Mikey's Story
Tax deductible
On the 28th November last year, after a couple of days of excessive thirst, weight loss, nappies being full within
minutes, difficulty breathing and our little boy not having the energy to even pick up a toy. We took our little boy to hospital where we were told our son Mikey had Type 1 Diabetes. He was 1 years old. This is a day us as a family will never be able to erase from our memory, this was a day that changed our lives as a family forever and the life we imagined our little boy was going to lead in the future. Mikey was taken into the resuscitation room, greeted by multiple doctors, multiple drips were inserted into his tiny little body. As parents we watched in horror, we didn’t understand what was going on. Nor did we realise how seriously ill our little boy was. Mikey was in something called Diabetic Ketoacidosis, a life threatening and possibly fatal complication of Diabetes. We was told if we hadn’t of bought our son to the hospital when we did, he most likely wouldn’t be here today and for that alone, we will forever be grateful to the NHS for saving our boys life.
As a family, we had no awareness of Type 1 Diabetes, what it was, how much of a cruel disease it was and how hard it is to manage, until we had no choice but to live the reality everyday. After a week in hospital, a week of learning how this awful autoimmune disease works, learning how to inject our child, test his blood sugars and all of the other things you need to learn in order to keep your baby alive every single day. We dauntingly bought our superhero home and began our new life. We were no longer just “Mikey’s Mum and Dad”, We became his 24 hour nurses, doctors, Dietitians, Councillors, Carers and his number one Supporters.
For people who don’t know, just like we didn’t. Type 1 diabetes is a serious, lifelong condition where your blood glucose level is too high because your body can't make a hormone called insulin from your Pancreas. This disease doesn’t come from the stereotypical “eating too many sweets” “bad lifestyle” that most people think, Type 1 is caused from the body accidentally attacking the pancreas, until it no longer does what it should be doing. Therefore we work together to be Mikey’s artificial Pancreas from the outside, giving him the insulin he needs via injections whenever he eats any food in order to try and keep his blood sugar levels under control. To do this, we have to calculate the amount of carbohydrate he will consume in order to work out the correct amount of insulin he needs. There is no time for mistakes, too much insulin can be fatal, too little can cause serious complications for him in the future. There are a lot of different factors that can make the condition difficult to manage, specific weather effects his blood sugar levels, hormones from growth, any form of illness or cold and much more. The variety in blood sugar levels can also cause extreme mood changes. As you can appreciate, this makes managing this disease incredibly difficult.
On a typical good day Mikey will have around 6 injections and 5 blood sugar tests. Good days are quite rare, if his blood sugars are too high (Hypers) he needs extra injections called correction doses, if his bloods are too low (Hypo’s) he needs to be treated with something that is high in sugar to bring them up again. We then test his bloods every 5 minutes until he has reached a good level again. If untreated, Mikey will be at risk of falling into a diabetic coma. There is no rest in this disease, whether its morning, noon or night, diabetes does what it wants when it wants. Mikey is now 2 years old. We can hand on heart say that he is an inspiration, to be so young and to fight and achieve everything he does everyday is incredible. He really is our real life superhero.
Unfortunately, a huge amount of children and adults live with this disease everyday. The amount of young children being diagnosed with Type 1 is on the rise, there currently is no prevention or cure. There really isn’t enough awareness on how devastating this illness can be. A large group of us will be participating in the Tough Mudder Challenge to show our support for Mikey, as well as trying to raise money for the charity close to our hearts, JDRF. JDRF offer support to families living with the disease, they fund and carry out a huge amount research in the hope that one day, they will find ways to prevent people from getting Type 1 Diabetes, help people control the disease better and ultimately find a cure for all that live with Type 1 diabetes. Unless you live with the illness, you’ll never know how emotionally and physically challenging it is to manage day in and day out. But we as a family smash it every single day. Regardless of how much we’ve had enough, how exhausted we are or how angry we are that this happened to us, there is no pause button. Please help us in our journey to raise awareness for this horrible disease in hope that one day a cure can be found. Diabetes came for our little man, but diabetes will never have him nor will it ever define him.
minutes, difficulty breathing and our little boy not having the energy to even pick up a toy. We took our little boy to hospital where we were told our son Mikey had Type 1 Diabetes. He was 1 years old. This is a day us as a family will never be able to erase from our memory, this was a day that changed our lives as a family forever and the life we imagined our little boy was going to lead in the future. Mikey was taken into the resuscitation room, greeted by multiple doctors, multiple drips were inserted into his tiny little body. As parents we watched in horror, we didn’t understand what was going on. Nor did we realise how seriously ill our little boy was. Mikey was in something called Diabetic Ketoacidosis, a life threatening and possibly fatal complication of Diabetes. We was told if we hadn’t of bought our son to the hospital when we did, he most likely wouldn’t be here today and for that alone, we will forever be grateful to the NHS for saving our boys life.
As a family, we had no awareness of Type 1 Diabetes, what it was, how much of a cruel disease it was and how hard it is to manage, until we had no choice but to live the reality everyday. After a week in hospital, a week of learning how this awful autoimmune disease works, learning how to inject our child, test his blood sugars and all of the other things you need to learn in order to keep your baby alive every single day. We dauntingly bought our superhero home and began our new life. We were no longer just “Mikey’s Mum and Dad”, We became his 24 hour nurses, doctors, Dietitians, Councillors, Carers and his number one Supporters.
For people who don’t know, just like we didn’t. Type 1 diabetes is a serious, lifelong condition where your blood glucose level is too high because your body can't make a hormone called insulin from your Pancreas. This disease doesn’t come from the stereotypical “eating too many sweets” “bad lifestyle” that most people think, Type 1 is caused from the body accidentally attacking the pancreas, until it no longer does what it should be doing. Therefore we work together to be Mikey’s artificial Pancreas from the outside, giving him the insulin he needs via injections whenever he eats any food in order to try and keep his blood sugar levels under control. To do this, we have to calculate the amount of carbohydrate he will consume in order to work out the correct amount of insulin he needs. There is no time for mistakes, too much insulin can be fatal, too little can cause serious complications for him in the future. There are a lot of different factors that can make the condition difficult to manage, specific weather effects his blood sugar levels, hormones from growth, any form of illness or cold and much more. The variety in blood sugar levels can also cause extreme mood changes. As you can appreciate, this makes managing this disease incredibly difficult.
On a typical good day Mikey will have around 6 injections and 5 blood sugar tests. Good days are quite rare, if his blood sugars are too high (Hypers) he needs extra injections called correction doses, if his bloods are too low (Hypo’s) he needs to be treated with something that is high in sugar to bring them up again. We then test his bloods every 5 minutes until he has reached a good level again. If untreated, Mikey will be at risk of falling into a diabetic coma. There is no rest in this disease, whether its morning, noon or night, diabetes does what it wants when it wants. Mikey is now 2 years old. We can hand on heart say that he is an inspiration, to be so young and to fight and achieve everything he does everyday is incredible. He really is our real life superhero.
Unfortunately, a huge amount of children and adults live with this disease everyday. The amount of young children being diagnosed with Type 1 is on the rise, there currently is no prevention or cure. There really isn’t enough awareness on how devastating this illness can be. A large group of us will be participating in the Tough Mudder Challenge to show our support for Mikey, as well as trying to raise money for the charity close to our hearts, JDRF. JDRF offer support to families living with the disease, they fund and carry out a huge amount research in the hope that one day, they will find ways to prevent people from getting Type 1 Diabetes, help people control the disease better and ultimately find a cure for all that live with Type 1 diabetes. Unless you live with the illness, you’ll never know how emotionally and physically challenging it is to manage day in and day out. But we as a family smash it every single day. Regardless of how much we’ve had enough, how exhausted we are or how angry we are that this happened to us, there is no pause button. Please help us in our journey to raise awareness for this horrible disease in hope that one day a cure can be found. Diabetes came for our little man, but diabetes will never have him nor will it ever define him.
Organizer
Reece Pickett
Organizer
England
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Registered nonprofit
Donations eligible for Gift Aid.
