JUNE 10th, 2012Ottawa Telus Walk

to cure Juvenile Diabetes

We're steps away

We will never forget that day – May 10, 2011. The ER doc said 'Your son has diabetes'. Our family's life changed forever after those words were spoken. First we cried and then we thanked God it wasn't something a whole lot worse ... and then we stepped into the world of 'constant needles and poking' our little guy. Next came 7 intense days of learning to give injections to our baby. We were afraid of needles; giving them to our baby 2 times a day was unbearable. We learned to check his blood sugar 7-10 times a day, which requires using a pen type device to poke his little fingertips to draw blood so as a drop could be sucked up by a Blood Glucose (blood sugar content) meter. Aaron Junior is not old enough to be able to tell us how he is feeling or indicate if he is high or low... we constantly watch and listen through the day and night for signs or indications that he is out of his target range. We have learned about counting carbohydrates to calculate the exact quantity of insulin to inject. To this day, every time we calculate the insulin we 2nd guess ourselves as we struggle to keep him in his blood glucose target range... there are so many additional factors to consider (sickness, time of day, activities/exercise, stress, previous measured blood glucose level etc.). Simply put, we had to learn what to do to prevent Junior from going into a coma from a low blood glucose level (hypoglycemia) and we had to learn what to do to prevent him from suffering from high blood glucose levels (hyperglycemia) which can lead to ketoacidosis... if severe, can be life threatening. Although somewhat in denial we also have to face the possibility that Junior could develop life altering complications such as kidney failure, blindness, amputations, etc... not a pleasing thought and we refuse to go there! We have learned that every high and low is not life or death, but still very serious for his health and how he feels. We have definitively learned that Aaron Junior is the strongest and most resilient member of our family. Aaron Junior turned 2 years old on May 6, 2012... he still has a long way to go. We want to thank you for your support and would be honored to see you at the TELUS Walk on June 10th, 2012!!

Veronique, Aaron Sr. & Aaron Junior

http://jdrfca.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.team&eventID=1178&teamID=30859

PLEASE DONATE ONLINE

Aaron JuniorDiagnosed at 12 months