
days because if it stays in longer an infection could occur.
Inserting
the pump catheter is still a struggle for us and Miya. This
has been the hardest thing we have ever had to do. We do not want
Miya
to
have to endure the pain that is involved in this whole process
for the rest of her life. Seeing her cry and crying with her
has taken its toll on our family this year. We would walk forever
if
Miya could be cured. Being on insulin is only life support. It
does not prevent Miya and the 3 million others from suffering
with complications
of blindness, amputation, nerve damage, kidney failure, heart
attack,
stroke, and 15 years less life expectancy. This is just not acceptable.
We are already starting to see some lifelong complications. Miya's
thyroid quit working the summer of 2008 and now will be on thyroid
medication the rest of her life. We do not want to see these complications
continue.
Please help Miya find a cure for diabetes.
Click
here to read about how the JDRF is working hard for an artificial
pancreas to happen soon.
Click here to view more research articles from the
JDRF
JDRF
featured
in Forbes magazine
View Diabetes Facts
Miya
was adopted from South Korea in 2003 when she was 5 months old.
She was in perfect health until about 10 months later when all
she showed signs of excessive thirst and became extremely lethargic..
The doctors could
not figure out what was wrong. She was tested for anemia but nothing
was found. For about 2 weeks, Miya continued to lose energy. The
last 2-3 days before diagnosis, Miya stopped playing, stopped walking,
stopped talking, and ate very little. Miya's dad Googled
"excessive milk drinking" and found a site that talked
about type 1 diabetes. We took Miya to her pediatrician, had her
tested for
diabetes, and then went straight to the ER ICU. Miya was in the
hospital for 3 nights while they tried to get her blood sugar levels
back
to normal. The ICU doctors said that she would have been in a coma
if Miya would have gone a couple more days without diagnosis. Then,
Mom and Dad were quickly trained on how to treat juvenile diabetes.
It
was
a crash
course,
and we
didn't
know
what
any of it meant. Now that we do know what it all means, it is even
scarier.