Daymon Blackport was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 8 (June 30/05). He is our family’s DIABETIC CHAMPION. Not only is he an A/A+ student in school, he also plays competitive soccer at the highest Provincial level in our Province for his age group and has successfully competed at both the WOSSA (golf & cross country) and OFSSA level in cross country. Lastly, Daymon has on several occasions has taken upon himself to teach others about Type 1 Diabetes. He has spoken several times at the University of Western Ontario Schulich School of Medicine to the year 2 Endocrinology students and to his classes at the schools he has attended. Daymon lives his life to the fullest and does not let having diabetes stop him from his successes or his dreams. WE ARE ALL SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!! Love Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa & Great-Grandma

Katherine was diagnosed with Diabetes when she was 2, she is now 22 years old and she is the Best Friend that anyone Could ask for. Despite her challenges and going threw being the First Person in Sault too Have a Insulin Pump she is Absuloutly the most Strongest person I know, I look at her and she helps me know that Life will always have it’s downfalls but we’ll always get threw. No matter how she feels or What may upset her that day, she is still the most wonderful Upbeat person, Because of all this she makes my life so much better, she really does Light up our days and I couldn’t ask for a better Pal! For my daughter she is an inspiration, she gives hope, and keeps faith and I really couldn’t ask for a better Rolemodel for her, we just wanted to let her know how much we appreciate her and how much we adore her Love for life and her family and friends. Diabetes Might be apart of her, but it doesn’t become her, she makes the best of it and walks Tall and proud while doing it

I developed diabetes at the age of 4 back in 1980. It was so uncommon for children at that time that it took our family doctor a ridiculous amount of time to diagnose. My parents feared I would never have a normal life. But…I am now 35 years old, I have two wonderful children (who are diabetes free!!!), a full time job, and have NO negative health problems stemming from diabetes! I am a champion because life with diabetes is tough…and I’ve made it this far!

Today, on World Diabetes Day, I am thankful for the amazing young woman that is our daughter Claudia. She bravely and with a great attitude battles this disease everday. She has every reason to be frustrated and/or feel sorry for herself because of her circumstances but she doesn’t. She is a role model for us all; maintain integrity and trust in the Lord for strength in situations that seem impossible.

She wrote an article for a magazine and it was published this Summer. I’ve attached a link to it below.

http://vividlife.me/ultimate/18267/dealing-with-diabetes-featuring-claudia-arseneault-rainusso/

My daughter, Meghan, is a fun loving 18 yr old who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the too young age of 18 months (in 1995). At that time, we almost lost her because the dr’s didn’t want to believe that there was anything wrong with her. She had been sick for almost 6 months straight with different ailments and it wasn’t until the time she was diagnosed in the er that someone listened to me that something was majorly wrong! We lucked out that an intern had just finished her rotation with the diabetic group at the Stollery and she actually argued (in front of me) that there was something wrong with Meg. The er attending finally said alright, do a ketone test, fully expecting nothing to be wrong. Boy was he wrong! Her ketones were off the chart and when they did the blood sugars, I can’t remember the number, just that they were over 50 and the dr’s and rn’s were scrambling to get IV’s into my lethargic 18 mo old.

We’ve had our ups and downs over the last 16 yrs, but she has come through them all like a trooper. Even when her hair started falling out when she was 12 due to Alopecia Areata, something that is common with people with auto immune disorders, even when she was diagnosed with hypothyroid and PCOS. We have had our trying times with the school systems as well as bullies, kids that didn’t want to play with her because they thought she had something they could catch, the teachers that didn’t want to have to deal with diabetes and everything else.

She finally got her insulin pump this past April and it has changed so many things. She is able to do things a little differently now with it. She’s not tied to a schedule and can go out with friends when she wants and she loves it.

She is planning on attending the Disability Studies program at Grant McEwan so that she can help the kids that are coming behind her. She says she doesn’t want them to go through what she has gone through in her years with T1. She has a tremendous spirit that no matter what gets thrown at her, she will prevail and not let it get her down for long. She started last year in grade 12 teaching the classes about diabetes and what to watch out for and has been asked back this year to do it again when they are going through that section.

This is why my daughter is my Diabetes Champion!

Lucy is a champion because she has to deal with this insidious disease and still manages to be a very happy kid. She was diagnosed January 27, 2009, just a few weeks before her 8th birthday, and it threw her life and ours into turmoil. She switched from needles to the pump in May of that year and hasn’t looked back. Every so often though, she has a good cry and allows herself to hate diabetes. Although, she does everything she wants to do and never lets it hold her back. She inspires us every day

On July 24th of this year, our six year old son Liam was diagnosed with T1D after sufferring diabetic ketoacidosis while on a family camping trip. Liam is a very energetic, rambunctious little boy who now tests his blood glucose 4 to 6 times a day and dreams of the day when a cure will be found. He is my hero and the bravest boy I know.

My daughter is a champion because she is 4 and has never once said why me or no to the daunting duties a diabetic has to deal with EVERY single day.(She was diagnosed Dec 27, 2010) She is a champion because she has accepted her diabetes with grace and she patiently allows family and friends in her life to learn about diabetes and how to give insulin. She lets Grama poke her finger more than once because the blood drop was not big enough the first time and instead of crying or getting mad she says “Thats ok Grama”. Lizzie has a pump which has given all of us her childhood back. She is a champion to me because through it all she continued to smile and laugh and never once lost herself in the fear of diabetes.
My daughter is a champion!

Shayleen is 6 years old and a lot of fun! She is our Diabetes Champion seeing as she was diagnosed Type 1 a year ago at the age of 5 and is still our sweet little cupcake-full of life, energy and compassion. She is caring, creative, talented and very freindly and loves her class freinds, teachers, and support staff at school! A shout out to Park Meadows Elementary School who’s staff have worked with Shayleen this year to help her take control of her Diabetes daily regime and give Shay the confidence to tell her Mom and Dad not to worry about checking on her that she can take care of it herself! (Once she learns a bit more about math and doesn’t mix up 2′s and 5′s she’s planning on managing her blood glucose levels herself!!) She love’s to read and play with Barbie’s, Figure Skate, play soccer, Dance and Gymnastics! Shayleen Marie’s family is very proud of the strong, confident young girl she is!

August 2011: My daughter Alyssa comes down with some sort of rash in her mouth. How strange! Looks like thrush, like babies get, but she’s 13, not a newborn, so it couldn’t be! Or could it? She says it hurts and brushing her teeth makes her tongue bleed. So off to the clinic where they say yes, it is thrush and people other than babies can get it, although it’s rare. 10 days of oral medications, but its not gone completely so back to the dr where they say she must need the adult dosage. 7 more days of adult dosage. And all the while it’s making her mouth dry and she’s so thirsty because of it. She’s been playing on her ipod and now her fingers are all tingly, so I tell her to put the ipod away, it’s going to give her carpul tunnel syndrome and thats worse than thrush, I say! We go to cabin for a few days, medicine in tow and all of her clothes are loose on her. She must be growing too. I guess she’s going to be tall and thin like me. While away, she gets a bladder infection and is peeing ALL of the time. I fill her up with cranberry juice and it seems to maybe help a bit, but still lots of bathroom trips so once we get home we make a trip to the dr. Good time to go because she must have qot the flu too, as she isn’t feeling well. Poor kid, so many things at once!

Once at the drs I announce she has a bladder infection and she needs something for it. They run a quick urine test and come back in the room and say it doesn’t show any sign of infection, but they detected some glucose. HUH? Wonder why? They say we need to go for bloodwork in the morning, before breakfast. Alyssa is terrified. She HATES needles! The next morning she doesn’t want to get out of bed because she doesn’t want to go for bloodwork. Finally get her out of bed, out of the house and wait for a long time at the clinic waiting for our turn. Finally at 10am they call her name. She’s pretty much petrified. Too much time to think about it. But she puts on her bravest face and lets them poke her. I ask the nurse when the results would be in and she guesses maybe by tomorrow afternoon. So we leave there, I take ALyssa to the mall for a treat, more back to school clothes or anything that will make her feel better. BUt her pants are literally falling off. So first stop is to find new pants. She chooses a pair of comfy gym pants, in a smaller size than I’d expected so that they fit around the waist. Then headed off to her favorite brand name store to buy her some new tops, but she didn’t really see anything she liked and was eager to move on, so I took her to get some frozen yogurt, but by the time we got there she didn’t think it sounded appealing and said she was too tired and just wanted to go back to the car, but could we get a drink since she was so thirsty. That was probably our shortest shopping trip ever. The kid who could do laps around the mall was tired going down one wing? So off we go to pick up the baby from grammas and have lunch. We eat lunch and at 1:00 the phone rings. It’s the drs office! They want us to come back right now. But the nurse had said the results wouldn’t be in until tomorrow afternoon? So leave gramma with the baby again, call my husband with an update of sorts, and head back down there and they get us in right away. The dr seems very concerned and says he wants us to go check into the pediatric ward and he will call ahead and tell them we are comming. We hear him on the phone , every few words, and we catch “she’s a rack of bones” and “I’m sending her right over”.

We head right over to the hospital and I (naively) put one hour on the parking meter and head up stairs. The dr breaks the news to us that she has type 1 diabetes and my head starts swirling. Her numbers are 33mmol, when they should be 6. I don’t remember much of the conversation from there. I’m trying not to panic. They weigh her and I’m shocked to learn she’s lost 20 lbs in 2 weeks. I get that she has to stay in the hospital for a few days and they are prepping her hand for an iv. Oh no, not more needles, I think to myself. Alyssa hates needles! But again, she’s being a trooper. They take us to a room to put the iv in and she lays down. 20 minutes later the iv is still not in, despite many many tries. She’s crying, I’m crying. A nurse is comforting her…us. Finally the dr comes in and wants to try. He gets it right away. Oh thank you God for that!!

We go to her room…her (our) new home for the next week. (I never leave her) Then a nurse comes to take more blood. Really? More blood? Poor, poor Alyssa!! Then we find out the lab is going to come every 2 hrs to take 2 vials of blood each time. And Alyssas nurse is going to come every 60 minutes to do a finger poke. So Alyssa has an IV in one arm, so they have to take blood from the other arm. The same arm, almost the same spot,every 2 hrs for the next 24 hrs or so. And we thought we didn’t like needles before!! By 4am this routine runs really dry and takes its toll on us. We’ve had almost no sleep and they are poking her all the time. I start grilling the night nurse about how necessary all of these pokes are. This is not my usual quiet polite self. This is a sleep deprived momma bear trying to protect her baby bear. I snap at the lab nurse when she comes back to take blood for the hundredth time when she grabs yet another cottonball and piece of tape and tell her she’s just adding to the torture by putting on the tape and ripping it off 2 hrs later. I offer to hold the cotton ball in place until the bleeding stops. Alyssa thanks me when the nurses leave again.

The week that followed was filled with diabetes boot camp. We learned so much. The nurses were so wonderful and caring. Alyssa counted a total of 36 vials of blood were taken. (not including finger pokes) That a lot for a girl who was afraid of needles! Alyssa learns how to do her injections herself and I learn how to do it, too. Now she does all her own inections and pokes. She helps count cabs. And she takes her 7 injections a day with-out any fuss, plus all of her finger pokes, which she never complains about either. She missed the first few weeks of back to school, but she’s gone back to school and has caught up on all she missed. 2 months have gone by since she was first diagnosed and although they have been stressful for a mom, a family, a patient, they have been workable. I’ve replaced the fear (most of it, at least!) with the power of knowledge and things are going to be ok. Things are different. But they will be ok. Because my daughter is my hero. And if she can do it, I can do it.