It is my sincerest hope that this gorgeous, and beautiful face, will change the world that she will never see. This is Reegan. In 2013, at the age of 16 months, Reegan lost her battle on a diagnosis that was never known. By time that diagnosis was discovered, the damage was done and eventually Reegan lost her battle and passed away.
Reegan’s blood sugar was up over 1100.
I have written before about the many people who have faced such incredible hardship, such incredible obstacles, and yet, still stood up to say that diabetes WILL NOT DO in this world. Especially when the rest of the world would fully understand if one just crawled in a hole due to the incredible amount of pain.
But to Reegan’s mother, Darice, DIABETES JUST WILL NOT do. She is trying to make sense out of why such a beautiful child was taken so young. Darice is a strong woman, a woman of faith. She cannot do anything to change what has happened, but she is on a mission to make sure it never happens again. Her Reegan’s Rule will attempt change in her home state of North Carolina……..and THAT is only the beginning.
Darice and I spoke, at length, and I’m convinced that my Child’s Cry for Change initiative about educating the world about flu/virus symptoms masking the onset of Type 1 Diabetes; and Darice’s Reegan’s Rule have the exact same objectives and we will join together to making a difference in Reegan’s name.
I have followed up on Darice’s contacts and reached out to the Legislatures in North Carolina who are taking Reegan’s Rule to their Capitol. Reegan’s Rule will get larger in scope as we include various education initiatives in Reegan’s name under the Reegan’s Rule banner, that makes sense to do.
I will continue this mission and will continue with Darice and her family. If we can get it done in North Carolina, we can get it done elsewhere. I will continue working with others like the National Association of School Nurses and others. More will follow, and if you want to get involved, send me an email at tkarlya@drif.org. If you want to help their family NOW, sign this petition to get a law passed for kids to be tested at check-ups. It’s a start; and much more will follow.
We need to do anything we can to make sure flu/virus like symptoms are not masking the onset for T1 Diabetes (or even for T2 Diabetes). A diagnosed cannot be missed while a child is in DKA when it is mistaken for the flu or a virus.
We will do all we can to change that in this country. It might be a law, it might be an initiative, it might be a movement…………………….but IT SURELY will be:
Reegan’s Rule!
I am a diabetes dad.
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7 replies on “A Gorgeous Face that Will Change a World……..She Will Never Know!!!!”
This almost happened to us. I thought my daughter had the flu as a lot of the symptoms resembled it. The last few days before diagnosis my daughter was sleeping a lot and dry heaving every now and then. We had made an appointment with the doctor but never made it there. In the middle of the night my daughter had labored breathing and we brought her to the hospital. The doctor said if we didn’t bring her in she may have not made it the next day. She had some swelling in her brain also so it was a scary day. Luckily toward the end of the day she had came around. My daughter also urinated a lot the month prior but I never would have thought she had diabetes so never put any of this together. Also I had no way of knowing really as this isn’t something the doctor tells you about. I think doctors need to make people more aware of this.
Thank you for writing…..your goals are the same as ours.
Tom, thank you for posting this heart-breaking story that also creates such an important awareness about baby check-up. I signed the petition and I hope the results of your efforts will be successful! Please write more updates on our blog. Thank you, Sheila
Thank you Shiela—-it IS heartbreaking and her mom is just so inspiring in the way she wants to change things. Thank you.
we took our 16 month son to the doctor- they couldn’t figure out what was wrong and sent us to the ER. He had labored breathing, and was just out of it. The ER sent us home with antibiotics and said he had an ear infection. The following day I took him back to the ER because I had to. I’m glad I did, the ER staff changed over, a different doctor knew it was T1D right away. He was in DKA. The “might of’s” scared the crap out of me. We didn’t know any of the warning signs. I didn’t even know Type 1 Diabetes existed. 1 year later we’re happy and healthy and living the D life. Not perfect a1c- but getting better and better every day.
A story that turned out OK as so many do after heartache—-just a shame that anyone has to go through this—we hope to educate many moving forward.
I am heartbroken for the whole family. Please Tom pass along my name in any way you would like. If we recruit families in each state that lost their child to this horrific disease we will be heard..I will continue to do my work here in maine and new hampshire to raise awareness about diabetes and how it robs children from so much.