November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. A 2022 study indicated that 37.3 million people have the disease. That number includes 244,000 children and adolescents.
To help get a better understanding of the diseases, especially T1D, we wanted to give some insight into the daily life of a child diagnosed with the disease and how it impacts their family and every facet of their life. To do that, I asked my little friend Zadie Kaye Bates and her mom and dad, Amanda and Robb Bates. Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease in which insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas are mistakenly destroyed by the body’s immune system. T1D seems to have a genetic component. It occurs in children and adults. Its causes are not fully known, and there is currently no cure. People with T1D are dependent on injected or pumped insulin to survive. The day the Bates family got the news, January 21,2019, was the day that changed their life, and in a way, the life of everyone in their family, and everyone who knows them. Of that day, Amanda says, “We were lost, fearful of the unknown, shattered.
We both had no idea we would be having to travel to Little Rock that night. When he told us we would be going to Little Rock we thought he meant like scheduling an appointment with them in the next week or so, but he looked at us and said ‘no, you’re going tonight, like right now.’ That hit us like a ton of bricks. We knew then our life would never be the same. I remember vividly getting in my car, gripping the steering wheel crying out to God for whatever the next few days held for Him to make it as easy and painless as possible for her. If I’m being honest I questioned him out loud and asked why my baby girl? Why my 3-year-old innocent angel baby? I questioned a lot but trusted his plan and knew he would carry us through it. And he has.”
From that very first day, life for the Bates family took a new course. Mom and dad tell us, “Since that day in January of 2019 our life hasn’t been the same. We don’t leave the house without all of our diabetes supplies in our diabetes bag, low blood sugar supplies, a fanny pack on her with her PDM and phone in it and extra insulin pumps and Dexcoms. My first thought in the morning and my last thought at night revolve around type 1, counting every carb, watching her blood sugar numbers constantly and praying when we close our eyes at night that her numbers don’t plummet. Type 1 is just a part of us now.”
Zadie Kaye too has learned much about the disease that changed her life, and though just a toddler when she was first diagnosed, she has a keen understanding of the impacts on her life and on the lives of those around her. Through all of the hardships she has not let it slow her down and is an active student at school and a top prize winner in the show ring, this year with her Beefmaster Jolene.
She says, “I have had T1D since I was 3 years old, I have never known a life without type one, but wish I could remember what it felt like to not have it. I have to count carbs and give myself insulin through my PDM every time I eat something, I have to treat my lows, and dose myself for when I get too high.”
Thankfully, Zadie Kaye has a support system, wherever she may be. Aside from mom and dad, grandparents and other family members, she relies on the kindness and love of her friends. When asked if she had friends that helped her, she said, “Yes, Madi, Payten and Paisley always check on me, walk with me to my Grammy’s room to get insulin and help me when I have sugar lows.”
Grammy is James Bowie ISD teacher Tammy Meadows. While at school ZK also has her Grumps close by in Simms FFA Ag teacher Michael Meadows. Zadie Kaye says school days can be a challenge. She says of the challenges at school, “Having to get dosed with insulin every time I eat something. I have to get up and get drinks and something to eat when I have sugar lows no matter if it’s in the middle of a test or a lesson or something fun. I also have to stop playing in PE a lot because of lows and can’t participate in everything the other kids can. I can’t eat the treats for class parties until I get dosed with insulin and if I get really low, I feel really bad and have to sit in my Grammy’s room until my sugar comes up.”
You might think that all she has had to go through in the last five years could have made Zadie Kaye sullen and left her family at a loss, but the truth is just the opposite.
One only has to be around ZK for a few minutes or see the daily morning pictures on social media to know that she is a little girl full of life and an ever- present smile. And they all have words of wisdom for others who are dealing with the disease now, or those who might be experience that “first day” like they did.
Amanda says, “If I had any advice for any parents of a newly diagnosed child I would promise them that it does get better, the shots get easier, the carb counting gets less complicated and the fear of the unknown becomes the fear of the known. I would tell them that their job never stops, to get used to never sleeping all night ever again, to find a family that has a type one child and cling onto them, to get involved in the JDRF walks, to join every T1D parent Facebook group and most of all, PRAY, PRAY AND BELIEVE THAT THE CURE IS COMING.”
Zadie Kaye also offers words of hope. She says, “I would tell them that type 1 isn’t always painful, it gets better, and you will get tougher. To definitely get an insulin pump as soon as you can and to always eat healthy and listen to what your parents say to do!”
While there is no cure for Type 1 diabetes, there are causes for hope. Researchers say there are significant advances being made in the search for a cure including those in the area of stem cell therapy, immunotherapies and even artificial pancreas systems.
For Zadie Kaye and the Bates family, there is hope, and a focus.
Amanda states, “Our long-range goal and hope and truth we seek is that God is curing her, we speak it, we believe it and we know that she won’t have to deal with this forever. Our faith has grown tremendously through her diagnosis, and it continues to ground us in our fight against T1D.”
