Not All Heroes Have Capes!

“My child is recently diagnosed, can someone please send me information about a celebrity who has diabetes so I can share with my newly diagnosed child.”  We have seen this request before.  I believe we are better served to share with newly diagnosed kids, OUR kids who live everyday life with their diabetes who are  doing incredible things.  Not all inspirations need to be celebrities.  I think I will begin a series that we’ll call, “Not All Heroes Have Capes”, These people have the “NAHHC for dealing with their diabetes”.

My first person with the NAHHC for dealing with diabetes is Jesse. I have written about him before and there is surely good reason.  At the age of nine Jesse was diagnosed and what most people find so difficult, Jesse thrived.  When his parents were hovering over him like drone parents (used to be called diabetes police, used to be called helicopter parents), Jesse took it in strides and learned.

And boy did he learn.

Jessie is the first to reach out and talk to others.  If your child has diabetes, Jesse cares and I mean REALLY cares.  He has  only met my son a few times and he will still ask about him, he will still reach out to him….because that’s Jesse.  Challenges are merely an invitation to conquer, and Jesse has done it time and time again.   With poise, with grace, and with his eye on the next mountain to climb ahead of him.

Jesse has always given back and helped others and just recently, he passed his boards and is now a Registered Nurse.  I have to be quite honest with you, when I read that I teared up.  I have known Jesse for a long time, no I am not like father to him but I am someone who has watched him.  I have learned to respect him to great lengths.

Jesse is now in a field that is grueling, taxing, and extremely rewarding.  Having a daughter who is also a nurse, I know everything Jesse went through and he has achieved a most incredible feat.  He’s now a Registered Nurse, no less a hero than a celebrity on a TV show……..Jesse has proven, yet again, that our heroes are right in our own backyard.  They achieve what many would think not possible.  They really are something special and they truly have the NAHHC.  Your child can do anything with diabetes.  Heroes are not perfect, they just get up every time they are knocked down and move forward to achieve great things. 

Congratulations Jesse Nagel, RN BSN.

I am a DiabetesDad.
Please visit my Diabetes Dad FB Page and hit ‘like’.

PS—-if you have a NAHHC, email me at tkarlya@drif.org….and maybe I will feature them.  Our kids need to see heroes, and the search can stop right in our back yard.