Advocating for diabetes

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

One Strathmore teen is getting the chance to have her voice heard in Ottawa next week in the fight against diabetes as part of the Kids for a Cure campaign.
Sarah Stewart, along with 39 other inspirational children living with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) across the country, will be representing the Junior Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and meeting with Members of Parliament and Senators Nov. 25.
The goal behind the trip to Ottawa is to bring more awareness to the differences between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, to advocate for funding for researching a cure, and to possibly see T1D named differently.
“Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes are really similar so people just say diabetes and don’t know that there’s different types. They just assume that the only diabetes that exists is the Type 2 which is curable,” said Stewart.
“I think it is a good idea to change the name because then it wouldn’t be as annoying to have people stereotype what it is. People think I got it from having too much sugar, or I can’t have sugar or they don’t think it’s that big of a deal because when they’re thinking Type 2, ‘oh you just have to lose some weight and your good, or you just have to eat healthy and you’re good,’ but that’s just what they assume. People think that T1D is curable, but it’s not.”
Type 2 can be cured with a proper diet and exercise. That is not the case with Type 1. T1D is an autoimmune disease, it is not caused by lifestyle choice, and those diagnosed with it become insulin dependent for life. In order for Sarah to get to her 16th birthday, she will need 3,100 insulin injections, and will have to prick her finger to get her blood sugar levels 6,450 times.
She is excited to be heading to Ottawa to speak and hopefully help the government change their way of thinking.
“I kind of want them to see how serious it is because they’re just kind of passing it off as something that’s not as important as cancer. They’re equally important to me, they don’t see it as serious,” said Stewart.
It was two years ago that Stewart was diagnosed, nearly losing her life in the process.
“In the summer of 2012 I was camping and I had … some symptoms like hunger and thirst and tiredness and other bladder problems. I just kind of passed it off because it was summer time and it usual to be thirsty, and tired and hungry in summer because you’re active, especially when camping,” said Stewart.
“But then I went home and started to vomit a lot.”
Her stomach seemed to be rejecting everything she was trying to eat. Two weeks later she had lost about 25lbs. Her dad took her to the hospital where she was told the doctor thought it was because she was dehydrated. Her dad didn’t think it sounded like a plausible answer and took her in for a second opinion at another hospital. They also couldn’t determine what was wrong, but decided to send her to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton where she was diagnosed, and hospitalized for 10 days.
“If we would have been 30 or 45 minutes later to the first hospital then she would have passed away,” said her brother Kyle.
It has been an adjustment for the entire family as they learn a new way of living. Stewart is constantly monitoring her carbohydrate and blood sugar levels, and her mom, Michelle Woods, is always keeping an eye on her, worried something may happen in the middle of the night.
As part of the Kids for a Cure campaign Stewart had to raise $500 to show they are committed to funding research for a cure. Michelle reached out to the Strathmore Lions who donated $500 to them and their cause.
There are more than 300,000 Canadians living with T1D. JDRF has been conducting leading edge clinical trials to try and help with the management, care and cure of T1D. Type 1 can cause other complications such as blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage and heart attacks.
Sarah tells the story in more depth, and what a cure would mean for her at http://jdrfca.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=258790.