Unwavering faith sees mother through battle
WHEN Melania Yavala’s 15-yearold son Nathan Cokanauto lost consciousness while being rushed to hospital last year, her steadfast faith in God never wavered.
Despite being unresponsive to the medical machines at the Colonial War Memorial Hospital, he eventually regain conscious and recovered.
The initial diagnosis was typhoid because of numerous cases in the country at the time.
However, when he was eventually diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Ms Yavala was devastated.
She knew the adjustments he and the family would have to make just to provide Nathan with some semblance of a normal life.
Ms Yavala first took him to the CWM Hospital when he began losing weight.
“When we came, they didn’t test his sugar but said that he had typhoid because typhoid was breaking in Fiji around that time,” she said.
“He was admitted for two weeks before they sent us home with typhoid tablets and medication.”
She said two weeks later, Nathan’s condition worsened.
“He kept vomiting and saying that his stomach was sore and he was continuously crying.
“I took him to Wainibokasi Hospital in the middle of the night and that was where they took his sugar level and told me that that was making him sick.”
By the time Ms Yavala and Nathan arrived at the CWM Hospital in an ambulance, he had lost consciousness and was not responding to the hospital machines.
But his mom’s steadfast faith in God never wavered. And he recovered.
She said trying to adjust him and the rest of the family to a healthy diet was hard.
“It took me nearly a year to cope with that, to try and adjust my other children to eat the same diet as Nathan because he had to eat the right food.
“Since he injects insulin in the mornings and afternoons, I have to stay awake most nights just to make sure that he is OK.
“I struggled through the first year but now eighteen months on, I know what to do with him, just to be on his side and eat the right food with him.”
For Nathan, hearing that he was diabetic was a big shock because “it was normally for older people”.
“Sometimes I just want to give up. I just want to throw away my injections and live like a normal kid, but I can’t,” he said.
“I know that without the insulin injections, I would last only days.
“It’s been one-year and eight months and I have had a lot of struggles.”
Nathan said the stress that came with the chronic disease knew no bounds and it really affected his concentration at school.
However, his message to other diabetic children out there is ‘not to lose hope but believe in themselves’.
“Never underestimate yourself because you have great things to do in your life.
“You can have some traditional herbs but never stop with the insulin injection, as it is what will keep you alive.”
Nathan said he was thankful to his friends for their continuous support in school and for not treating him different.
“They treat me like I’m normal and not like I’m sick, so I just want to thank them.”