Diabetes Camp

Picture a world where you always count your carbs & watch what you eat. Sound familiar? Now imagine a world where not doing this with careful & precise accuracy could make you sick, super sick. Even that sneaky piece of pizza you eat when no one is watching ( if no one sees it doesn't count, right?) MUST be logged. Now add to that multiple daily finger pricks, wearing a medically attached pump & setting your alarm in the middle of the night to make sure that you are still healthy. This and many more things are the daily life of a type 1 diabetic. Children's lives are supposed to be carefree, fun, and irresponsible. But kids living with a chronic illness are in a rhelm all their own. These kids are forced to recognize highs & lows in their blood sugars through out their daily life. Give themselves shots & probably see the doctor more than I have EVER. To other kids they are different, and maybe even scary or weird. I spent a weekend with the kids of Camp Soaring Eagle suffering from this disease. The bravery & maturity that I saw in these 8-11 year olds was inspiring. They stop mid activity to check their BG (blood glucose) if they were feeling low, they didn't complain about multiple shots and figured out their carb counts (at EVERY meal). All while having a fun time at camp! A blog post from one of the parents talked about how her daughter couldn't participate in slumber parties and had never spent a night away from her family due to her diabetes and celiac disease. She was thrilled to join our group which provides gluten free meals & midnight BG tests for the kids to keep them healthy. Can you imagine taking care of a child like this? It would be a full time job. The beauty of this experience was that these kids got to feel normal for perhaps the first time in their lives. They got to forget about being diabetic and just be a kid! In fact I was the odd woman out if you will, my two attempts to prick my own finger to test did not go well. (not enough blood) At that point I gave up, but they HAVE to do it all day long. They also got to taste cotton candy (a special sugar free version) for the first time in their lives which I'm sure I don't have to tell you was thrilling for them. Experiencing this with them was inspiring and fun. And beyond this gave me amazing perspective that I am grateful for. Health is a beautiful thing that most of us take forgranted. Seeing the smiles on these kid's faces says it all and getting the random "just because" hug melts my heart. Its beautiful to see what CSE is providing for these awesome kids and hear the "I've never had cotton candy before" comments with a mouth full of pink goo. The smiles hardly left their faces. This is what makes life beautiful.