Dear _____ : What if You could Save Someone’s Life?

Right now, as you’re reading this, someone is dying from undiagnosed type 1 diabetes. It could be your cousin, your neighbor, your kindergarten teacher’s aunt’s new boyfriend. It could be anybody. What if you could save them? Not prevent the diagnosis, that will happen no matter what, but what if you could save them from dying? What would you do to save a life?

“Dear _____: What if You could Save Someone’s Life?”

By: Patricia Schellenberg, T1D Mom

Dear _____,

When our 11 year old son was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 20 months ago, all the doctors and nurses remarked how well he looked. They couldn’t get over his healthy appearance. Even months later, ER staff remembered him and remembered how shocked they were at his diagnosis.

We were lucky. We caught it early because we knew the symptoms. I remembered the Mary Tyler Moore PSAs from years ago and when our nephew was diagnosed I filed weight loss with those symptoms.

Once the shock of our son’s diagnosis wore off, those shocked reactions came back to me and I learned that all too often, type 1 diabetes is diagnosed when the patient is already in DKA or even when it’s too late to help them.

I began to educate everyone around me.

I tried to create PSAs. I posted on Facebook and begged my friends and family to share, without success.

And I wrote to the JDRF, Diabetes Canada, and my provincial and federal ministers of health. It was a wholly frustrating experience.

Nobody seemed interested. And I admit I gave up. I shouldn’t have.

Three weeks ago…

My husband and I met a very nice man at the lumber yard of a local hardware store. He helped us and we chatted briefly about our project.

We had never met him before so we didn’t know he had lost a dramatic amount of weight in a short time.

The encounter was brief so we didn’t notice that he was unusually thirsty and he didn’t share that he was tired and peeing a lot.

We returned to the hardware store a week later.

As we walked in the door we contributed $20 to a fundraiser being held by the staff for a young father who had passed away unexpectedly the previous week. So sad.

At the lumber yard, we learned what had happened. The nice man we had met the week before had undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.

He didn’t know the symptoms and neither did anyone else in his life. By the time he saw a doctor it was too late. He died in DKA.

We were in the right place at the right time with exactly the right information but we didn’t know.

I’m not ashamed to say this man’s unnecessary death gutted me.

I am haunted by the picture of him with his kids and the ‘what ifs’.

And I am angry. Blindingly furiously angry.

Because this was preventable. If only someone had recognized the symptoms, his small children would still have their father.

I’ve gone back to putting up posters in bathrooms and posting PSAs on Facebook. Unfortunately other than a frustrating exchange with a person who insisted that a keto diet would cure T1D, my attempts are once again falling on deaf ears.

Certainly, none of my posts are going beyond my own page. In any event, it shouldn’t be up to tired parents to raise awareness.

But worse, it’s not working. People are suffering and dying from lack of knowledge. They deserve a fighting chance to save their lives.

So my question to you is, what are YOU doing to prevent this from happening in the future?

Know the symptoms of T1D 

The symptoms are simple:

• Excessive thirst: In a person with T1D, the body is constantly trying to expel glucose that it is unable to use. This is done through urine output, making people with T1D constantly thirsty.
• Frequent urination: People with T1D will need to urinate often, even right after using the washroom. Children who are potty trained may start having accidents or wetting the bed.
• Extreme hunger: T1D is an autoimmune attack on the pancreas that makes it impossible to produce your own insulin. Insulin is needed to use the energy in the food we eat. Since the body can’t use that energy, it craves more food.
• Unintended weight loss: No matter how much you’re eating, your body cannot process the food and turn it into usable energy. This forces the body to get energy from fat instead, causing weight loss. (This is a very unhealthy weight loss as it turns into DKA – a condition where your blood becomes acidic).
• Fatigue and weakness: The body is not getting enough energy to function properly.
• Blurry vision, vomiting, seizures: These are more advanced symptoms of T1D that often mean DKA. This is very serious and needs a medical opinion ASAP.

Share the symptoms of T1D

Many people, including some medical professionals, are not aware of the symptoms of T1D. In fact, many people are misdiagnosed (sometimes several times) before they get their T1 diagnosis. Help teach people the symptoms by putting posters up in your doctor’s office, your child’s school, your workplace, and community centers. Or simply share them on social media. Here are “Signs and Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes” and “The 4 ‘T’s’ of Type 1 Diabetes” to get you started.

Don’t ignore the symptoms of T1D

T1D symptoms tend to get brushed off. People dismiss them thinking it’s something else. Child wetting the bed? It’s probably regression, don’t worry about it. You’re drinking and peeing a lot? It’s probably just because it’s hot out, nothing concerning about that. Friend has lost a lot of weight and is throwing up? It’s probably just the flu, it’ll run its course.

But if it’s T1D, you should worry about it, it is concerning, and its course is going to kill the person. So get it checked out. Do it for me. Do it for you. Do it for them.

Do it for the person who, right now as you read this, is dying from undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.

What do you think should be done to prevent these deaths? Who do you think should be responsible for getting the information out to the public? Share your thoughts in the comments section. And don’t forget to head to the Carb Counting Mama Facebook Page and “like” it for more T1D posts!