Living with Pediatric Diabetes
More than 300,000 Canadians live with Type 1 Diabetes.
Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), formerly referred to as Juvenile Diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. It occurs when the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, called beta cells. While its causes are not yet entirely understood, scientists believe that both genetic factors and environmental triggers are involved. Its onset has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle.
T1D strikes both children and adults of any age. It comes on suddenly, causes dependence on injected or pumped insulin for life, carrying the constant threat of devastating complications.
While insulin injections or infusion allow a person with T1D to stay alive, they do not cure the disease, nor do they necessarily prevent the possibility of the disease’s serious effects, which may include kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputations, heart attack, stroke and pregnancy complications.
When Jonathan Beneteau, now six, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes a mere 17 days before his fourth birthday and his first day of junior kindergarten, his parents, Marc and Bobbie, were sent into a state of shock.
“Diabetes didn’t run in the family, with the exception of my mother’s brother-inlaw, who’s not related by blood,” says Marc. “(Jonathan’s diagnosis) came as a surprise.”
At barely four years old, Jonathan’s caregiver began to notice alarming changes in him — the lively little boy seemed to be losing weight and complained of thirst often. He was also urinating frequently, something his family discovered he would get up to do in the middle of the night — every night.
“To me, because I’m with him every day, the changes seemed so gradual it was hard to take note,” remembers Marc. “But we called on a Tuesday and got him in for Thursday. By Friday we were told, ‘You need to get to the hospital.’ I can’t explain how lucky we were … it could have been very dangerous if it wasn’t caught right away.”
The next week in the Beneteaus’ lives, Marc refers to as D-Day week, was “incredibly sad and stressful,” said Marc in a personal blog post, which he wrote in April 2010. After living with and learning about diabetes for eight months, “one of the most wonderful things happened — we met our D-team.”
The Beneteau family was overjoyed to meet their team of hardworking, committed caregivers from Windsor Regional Hospital’s Pediatric Metabolic Unit, all poised to help Jonathan and his family deal with diabetes in the most positive way possible. The unit became an extended family for the Beneteaus and is made up of an endocrinology and diabetes diagnostic, treatment and education centre for children with diabetes and other endocrine conditions. These conditions include thyroid disease and other hormone imbalances. The Beneteaus were thrilled by the extreme adaptability, kindness and capability of the entire team.
“When something like this happens to your child, you can drive yourself crazy,” says Marc. “We were told that it would be a roller-coaster ride until Jonathan’s late teens or early twenties. The scariest thing is the insulin — if he gets too little, we run the risk of complications. If he gets too much, we risk death. I get up every morning at 2 a.m. to check him, just so I know he’ll be waking up the next day. You always have to be on guard.
“That’s why having this clinic is so great. They’re always there for us. What people might not know is that the level of care we get in Windsor-Essex is beyond what you’d get anywhere else. These people we’ve been working with have skipped lunches and put off their own personal needs, just to get us to where we need to be.”
“The support they give is second to none and absolutely necessary for both newly diagnosed families and those further along their journey as well.”
Jonathan doesn’t seem to recall being diagnosed, nor does he seem to have vivid memories of his hospital stay. Today, Jonathan says he loves going to the clinic to see everybody, and enjoys the fact that they let him choose the room in which he meets with his caregivers. Thanks to the support of the pediatric metabolic team at Windsor Regional Hospital, as well as the ongoing, tireless care he receives every day from his parents, Jonathan is growing up a healthy, happy little boy.