My son, JJ, was like any other nine year old boy. We live in Georgia and the weather is pretty hot and humid from spring through fall. It was in May that I noticed something was wrong. JJ was outside playing in 98 degree weather and he had a heavy sweater on. He told me he was cold. Over the next week he dropped suddenly 20 pounds! When I asked him what was going on with him, he told me kids were picking on him for being fat, so I assumed he was starving himself. I was trying to get him to eat. We took a trip that weekend to the beach. He refused to eat while out for dinner and when we arrived at the hotel he just looked so sick to me. I had an overwhelming feeling at he was dying. I noticed he kept getting up to go to the bathroom and was drinking a lot of water. Diabetes does not run in either side of his family, so it never entered my mind. I finally told my husband that we had to leave immediately and get him back home to the doctor, which we did! The doctor ran tests and sent us home. As I walked into the door of our home, the phone rang. It was the doctor! She told me to immediately take JJ to the ER and that she was sorry to inform me that he was diabetic. I was shocked! She said his blood sugar was 1,250 and he could go into a coma at any time. I panicked and rushed him to the hospital. He was admitted and stayed for the entire week! They taught me how to take care of his type 1 insulin dependent diabetes. I remember crying and being so scared for him. They came to the conclusion that a virus must of attacked and killed his pancreas and that is how he become diabetic. He is now almost 22 years old and on an insulin pump.

Laurie Morris
Augusta, GA