Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis
Donation protected
On Thursday October 11th, my dearest friend, Mali Parke, received a phone call alerting her that her 13 year old son, Ansel, was in a diabetic coma in a hospital across the country in New Mexico where he had been on a trip with his father. The first flight out was the next morning. Needless to say, that was perhaps the longest night of her life.
She was able to fly out to New Mexico and sit at Ansel's side in the ICU while he recovered and they both began to learn to manage Type 1 diabetes.
They are back home now, learning to count cabs, inject insulin at every meal and midway through the night, and discovering the complexity of managing this incurable diagnosis while offering Ansel as close to a normal life as possible. As Mali said referencing sleepless nights and so much learning and adjustment: "It's like having a newborn except there is no baby!" But the greatest gift is the deep gratitude for Ansel to be alive!
The longest road is now ahead so keep them in your thoughts and feel free to check in with them along the weeks and months as the diagnosis and diabetes-management will continue now for the rest of Ansel's life. And the sleepless nights are not nearly ending soon.
The offers of support have been flooding in and Mali is so appreciative of all the notes and love sent their way. While offers of food are so appreciated, they are not able to receive homemade meals, unless there is a strict/clear counting of all carbs, low sugar and that would feed Ansel "enough" while staying within a 45-70 carbs count. I have put together a google sheet of ideas, referrals, recipes and other offers of support you want to send their way. Feel free to enter all ideas in there and Mali will review them in time.
And another support welcomed is financial contribution to this month's sudden expenses. Mali not only had to fly out on a last-minute, costly flight, but also stopped working to set Ansel up with his new care regimen. The uncovered/co-pay costs of the treatments and related equipment is also mounting.
If you find joy and ease, please join with me to help reduce the impact of all the added stress in this time so that Mali can give her best attention and care to her family and return to her heart-work in schools and her coaching practice as soon as possible.
She was able to fly out to New Mexico and sit at Ansel's side in the ICU while he recovered and they both began to learn to manage Type 1 diabetes.
They are back home now, learning to count cabs, inject insulin at every meal and midway through the night, and discovering the complexity of managing this incurable diagnosis while offering Ansel as close to a normal life as possible. As Mali said referencing sleepless nights and so much learning and adjustment: "It's like having a newborn except there is no baby!" But the greatest gift is the deep gratitude for Ansel to be alive!
The longest road is now ahead so keep them in your thoughts and feel free to check in with them along the weeks and months as the diagnosis and diabetes-management will continue now for the rest of Ansel's life. And the sleepless nights are not nearly ending soon.
The offers of support have been flooding in and Mali is so appreciative of all the notes and love sent their way. While offers of food are so appreciated, they are not able to receive homemade meals, unless there is a strict/clear counting of all carbs, low sugar and that would feed Ansel "enough" while staying within a 45-70 carbs count. I have put together a google sheet of ideas, referrals, recipes and other offers of support you want to send their way. Feel free to enter all ideas in there and Mali will review them in time.
And another support welcomed is financial contribution to this month's sudden expenses. Mali not only had to fly out on a last-minute, costly flight, but also stopped working to set Ansel up with his new care regimen. The uncovered/co-pay costs of the treatments and related equipment is also mounting.
If you find joy and ease, please join with me to help reduce the impact of all the added stress in this time so that Mali can give her best attention and care to her family and return to her heart-work in schools and her coaching practice as soon as possible.
Organizer
Robin O'Brien
Organizer
Rohrersville, MD
