Early Summer 2008, I saw on a friend’s Facebook status profile something like “you were taken too soon Adamn” and I did not want to believe it. No, it could not be. I met an Adamn (17 years old) 2-3 times at that friend’s house and he has type 1 diabetes too. Even told my son that he had a similar pen for his shots.
Maybe they knew of another teen or boy that had the same name. I really did not want it to be him. Researched his full name on the web and found a group that was created in his name RIP. OH MY GOD, IT’S HIM. I was in shock, I started to cry a little bit, searching franticly for the way he passed “no please don’t let it be a diabetes related death please no” and I found a person asking how it happened and my worst fear was confirmed! I almost screamed NO and cried uncontrollably. I could not believe it. How could this have happened? It said that he forgot to take his insulin and he was vomiting and people thought that he had drank alcohol and that was why he was sick. Nobody recognized the signs.
I was sobbing not because I knew him that much, but because it could have been prevented, he was young, and also thought “that could be my son”.
After crying for a while, I said that this can be a lesson to me and that I can make sure that I know my son’s friends and that I can tell them that if he’s throwing up, that it could be serious and act even if my son’s pride would take a hit, at least he will be safe.
Gina,involve your son as young as he is from now to talk about diabetes at school,with his friends,draw his feelings.Get him involved and his circle of friends around him aware about hypo& hyper symptoms.Awarness can avoid tragedy specially during teen years.
When I posted this blog, I found the discussion made by Kitty Kat on her sister that was called DKA and read through the comments and looked at the dates, after reading them all, I rushed to see her profile and saw that there was one blog that said Bad News. I was saddened by her story also. I find it really shocking that people are dying like that still.
My brother had DKA once and almost died, but thankfully my family recognized the signs. It was caused by the medication he was taking for Bronchitis. He was 12 at the time.
This is one of the reasons I always make sure the people I’m around know I’m diabetic, and that I’m wearing my MedicAlert bracelet. I have a card in my wallet that states I’m diabetic, too.
The reason this still happens is because there isn’t enough awareness. We need to educate the people around us as best we can.
My goodness,Gina.What a heartbreaking story.I am sorry about your son’s diagnosis.Thank God for the pump.It does make a world of difference in a Diabetic’s life.It makes it so much easier to control.I know all too well the feeling of having ketones.God bless you and your son!
