Reader comments
Kids with diabetes: Families learn to control blood sugar to avoid complications

Bless your heart, Joshua, I'm pulling for you! I have type 2, and it's no picnic. At least you know you have it. Some people don't, so they don't have a chance to try to control their eating and other habits. Let's all get on board and work for a cure. Especially for the young ones. I can't imagine going thru childhood with this desease. Don't give up, Josh.

Such a horrible disease! My son was diagnosed at age 7. He has the pump too, which he likes a lot better then shots. I keep telling son that he has to stay well and live a long time so that he can one day find a cure for it! :-)

My son was diagnosed with Type 1 in 2006 at the ripe age of 10. I admire parents who handle this horrible disease with little children, it is a lot of work. My son fortunatly has done an awesome job at monitoring his glucose and handling all of the pokes.

Type 1 did not run in our family either. The article did not mention that this is an autoimmune disease. In the past year my husband came down with a hyperthyroid and my 2 year old came down with Juvenile Arthritis. These are all autoimmune diseases, presenting themselves in various forms. With autoimmune diseases the body attacks itself. In type 1 the body is attacking the pancrease, with Hyperthyroid the body attacks the thyroid, and with Juvenile Arthritis the body attacks the joints. Researchers do not know the cause, but know part is genetic and part is environmental. Living with autoimmune diseases is not easy, especially with little children. We pray for a cure someday! It would be a wonderful thing to live in a world without pokes.

How to make a donation to Joshua�s Sugar Babies and the JDRF Walk To Cure Diabities.

Go to the JDRF Web site.
Click on the word �Donate� in the center of the page under Get Involved
Under �Support A Walker� enter the following information:
First Name � Joshua
Last Name � Black
Team Name � Joshua�s Sugar Babies
State � Utah
Click on �Find Walker�
Click on Joshua Black
Click on the green, �Donate Now� box in the right center of the page or the �Donate to This Walker� box in the left center.
Enter your information as displayed.
Click continue.

You can either take care of your self now, or you can thumb your nose at this disease by eating whatever you want, and end up and end like my brother who is dying from kidney failure. If you learn to take care of yourself you can really live a normal life. YOu can also expect a long life if you are vigilant. My brother has always eaten candy and sugar. He hated the fact that he was a diabetic and so he refused to do what he should. Now he is dying of kidney failure and he is 32. It is beyond sad because he has 3 little kids.
Diabetes forces a young child to grow up a little before they might have wanted to. However, if they are willing to do what they need to do live with Diabetes, then the road is not so hard to travel.

We are Joshua's grandparents, Carrie's parents. This disease has been difficult for Josh, and for all of us. We pray that someday a cure will be found. We are proud of Jeff and Carrie, this has been very difficult for them, and they do a wonderful job taking care of him. We all depend a lot on our Heavenly Father to get Josh through each day, safe and happy. Bill and I, and his other grandparents, Burk and Chris help as often as we can to tend the boys, so that Carrie and Jeff can have a break. Joshua can not be left with babysitters because they do not know how to care for his needs. If you feel in your heart that you can contribute to JDRF, and help to find a cure for this teribble disease, we would truly be grateful. Our hearts go out to all of the children that suffer from diabetes.

My father was 50 when my parents found out he had Type 2. Currently he is 91 and doing pretty good, considering other health events in his life. I am now 52 and have had Type 2 for 4 years. I am not perfect on my diet, but I drink water only (some milk) and really hit hard on reducing all sugars that I can. But the carbs are what is my battle as I enjoy whole wheat breads, etc. Exercise is key, and the fact that I like to roller blade helps. I had 48 years without this in my life, and I can't image what Type 1 would be like for the young and their families. Keep it up Joshua.

For those of us affected by diabetes, check out this great website diabeticconnect.com You will find helpful advice, recipes, ideas, to make life with diabetes a little easier.

My heart went out to this boy, Joshua Black who is only six and has had 8500 plus finger pokes since being diagnosed with diabetes three years ago. He is tired of it but thankfully, he and his parents are determined to continue on with this to prevent complications. Please send my sympathy and admiration for this family on their courageous effort to carry on.

Evelyn Guzman

My son also has T1 diabetes and my greatest hope comes from reading the information about the human trials at Mass Gen Hosp relating to the work by Dr Denise Faustman at Harvard University. Her research has resulted in some amazing breakthroughs and she has cured diabetic mice whose blood is closest to human blood. Mass Gen Hospital is now running human trials to see if the cure works for humans. Please God this work will be successful and our kids will be able to say "when I used to have diabetes..."

I have had diabetes for 29 years. I am type 1 and a girl. Management of diabetes has improved. I wish I had a pump during my two pregnancies. I try to live a normal life, but it takes a lot of hard work. My parents expected me to do my own carb counting, injections, monitoring, and exercise at the old age of 10. If I did a bad job, I suffered the consequences. I have learned to seek for God's help to know how to deal with this. I have seen God's help. My pregnancies were hard, but keeping myself healthy so I can raise my sons right takes constant dedication. The technology is available to monitor your blood without poking your finger, but my doctor said that I am not sick enough to prescribe the supplies for that because it is extremely expensive. I am a mom, wife, elementary ed. teacher, church worker, neighbor, sister, daughter, aunt, & friend. I work hard for good health and I want what is available. I am looking forward to the future. Believe me, I can feel my sore fingers as I work.

I've had type I diabetes for 10 years now, and my brother has had it for 7 years, and it is a struggle for both of us. I am lucky and work at the Utah Diabetes Center with Dr. Murray and the other doctors, what amazing people they are. Even though none of them are my doctors, they still watch out for me and help me when I need it.

As for the question can Type I diabetics be pilots, the answer is no. My brother wanted to be a commercial pilot and they told him that because he has type I that he cannot be a commercial pilot. If Joshua still wants a pilots license, he can get a private pilots license.