Hi, my name is Ethan and I am diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I was diagnosed on the thirtieth of november 2009 at age 2. I thought at first it would be hard but with all the support I have had from then till now it has been a bit of an adventure. I got diagnosed while my Mum and Dad were in Fiji. I was at home with my sister and my grandma. It was quite late and I was screaming and crying and throwing up all the time. I was also drinking heaps of water. My Grandma had been a nurse so she took me to the hospital and got a babysitter for my sister Isabelle.
When Mum and Dad found out I had Diabetes, they booked the first flight back to Auckland and then one to New Plymouth.
I didn’t really understand what was going on apart from the fact that it was about me.
I can remember one thing when I was in the children's ward. I was stuck in there pretty much all day just watching TV. Hooray! Everyone wants to watch TV, right? Not me. I prefer building with lego and drawing. Luckily I was occasionally allowed to build lego or draw but not very often.
The first diabetic I met was a boy named Cody. He had been diagnosed with diabetes for quite a while. He is one of my best friends.
Some of you are probably wondering ‘What is diabetes?’
Diabetes is when the bodies immune system thinks that the beta cells in the pancreas are germs and the immune system destroys the beta cells. The pancreas and beta cells produce Insulin but without the beta cells the pancreas cannot produce insulin. Whenever you eat most foods they break down into different parts. One of those parts is called Glucose. Most people can just eat food with glucose and their pancreas will produce the insulin for them. The glucose and insulin will produce energy. Then you can go run around or something and burn that energy.
Quite a lot of people in the world think that just because we are diagnosed with diabetes, we can’t do things that normal people can do. That’s not true because I ski and surf and do extreme sports. My everyday life is just like everyone else’s. I got to school,play sport,eat food and all that kinda stuff. I’ll give you a small list of sports I have done and do. Mountain biking, Rugby, Cricket, swimming, skiing, Tai kwon do, tramping and surfing.
Sometimes testing and carb counting can mess up my day a bit, but I can still have fun with everyone. Sometimes I have to leave what i’m doing to go test but I can always come back. This all leads up to one thing: Diabetes will not stop us!
