Sweetkidz Support Group

SUPPORT GROUP

Have you got a story to share? Then do it here! Simply click on the link that says
'Say Your Story Here' and get started! And if you don't have one, try reading other's stories and get inspired! Also read about Elizabeth, one of the first humans to be injected with Insulin!...

Click on the photographs below to read the stories by the child in the photo. Please note that the stories in this section were not subjected to editing to retain the character of the writers.

Maram

"On 17th September of the year 1999, 4 days after my 8th birthday, I was diagnosed with diabetes and that was the start of my journey with diabetes, which has taken eleven years now . Two months after they noticed some symptoms of diabetes, my parents took me to a clinic, and there they tested the glucose in my blood and urine. After eating, my sugar level was above 500 and fasting blood glucose was 260, and it was clear that I am diabetic. I was then transferred to Alwasl Hospital; I was admitted and stayed there for 32 days.

I still remember every detail of the 17th of September. I can never forget the look on my parents' faces when the result of my tests came out. My dad held my hand; I saw the tears, the shock, but also the strength in his eyes; my mom, who was standing in front of me at the door, looked so pale...she was so shocked. For a second she seemed to have doubts but a woman near her said “It’s alright, it goes.. she will be okay”. At that moment I didn’t know what diabetes meant- I thought it was something more like the flu or a cold, and I didn’t understand why it seemed like a big deal for them! But I still kept smiling, because I wanted my parents to become okay. Later on that afternoon, I went to Al Wasl hospital. Frankly I was happy; it was the beginning of a new school year, so I saw this as an opportunity to not go to school! And as I wanted to become a doctor I was very interested in all that was happening to me. By the second week I learned to take my insulin injections all by myself. I will never forget the first phrase my mother and the nurses told me- they said, “Diabetes is your friend for life; it will always stay with you, but you need to take care of it in order for everything to be just fine.” I believe in this phrase and I live with it every day.

I must say it wasn’t an easy journey -not for me, not for my parents or family. There were a lot of ups and downs during these many years, but with faith and believing in fate I was able to go on with my life in a great way. I think of diabetes very positively, I take it as a motivation rather than a disease. I consider diabetes as one of my characteristics that had developed in me over the years.

I joined Sweetkidz group a year after I was diagnosed, and now I am a volunteer working with them, educating and helping people who have diabetes.

Now I’m 18 years old, I go to American University of Sharjah and I’m majoring in public relations in media (Mass Communication). Being diabetic had helped me in choosing this major, because when I used to make speeches on diabetes, I found that public relations was something that I’d love to study! And so here I am majoring in something that I like, and in this diabetes was my motivation.

Something that I’d love to tell everyone is that you should never lose hope, always cling to faith, and diabetes will greatly teach you how to be patient."

Maram, a Sweet Kidz volunteer

Hamad al Hossani

Hamad

"My diabetes came as a shock to my whole family, as the disease was discovered by accident. My mother thought that I might be suffering from infection of the urine and that that my going to the bathroom often was because of it. So I went to the clinic where they ran several tests on my blood and urine. The next day the result was ready but my mother had to go to work, so I went with my grandfather and grandmother to the clinic to check the result. The result showed that I have diabetes and my blood sugar had reached 400. We were directed to a hospital. My grandfather contacted my mother and told her about my problem. She got excused from her work and came to the hospital quickly, to find that I had been transferred to the children's ward .When she saw me she hugged me and started crying and I cried too. I was upset with the frequent blood testing and my mother was, too, but when she understood the situation she accepted it. I stayed in the hospital for eight days, and the doctor and nurse trained my mother on how to give insulin injections. My mother was afraid of needles and couldn’t do it at first , but she did it for me. We learnt that the disease will stay with me for a lifetime. Day by day, I got used to the needle pricks, and my mother would always tell me: ‘For every prick of a needle you will get some reward from God”. So the days passed. By that time my little brother got diabetes too and my mother had to handle both of us. My mom noticed that his appetite had increased suddenly, so she examined his blood sugar at home and his blood sugar was then 400. He was only a year and half, and my mother was very sad again because my brother was very little and he did not like needle pricks. My little brother’s journey with needles and injections began as well. One day we learnt about insulin pens rather than needles, and my mother took us both to the Khalifa Hospital where we were admitted for three days until our blood sugar was controlled. We used the insulin pens for some time, and then we started using insulin pumps. I believe we were among the first to use pumps .Now I have been using the pump for almost two and a half years. My mother and I together learnt how to install, change and calculate the amount of carbohydrates in my food . Now I am 9 years old and I live my life with ease. I have joined Al Waheda club to practice my favorite sport, football. My little brother’s life has become easier too and now he plays football as well. My mother keeps telling us: Thank God that we still have a lot of things that many other people don’t have."

One of the first humans injected with insulin

"Elizabeth Hughes Gossett (August 19, 1907-April 21, 1981) the daughter of U.S. Politician Charles Evans Hughes, was one of the first humans injected with insulin.

Elizabeth Hughes was born August 19, 1907 in New York State to Antoinette Carter and Charles Evans Hughes, who was then Governor of New York. Elizabeth had a normal and healthy childhood, but at 11 years of age she began exhibiting symptoms of diabetes and became weak and lethargic.

She was treated initially by Dr. F.M. Allen at his special clinic, the Physiatrist Institute in Morristown, New Jersey. The only available treatment was a starvation regimen. Dr. Allen put Elizabeth on a strict diet and continued to monitor her condition over the next three years, while she lived at home with a private nurse. By the winter of 1921-22 her health was deteriorating seriously; she was 14 years old and weighed just 52 pounds (23kg). Elizabeth was clearly losing her battle with her illness.

Around this time, experiments on animals in Toronto had proven promising, and showed that blood glucose normalization was possible after injecting a pancreatic extract called “insulin”. In 1922 Elizabeth’s mother contacted the Canadian doctor Frederick Banting in Toronto, and they came to Toronto in August 1922.Elizabeth began receiving the insulin from Dr. Banting twice a day. She immediately knew that this new medication had brought her back from the edge and given her a new lease of life. Elizabeth wrote to her father, describing her experience, “Oh, they are simply too wonderful for words, those injections!”

Elizabeth's health continued to improve with the insulin treatment. She returned to school in 1923 and graduated from Barnard College in 1929. Elizabeth’s progress was straightforward, but no one knew what dosage of insulin was appropriate and what the side effects were.

In 1930 she married William T. Gossett. They lived in Bloomfield, Michigan and had two daughters and a son.

Elizabeth Gossett was active in civic affairs in the Detroit area. She was a member of the board of trustees of Barnard College, one of the founding trustees of Oakland College, Rochester, a member of the Detroit Urban League, as well as a volunteer at the Merrill-Palmer Institute and at Michigan State University. She was best known as the founder of the Supreme Court Historical Society in 1972 and served as its president until 1979.

Elizabeth Gossett died of pneumonia on April 21, 1981 at the age of seventy-three. Few of her friends or associates knew of her diabetic condition. The Hughes Gossett Awards, presented by the Supreme Court Historical Society, are named in her honor."

Afra Belhoul

Afra

"It was a week before the middle of Shaa'ban Celebration, the Layla. I was about five years old, and I remember running around our house with my cousins in the gowns our parents made us for the celebration. Although I was suffering from having to urinate a lot, losing a lot of weight, and continuously being thirsty, it didn't dampen my excitement. I complained to my mom every night before I went to bed, but it did not at first occur to my mom that this was something serious. My mom is a doctor, however, and pretty soon she grew concerned about the abnormal behavior of my body. We went to the Pharmacy to get a urine sugar test done. I remember sitting next to my mom in a hospital waiting room a few hours later. That day, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

As we sat in the hospital room, I saw my mother cry and my aunt talking her through it, and my father, nowhere to be seen… because of the fuss, confusion, and no one explaining to me what was happening, I expected the worst… death. I thought I was dying. The day after-it was the middle of the Shaa'ban celebration- my mother told me I could go out and eat what ever I wanted. I believe she could read the frustration on my face. I remember my mother singing lullabies to me before I was covered up in the hospital-bed sheets, with the "robot", as I called it, connected to me through the needle on my hand. I remember eating eggs, toast and orange juice every day for breakfast, and watching the cartoon "Madeline" every afternoon at 3:00 pm.

On the last day of my hospital stay, I could not help but ask my mother if I was dying. As a tear ran down my mother’s cheek, she assured me that I was not dying. She told me that this was just a new way for me to live and view my life. Before I was discharged from hospital, the staff members made it clear that I could NOT eat any sugars what-so-ever, which was definitely not true.

Reading through a lot of books, my mother and I developed a new way of living life… eating what ever I wanted , but with an appropriate dose of insulin to compensate. After years of looking behind juice boxes for carbohydrate content details, and remembering to inject myself before every snack or meal, I am now on an insulin pump and living life like any other 13 year old teenager.

Dear parents, although at the time of diagnosis, it might seem like you're the only person who needs to understand the situation, your child is wondering too- and even though you might think it’s impossible to live with it, anything can be perfected sooner or later."

Kidz Zone
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