They Lost their Sons to T1D…….What they are Doing Tomorrow Will Drop You to Your Knees.

Have you ever stopped and actually tried to figure out how we do exactly what we do every day when dealing with our child’s diabetes?  I mean, imagine yourself before diagnosis; did you ever think you would be doing what you are doing today?  When the doctor ran down the list of all diabetes management would entail, did you shake your head and say, “OK, no problem”?

I doubt it.

But here you are.  Even if your child was diagnosed fairly recently, look where you are now compared to that day.  It’s not bad to take a look behind yourself every now and again and see the trail you blazed.  As the commercial used to state; “You’ve come a long way baby.”   But as my dear departed friend Larry, a minister, used to say when you reminded him how far you had come, “OOOOOOO YES BABY, and you have so much further to go.”

The road is long.

But here is a thought, no one escapes life and what it throws at you.  Precious few escape the so many disease states and tragedies that can change a life forever.  Some get more than others and sometimes it all comes crashing down, doesn’t it?  Remember, it happens to everyone.

As I reflected on yesterday being such a tragedy I thought of friends like Michael Otten.  Michael is about as much a definition of a guys’-guy as Webster could ever define.  Michael’s story of 9/11 would drive any person to their very knees, and he can share that with you some day, if he chooses.  Trust me when I tell you two things; he lost precious family members that day and he was one elevator ride away from being included in that horrible count of fatalities.  Just one incredible story.

Michael also has a son with T1D.  Seems like just yesterday that he was diagnosed.  He also owns his own business.  He has no time whatsoever…..none.  Yet he finds time to give back what is important to his family.  He will always greet you with a smile, a firm handshake, and want to know how YOU are doing.  Stories, oh he has stories, but he would rather talk about his family, sports, and know about you.  He is a brother-in-arms in this race for a cure.

A lesson I learned a long time ago that Michael personifies, the people who are hurting cope with things because they are more concerned with others and the world around them than wallowing in a world where their own problems rule their life.

I have said it before……they learn…….to cope.

Everybody has hurts and pains that drive right through the soul; it’s not what comes along—-it’s what you do with it.  Get on, get off, get run over.  The choice is clearly our own.  What will you do with it.

One final thought; The families of Michelle Alswager and Jen & Bob Nicholson lost their sons to T1D.  Lost!  Yet tomorrow they are running in an Iron Man’s grueling race to help other with diabetes……..think about that……..it will benefit them, NOT ONE IOTA in their dealing with diabetes…..but it will help your child and others who know the work of Sean and Mollie Busby’s Riding on Insulin.

So think about them tomorrow as they take part in something they have been training for months to achieve; and it still will challenge their physical bodies like nothing they have ever done before.  And for what will they benefit?  The satisfaction of helping children of yours and mine.  Pretty bold.  Humbling.  Yes?
(and if you have a buck or two, sponsor a mile…….it’s not too late; just click
Riding On Insulin.—I promise you will feel good about it.)

So the choice is yours.  Again, something coming into your life? No Control.  What you do with it when it arrives? All control.  Easy????? Absolutely not.  They will be extremely emotional at the race……but they will do it….they know their making a difference.  They know their sons would want them do be doing it.

Still.

It humbles us none-the-less and makes us ask, “what will we do today to make it count?”  What will you do today?

I am a diabetes dad.
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