Two months ago, Maury Sever took his twelve-year-old boy to the hospital. His son, William, seemed tired lately and had experienced weight loss.
“Something was off,” Sever said. “He’s an active kid and it just didn’t seem right that he was tired all the time.”
After an exam, a doctor told Sever his son has Type 1 Diabetes. “I never would have guessed that in a million years,” Sever said. “It was a tough diagnosis to hear.”
William Sever is one of about 150,000 children living with Type 1 Diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Children suffering with this condition don’t produce enough insulin to survive, which means insulin needs to be injected.
The condition effects the way the body breaks down food. When a person eats, the bloodstream absorbs glucose, which is a kind of sugar. This absorption triggers the pancreas to create a certain amount of insulin to keep a balanced level of sugar in the blood. For people with diabetes, the pancreas doesn’t respond as it should. As a result, the body has higher than normal sugar levels.
Many children, like Willaim Sever, need an insulin pump to maintain the right amount of insulin in the body.
“My son was pretty upset about having the pump put in but now he is adjusting,” Sever said. “We’re learning how to give our son a normal childhood while dealing with diabetes. It hasn’t been easy, but we’re getting there.”
As the Sever family copes with this new change, they are most surprised by the lack of knowledge about the condition.
“As a parent I had no idea what the warning signs were,” he said. “I took William to the doctor’s office on a hunch that something was wrong, but the warning signs were there had I only known what to look for.”
According to the Mayo Clinic website, warning signs for diabetes include:
Increased thirst
As sugar levels rise in the body fluids are depleted faster, which could make a child thirsty.
Extreme hunger
The lack of insulin in the body strains muscles and tissues. In response, the body calls for food to build up energy levels.
Weight loss
Even if a child is eating more than usual, the unbalanced sugar levels may cause weight loss.
Fatigue
The lack of sugar in the body can cause a child to feel tired.
Blurred vision
High blood sugar has been known to deplete moisture from the eyes, which causes blurred vision.
Symptoms are often gradual, and are sometimes hard to notice. Children with any of the symptoms listed above should see a doctor immediately.
