Today is the first day of November. You might say no biggie and it isn’t, unless you happen to live with a person who has type 1 diabetes, or any type of diabetes, for that matter. And of course, I do; my sweet 10-year old Alexandra was diagnosed with this mind-numbing, exhaustive, unpredictable, totally effed up disease a little more than three years ago.
November happens to be Diabetes Awareness Month, so, let’s dispense with the pleasantries, shall we, and become aware. Every day, in honor of Alexandra, I will throw a little something at you to get your brain juices flowing, to perhaps provide you with an "I didn't know that" moment. And if we spark a little empathy along the way, we'd appreciate that, too. Misery loves coompany.
Question #1
Were you aware that Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease?
That’s right! It’s an autoimmune disease; that means when Alexandra was just a cute, scrappy, scrawny 7-year old, her body turned on itself. In the case of people with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas is the scene of the destruction. No one knows why it happens, it just does.
Oh, were you living under the delusion that my child did this to herself. Or worse, that I helped her to become a diabetic by plying her with candies and sweets, and forcing the television remote into her little hands and leaving her to become nothing more than a human sloth?
Nah, not me. Believe me if I had seen this thing coming, I’d have sold my soul to the devil and offered myself up instead. Let me repeat: No one knows why type 1 diabetes happens, it just does.
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