It's time to walk again to raise money to find a cure for type 1 diabetes, but I haven't sent out any emails yet about the walk! I found this poem that I scribbled down one night last year as I prepared to organize last year's walk team. I'm definitely not a poet, but it still conveys much of what I feel:
Will you walk with me again?
I really hate to ask.
Would it hurt to skip a year?
Should last year be the last?
But then I think of when...
We first learned that life had changed
For precious little Andrew
...Not the life that we had planned.
How every day is fraught with peril
Highs and lows that come so soon
And I think of complications
that always seem to loom...
I think of Kaitlyn and her carefree life
Despite her antibodies.
Despite the oral glucose test that
proves her body's fighting.
I think of the sad look
in the researcher's eyes
As he reminds the stats suggest
it's just a matter of time.
She too will join the ranks of those
Who fight this mighty beast.
She too will poke herself
too many times a day.
Try to plan for each and every thing
that might could come her way.
They count each carb, plan every bite,
and inject for every morsel.
They wear contraptions just to live
as close as they can to normal.
Will you walk with me again?
It really isn't in vain.
They've come so far since
this race for a cure began.
We have good meters and better insulin.
Better pumps and even better
continuous glucose meters.
We're running trials not in mice
but in real, live human beings.
There's even one they hope to use
for people such as Kaitlyn.
One that might stop this disease
Before enough damage is done.
It might not fixed the diagnosed,
But prevent it so there's none.
The artificial pancreas is an aid
for those who wait.
Not a cure. A treatment sure.
One that ends the swings
from highs to lows and
The fear and embarassment they bring.
Less fear when playing, sleeping,
pitching, testing.
No future lows when he is driving.
Less chance of complications coming.
Less change of Andrew dying.
Will you walk with me again?
Yes, research needs the money.
But, will you walk with me again
Just because we need YOU coming?
It's our 4th walk
So we're old pros.
But we don't want to be.
The fear set in that this is just
how it's going to be.
No breaks in sight. Not one night
When we know for sure
he'll be alright.
It's not that we haven't learned
The tools and tricks to cope.
We count, measure, calculate
and know just how to dose.
He can go dangerously low
without much adrenalin from me.
Just another story and a dose of reality.
Andrew is amazing.
My little hero man.
He handles all of this as well
as any young man can.
We're not pathetic. We're okay.
I'm not telling a lie.
It's just tiring and lonely.
We're thankful for our friends.
Will you say a prayer for
Kaitlyn and Andrew?
Will you walk with us again?
Thank you!
