Meet our beautiful son, Isaac. He is a fun, creative, smart and active 5-year old who dreams about becoming a professional soccer player when he grows up. He loves to dance and sing and takes after his mom and dad in his love for nature and especially for birds. When Isaac was two years old, we knew something was wrong when he wasn’t recovering from a cold and he was eating like a T-rex (as he puts it) but was becoming skinnier and skinnier by the day. We took him in for tests, to discover that he had developed Diabetes type 1 (juvenile diabetes). The next 10 days in hospital with Isaac were the hardest days of our lives. Accepting that Isaac would be dependent on insulin injections for life was agonizing. The champion in all of this was Isaac! Although, he didn’t understand why the nurses were pricking his finger every 3 hours and giving him a painful “vaccine” shot 4 times a day--bringing him (and me) to tears each time—he rarely complained. With enormous grace and discipline, Isaac took on his new diet, high in veggies and whole grains and low-fat proteins measured out in exact portions, as well as his strict eating schedule (every 3 hours during the day-even if he had to be woken up from a nap). He gave up all sweets and many of his favorite foods in a truly heroic way, and often endured feeling hungry because it wasn’t his scheduled time to eat yet. My husband and I learned to live with the enormous responsibility that goes along with his diabetes care…measuring out his special food, checking his blood sugars regularly (including a check at 10:30 pm and at 3:00 am each night), giving him his insulin shots and studying his blood sugars in order to adjust his doses when necessary, adhering to very strict eating schedule in order to avoid life threatening lows and highs, and having a balanced exercise plan for him. His sister, Maia also learned to live with her little brother’s condition, often putting her needs and desires second to those of Isaac. Now 3 years later at 5 years old, having come out of what is called the “honeymoon” phase of diabetes, his blood sugar levels have become harder and harder to control despite his strict diet, schedule and exercise plan. Every day he has at least one peak around 260 or higher per day and at least one low of down into the 50’s each day (normal blood sugars are between 80-140). These extreme peaks and lows in his blood sugar levels are detrimental to his long term health and his developing brain and organs. The doctors agreed that an insulin pump would be the best way for him to maintain healthier blood sugar ranges as he could receive small doses of insulin on the hour throughout the day programmed according to his own body’s patterns and larger doses at meal times (much like a real pancreas). Instead of 4 shots a day (including one at 10:30 pm and a mandatory snack which he ate in his sleep each night as we message his cheeks to stimulate him to chew), with the pump he could have just one injection every 3 days to change the pump’s infusion site (and no more need for his late night snack). Since he has had the pump these past few weeks on a free trial, his low blood sugars, which are so damaging to his brain development and potentially life-threatening, have been almost completely eliminated. The whole family is sleeping better as we no longer need to do the 3 am finger prick blood sugar test every night nor the nighttime snack (when he uses the continuous glucose monitoring sensor the pump will set off an alarm if his blood sugars are dropping too low or going too high, allowing us to sleep in peace and his teachers to feel more comfortable too). Isaac’s eating schedule is much more flexible as well, so that if his snack is delayed by an hour or two he is not in nearly as much danger of suffering a low blood sugar attack. Before the pump, he had to eat every 3 hours or he was at risk of dangerous low blood sugars. His meal times often wouldn’t coincide with the rest of the family’s mealtimes; if there was a party, he often had to wait to eat after everyone else had already eaten because his meal time did not match up with the times meals were served. Now he can eat with everyone else when everyone else is eating. Just a few days ago, he went to a little friend’s birthday party and had the first hotdog he could remember…being able to eat what the other kids were eating for lunch for the first time, thanks to the pump. Without the pump this would have sent his blood sugars soaring. Our goal with this fund raising campaign is to raise enough money for Isaac to keep his pump for the next 10 years. Our social security insurance does not cover his pump or any of the costs of monthly supplies that go along with it. We want the best for our son as every parent does but the enormous monthly financial burden is scary for us. We don’t want to start on the pump and then have to go back to 4 injections a day, lack of sleep and limiting eating schedules. You can help to guarantee that Isaac can keep his pump for the next 10 years…. In Costa Rica, the pump costs $8300 (including minilink transmitter, charger and USB data collector), and the additional cost of monthly supplies for the pump are minimum $460 and if we use the continuous glucose monitoring sensors throughout the month the costs goes up to $670 per month. Then he requires 4 appointments per year minimum with his endocrinologist at $110 per appointment at current rates (over 10 years adds up to $4400). These costs are overwhelming but the quality of life and better health that Isaac gains with the pump is so significant. He has a much better chance of living a long life with higher chances of avoiding the common diabetic health issues like kidney disease, heart disease, damage to his eyes, painful neuropathy and damage to his limbs. As well as better health, the pump allows him to live a more normal life. He can go to school for a full day, eating lunch at school. in Costa Rica few schools have school nurses and his doesn’t. None of his teachers has felt comfortable giving him injections. With the pump they don’t have to. At birthday parties, he can eat an occasional hotdog or slice of pizza and his schedule is more flexible, allowing him to eat when others are eating and eat when he is hungry. Please help Isaac to have his insulin pump. All contributions are deeply appreciated and no contribution is too small or too large. Another very important way you can help is to get the word out to as many people as you can and inspire them to give. You will be making an enormous difference in Isaac’s life and in ours, and we will be forever grateful to you. See his campaign on indiegogo where you can make your contribution ( indiegogo/projects/an-insulin-pump-for-little-isaac/x/3584188 --coming soon).
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 03:25:28 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015