Mechelle McAlley
Ty's Troops One Fun Run 2019
Fundraising for JDRF
Story
27th September 2011, the day our lives changed forever
Our son Ty was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes age 3½. At the time he appeared to have a bad cold, was lethargic, thirsty, drinking lots and therefore visiting the toilet frequently and had lost some weight (other symptoms can include tummy pain). Hardly life threatening...... or so we thought. We couldn't have been more wrong. Thankfully a simple urine test at the Doctor meant Ty was diagnosed in time before Type 1 Diabetes became life threatening, sadly this is not the case for everyone.
Ty was extremely ill the day he was diagnosed and was immediately admitted to the High Dependency Unit at Aberdeen Children's hospital. Those days and nights in hospital were terrifying for both him and us. He had I.v's sticking out of his hands and feet which were changed frequently causing him great pain and distress. Hearing him crying confused by what was happening & begging us to help him even though we could do nothing, was heart breaking, it was the beginning of our lives with Type 1 Diabetes.
Our stay in hospital was a whirlwind of information overload. We learned that to keep Ty from becoming ill he would need two insulin injections every day, (although this has now increased to a minimum of 5 per day, sometimes more), he also has 8 finger pricks per day to test his blood glucose, (even more during periods of illness or exercise) and we have to carefully control and monitor his diet counting out the carbohydrate content for everything he eats and matching the insulin dose accordingly, not always an easy task and particularly tricky when eating out in restaurants.
We've learned the scary stuff about diabetes, the dangers of - hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) and Hyperglycaemia (high blood sugar), and the long term health complications that diabetes can cause if not carefully controlled, such as decreased life expectancy, blindness, limb amputation, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, also diabetic coma and even death.
The day to day risks are just as scary! for example, most parents can put their child to bed and sleep soundly - for us we always have the fear that without warning Ty's blood sugar could drop dangerously low through the night potentially sending him into a diabetic coma. Because of this we must check his blood whilst he is sleeping, sometimes having to feed him in his sleep to raise his blood sugar enough to keep him stable until morning, although there are never any guarantees that it won't still drop suddenly without warning.
Just about everything affects Ty's blood sugar......, excitement, stress, illness, growth hormones, exercise even the weather can send his blood sugars too high or too low making him feel a whole range of emotions and symptoms...... from shaky, drowsy, hungry, pale, dizzy confused and upset with low blood sugar, to thirsty, nauseous, tired, dizzy, tummy pain, angry, agitated and unable to concentrate with high blood sugar. This makes diabetes difficult to manage and Ty's educational years and concentrating in school extremely tricky.
Since Ty's diagnosis he has had to endure thousands of injections and finger pricks. Most of the time he copes really well and is very brave, but he is still young and sometimes says "I hate being diabetic, I wish I wasn't diabetic any more? and we truly feel our hearts break for him.
Type 1 Diabetes is an auto immune condition and despite misconceptions, is not caused by diet or lifestyle choices. It is no-ones fault and nothing can be done to prevent it. Alarmingly cases of Type 1 Diabetes in children are on the increase, currently with no known cause or cure. JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) are working hard to change this by using donations to fund research into new ways to try to treat, prevent and possibly even cure this life threatening life long chronic health condition.
https://youtu.be/v4Q2z6xFq88
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