My Response to Ignorance: ONE VOICE

** One Voice by Billy Gilman can be heard by clicking PLAY on the playlist to the right!**

 Sometimes Facebook can be a mine field.

I hopped on the computer for a second to check in and end up reading this horrible, totally ignorant article about Type 1.  Click HERE to read it for yourself.  WARNING:  It may cause your blood to boil!

I almost didn't comment.  I mean - CLEARLY he's a yahoo who didn't do any research.

But then I thought...  ONE VOICE.  If we are ever going to beat this ignorance down, we've got to have ONE VOICE.  And we have to be heard.  One comment isn't good enough.

This paper - even though it's a local paper - informs people.  People believe it.  Damage has been done if even ONE person reads it and thinks Type 1 is caused by eating too much sugar or some other nonsense.  We must get the TRUTH out.  We must speak with ONE VOICE.

Maybe someone reads the comments and learns something.  Maybe the author learns something.  Maybe the paper learns something... Maybe the paper prints the FACTS about Type 1.

If only one person learns the truth... it's worth my time to leave a comment.

So here is what I had to say to Bob...


You know what I don't like, Bob?  I don't like how people who know NOTHING about diabetes can write articles the subject filled with inaccuracies.  I don't like that you claim that Type 1 diabetes may be caused my excess sugar or lack of exercise - especially without citing your "proof".   I don't like that you suggest that a child with Type 1 was dealt a "worse hand".

Did you do ANY research on the subject?

Because if you did, you would have found that Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease.  Just like MS or rheumatoid arthritis, or Crohn's disease.  The body attacks the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas and kills them off.  This leaves the person unable to produce insulin... which untreated, leads to death.  No amount of diet change will stop that autoimmune attack.

My daughter is a prime example.  She's always been very active and in the 10th percentile for her weight.  She has never had soda.  She did not have candy of any kind until she was 2 years old and tried a sucker at Halloween.  She chooses fruit and veggies over ice cream (honestly, I'm not making this up!).  And yet, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes just a couple of weeks after her 3rd birthday.

How dare you suggest that she got this disease because she ate too much candy?  How dare you suggest that she was dealt a bad hand because of her crappy genes?  NO ONE in either of our families has diabetes.  NO ONE.  I am hurt and offended by your lack of compassion and your blatant ignorance about this subject.

It has become my mission to advocate and educate people about Type 1 diabetes.  You, sir, could some additional education.  It's people like you who write articles without all the facts that make our job so much harder.

Do you know what it's like to live with this disease?  I mean, REALLY live with diabetes?  It's a 24/7/365 disease.  You NEVER get a break.  It means counting and weighing EVERYTHING your child consumes to determine the amount of carbohydrates so that you can correctly determine the amount of insulin.  It means piercing your child's flesh 7-10 times a day to check her blood sugar.  It means checking blood sugar in the middle of the night because you are so afraid of an undetected low blood sugar that can result in death (see dead in bed syndrome).  It means never sleeping through the night.  It means giving your child 5 or more shots a day - which for us meant holding her down while she cried and screamed and begged us not to hurt her.  It means choosing for your child to wear an insulin pump - a life saving device that is worn 24 hours a day and is inserted with a needle every 3 days.  It means pouring over numbers to look for patterns so that you can change insulin to carbohydrate ratios or basal rates.  It means telling your child that she can't go play at a friend's house because no one there knows how to take care of her.  It means saying "no" that cupcake or treat because your child's blood sugar is too high to safely consume it.  It means pain.  It means grief.  It's there on birthdays.  It's there on Christmas.  Special occasions are halted for diabetes care.  Class time is missed at school due to diabetes care.  It means always feeling different.  It means having to explain to your child WHY this disease entered her life.  It means having to be honest when she asks when it will go away.

My goal is for my child to grow up believing that she can do ANYTHING...  That diabetes will not hold her back.

What can hold her back is the ignorance that is spread when people write articles such as this.  Diabetes is hard.  YOU are making this life harder.  She already has to fight diabetes.  Why must she fight this ignorance, too?

I agree with you that the rise of Type 1 and 2 diabetes is unacceptable.  40 children are diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes every day in the USA alone.  That IS unacceptable.

Here's  your chance to do something about it.  Instead of simply writing an article full of false "facts" and half truths... Why don't you check out and DONATE to the ADA, JDRF, Life for a Child, The Diabetes Research Institute, and so many other worthy organizations.  That would be wonderful way to "start the trend of a healthier America".

Hallie
Mother of a child with Type 1 Diabetes




So come on, folks.  ONE VOICE.  We can do this.  One comment at a time.  One blog at a time.  One facebook post at time.  One tweet at a time.  One person at a time.  We will be heard.  ONE VOICE.