#RealT1DLyfe Liz’s Story: Finding New Solutions while Caring for a Child with Type 1 Diabetes

Throughout my life diabetes had been an illness I knew little about and was fortunate enough not to have experienced myself or through loved ones. That all changed in 2011, when my oldest of four boys (David) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of 9. As a family we were overwhelmed, scared, and uneducated about the disease. As a mother, my first thought was, “What can I do to help my child?” I knew all the emotions I was feeling and could only try to imagine the thoughts that were running through my child’s young head. Immediately my stoic side came out, trying to calm this frightening situation. This was all new territory for us. The only absolute was to provide love, support, and willingness to learn everything I could about this new disease that just struck our family.

Although I do not live with the disease personally, anyone who has a loved one affected by this terrible burden knows that management is not solely the responsibility of the individual diagnosed– especially when it is a child. Inherently as a mother you worry. Add that to that the worry of a child living with a chronic disease, and suddenly the threshold is increased to a whole new level. It is with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Throughout the course of adjusting to our new lifestyle of insulin injections, carb counting, and blood glucose tests, I soon realized there was a missing component in the testing routine. A clean, simple solution to safely remove the excess blood left on the finger after testing sugar levels. Testing his blood anywhere from 6-10 times a day was the norm. Inevitably, David would wipe the blood either on his clothes or the inside of his case. After searching the marketplace, without success of finding a product for this unmet need, I took matters into my own hands. Being passionate about helping the diabetes community, I conceived, patented, and developed Diabetic Dabs®; booklets of absorbent sheets designed with an adhesive backing to attach to any testing kit.

My goal is to help families such as mine simplify managing diabetes and hopefully inspire others to act where shortfalls present themselves. We are all in this together; being a member of this community, our mission is to eradicate this horrible disease.

There is no stress-free way to handle the responsibilities, the highs, the lows, and emotions that come along with diabetes. However, there is a way to take control—and that is through mindset. I felt it was my responsibility as a parent to teach David that mindset determines your path in life. Mindset and perspective can turn a positive situation negative or a negative situation positive. Sometimes life throws curve balls at us—and it is in those moments that we decide how we will handle them. My goal is to empower those in the diabetes community to have a voice and make a difference!

Get real with T1D! #RealLyfe