Lucia was born a healthy child at 9lbs. She was breast fed for the first few years of her life. Her mom split up vaccinations one at a time even if it meant multiple trips to the pediatrician in a month because she wanted to be a careful as she could be. There is no history of T1D in Lucia’s family. By age 3 Lucia was already diagnosed with Celiac. Lucia’s dad, Dustin has Crohn's disease, he was diagnosed at age 32. Celiac, Crohn's and Type 1 are all autoimmune diseases. There is NOTHING that anyone can do about them. They are born with the genetics and it is a matter of time before the angry genes rear their heads.

Fast forward a year and a half and Lucia gets a cold. Her mom, Kristin took her to the doctor multiple times. Her mom knew something was just not right, Lucia was just not her normal self. Kristin took Lucia back to the doctor and they diagnose her with an upper respiratory infection and she was sent away with an antibiotic; cephalexin. The next morning Lucia is worse, that evening her mom called the doctor again and says “SOMETHING ISN'T RIGHT”.  Her mom tells the doctor that she is bringing her in first thing in the morning for blood tests. 

At 4:30 the next morning her parents heard a terrible sound on the monitor. They went into Lucia's bedroom and found her passed out in her own vomit.  Her dad said, "let's call the ambulance” and her mom said, “no, we aren’t waiting, we are driving her."  They put Lucia in the car and drove her to Maine Medical Center (MMC).  Kristin called her pediatrician and she called ahead to MMC in Portland and the doctors met them at the emergency entrance.  They put Lucia on a gurney and her mom and dad couldn’t believe what was happening, they were stunned. Within minutes the doctors in the emergency department took Lucia's blood sugar and it was 748, 748! An average blood sugar level is between 80-120, she was 748!  Right then and there everyone knew what was going on. Lucia was diagnosed T1D.  Lucia was in DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis) and it was very dangerous.  They put Lucia into an induced comma for the next 36 hours to get her blood sugar back into a safe zone and also help to avoid swelling in the brain, while they attempted to balance out all of her vitals.

Lucia spent the next 7 days in the Barbara Bush Children's hospital while she recovered and the family learned their new "normal".  None of this is normal.   For six years life hasn’t been normal. Lucia and her family have managed her T1D and Hypoglycemia Unawareness with grace, but that takes a toll on everyone. Every minute of every day her parents make decisions on Lucia's insulin dosage.  They count carbs and plan on her exercise, the temp outside and inside, her excitement level,  if she's excited or nervous, if she's got a game or if it is raining. All of those things matter to her blood sugar levels. There are lots of sleepless nights. There are frantic calls to school to find Lucia because she is dropping rapidly and not responding to her phone. There are sensor changes at school or the in the middle of the night. There are constant calculations and recalculations. It takes a village.

There is no rhyme or reason to T1D.  It is not because Lucia ate too much sugar or was raised in a family that was sedentary.  None of that is true. Lucia and her family are incredibly active, eat very healthy and low glycemic. Remember her dad was diagnosed with Crohn’s? They had/have to eat healthy for his health and safety.

T1D is a wild card and doesn't play by the rules.  In addition, Lucia does not feel her low blood sugars.  Hypoglycemia Unawareness is scary.  She will not wake up at night if she is low and there is no guarantee that she won't be.  T1D doesn't take time off while she sleeps.  It actually can be worse because if she has had a volleyball match or a ski race diabetes will fight back from the endorphins at midnight or 1am.  Just for fun.  This makes for lots of worry and sleepless nights for her parents.

Lucia can be low at recess or PE or during math class and she will not be able to feel it.  That is scary because she could pass out or have a seizure.  Low blood sugar can be a death sentence.

Lucia has a wonderful group of friends along with lots of devices and technology that help to keep her safe.  We NEED a cure.  Friends aren't always there and Wi-Fi and technology fails.   Pods fail, CGM's fail, phones die and when they do, Lucia's life hangs in the balance....

This is why DADs are amazing.  They don't fail, and they don't need wifi and they don't take a break.  They are on 24/7....just like Type 1