DKA and Undiagnosed T1D……Is Still Here…….Just Don’t DO Nothing….Plug Yourself In!!!!!!

How do you know if you made a difference; if the point was driven home?  How do you know if the listener ‘gets’ what you are sharing?  What happens when the dust all settles and we move on with life?

A few weeks ago we lost two children in one weekend to DKA and undiagnosed type 1 diabetes (T1D).  The diabetes community was screaming from the mountaintops.  A few months before, another life was cut short;  what have we done about it?  I was speaking to little Reegan’s mom and said, unfortunately, this amount of information and flurry of activity will subside, but hopefully a few people will engage in doing something.  She stated quite matter-of-factly when she answered, “It will never subside for me.”

“It will never subside for me.”

For her or Kycie’s Family, or David’s Family or for anyone else who has undergone this horror, it will not subside. And IT WILL happen again.

Are you still pissed about it?  What have you done?  Don’t answer me, I’m not the gate-keeper here but I ask you to ask yourself.  Have you done anything to help this situation?

Debbie, a d-Mom has. She created Ease T1D.  She writes to me;  EASE T1D has a petition similar to Reegan’s Rule in California with the exception that ours includes the screening of children who present flu-like symptoms.  We have already met with representatives from both our Assemblyman Eric Linder and State Senator, Richard Roth’s offices. We are also helping to assist others with this legislation who want to follow suit in their state. As of now, we do not have an author for this proposed bill, but are hoping for Senator Roth. We will find out in the Fall. Our website is www.easet1d.org.

One person with an idea.

Karen in Pennsylvania created something as well.  It’s called PA-UP Rising Against DKA which is part of a bigger movement called UP Rising Against DKA, more d-moms making a difference.  The PA group is administered by Debbie (who is working on legislation in PA as well) and also Cindy (who also administers the UP Rising Against DKA as well).  There is another site entitled Test One Drop which exists to bring awareness to the need for better screening for Type 1 Diabetes.  You can download a poster from there and place it in your community.  Cindy is the brains and powerhouse driving force behind this as well.  These d-Parents have very full plates as well, but they are finding time to make a difference.

Not to mention all of the amount of work Reegan’s mom has done to make the state of North Carolina stand up and notice.  She is doing all of what she has done with a shattered heart that never can be mended.  She has worked tirelessly to make this world a better place.  She has dropped everything on many occasions to run to her State Capitol to tell, relive even, her horror story so people know.  So people will make change a reality.

People ARE doing things.  More needs to be done……we need you.  Download a poster from Cindy’s site or you can go to www.GetDiabetesRight.org as well.  Even here people are helping as our friends Jimmy and Mila of the incredibly huge site for those who speak Spanish www.FamiliasconDiabetes.com will be translating some of our posters into Universal Spanish.

With school getting underway, contact the schools activity coordinator, contact groups like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, 4-H, Royal Rangers, Daisy Groups, and any other group that values community service and ask them to distribute posters in your neighborhood.  Just a little effort can go a long way.

Legislation will take time…….there are steps that can be done NOW.  Let’s not wait until ‘it happens again’……and I have been at this a long, long, time; you can bet your last dollar it most assuredly will happen again……………..it’s just up to all of us to do all we can to make sure it doesn’t.  I am sure there are people doing things in their own way and THAT’S GREAT, I am seeking those who still have yet to try.  If you are ‘maxed out’ in what you do for the diabetes world….fine; but if you are looking to get involved somehow…….this is the initiative that can truly make a difference.

As Reegan’s mom shared; “It will never subside with me.”   Can any of us, really, just sit by and just do nothing?????  Don’t just do nothing.  Start now……the wheel is invented….just plug yourself in.

I am a diabetes dad.
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