Local girl part of diabetes awareness effort

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August 10, 2010

Anonymous Meadville Tribune The Meadville Tribune Tue Aug 10, 2010, 07:00 AM EDT

MEADVILLE — It was a cry for help in the middle of the night. Immediately, Kathy Christ knew something was wrong. What, exactly, she had yet to find out. As she made her way to the family’s living room, she discovered a sight no mother ever wants to encounter. Her then-9-year-old daughter, Amanda, was lying under the coffee table, dragging the left side of her body and slurring her speech. She was having a seizure induced by her struggles with Type-1 diabetes.

“I thought Amanda was having a stroke,” Christ said. “That was the most frightening night of our lives.”

Christ checked her daughter’s blood sugar, and the levels were frighteningly low. The incident led Amanda to wear an insulin pump. It was one of myriad challenges the family has faced since Amanda was diagnosed with diabetes in August 2007.

Now, Amanda has been invited by Fraternal Order of Eagles Grand Worthy President Mike Lagervall and Grand Madam President Jean Kerr to attend the organization’s International Convention in Louisville, Aug. 16 to 19. While there, she will speak to the membership about her struggles with diabetes as part of the Eagles’ pledge to donate $25 million to the University of Iowa for The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center. The Eagles are currently in the second year of a five-year effort to raise the money. It won’t be used for buildings. The funds will hire researchers dedicated solely to finding a cure for the disease, which affects about 24 million Americans.

As part of the campaign, the 850,000 Eagles members across the United States and Canada were invited to send in stories of struggles with diabetes involving themselves or their relatives. Amanda’s grandmother sent in Amanda’s story, and it had such an impact that she was invited to speak at the convention.

Following Amanda’s seizure incident in June 2009, the Meadville native began a quest to find the best way to live a normal life while managing a disease that requires constant attention.

“It’s frustrating sometimes, because I can’t do certain things,” she said. “I went on a school trip to the Carnegie Science Center, but it kind of made me mad because they were thinking about not letting me go.”

Like many childhood diabetes sufferers, Amanda has unfortunately become accustomed to such treatment. Schools are reluctant to allow her to travel on field trips without the company of a nurse or her mother. If neither is available, Amanda must stay behind at the school. If her blood sugar levels are slightly off, she is forced to sit while the other kids play sports.

Even when perfectly managed, the complications of diabetes sometimes dog the youngster.

“My sugar can get low or too high and then I have to sit out for like half of the game so I can get it under control,” Amanda said. “That’s frustrating because I really like sports and I don’t like sitting out at all.”

Amanda’s diagnosis was the product of her mother’s keen eye and observation. Amanda had begun to appear thinner. Her ribs, hips and shoulder blades became more and more prominent as Kathy began to worry. Following a two-week stay with her father in State College, Kathy knew something was wrong.

“I was shocked,” Christ said. “Once we returned home, I made an appointment with the family doctor. A couple days later, I received a telephone call at work. It was the doctor and he wanted me to bring Amanda into the office immediately. They did a urinalysis at the office and the doctor came back into the room with the terrible news that Amanda was in ketoacidosis.” Ketoacidosis is a potentially deadly condition caused by extremely low levels of insulin.

She began on four shots of insulin per day and had to test her blood sugar six to eight times per day. The people around Amanda suddenly changed, frightened by the thought of what could happen in her presence.

“Amanda’s babysitter didn’t want to take care of her anymore after she was diagnosed,” Christ said. “Some of her friends at school no longer wanted to play with her or invite her to birthday parties.”

Amanda’s struggles aren’t foreign to the Christ family. Her great-grandfather, grandmother (a longtime Eagle) and mother each suffer from diabetes. While being a fourth-generation diabetic can help with managing the scientific aspects of the disease, the emotional trauma associated is new to the Christ family as Amanda is the first to suffer from Type 1 diabetes.

With the help of the Eagles and the Diabetes Research Center, Amanda hopes to return to living life as just another kid. Through extensive dedication to diabetes research, it is hoped that one day children born with Type 1 like Amanda can live without seizures, ridicule or condescending treatment.

“I would want to get the cure,” Amanda said. “I wouldn’t want to just live with this for the rest of my life.”

Did you know?

The Fraternal Order of Eagles Diabetes Research Center will be housed at the John and Mary Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building on the campus of The University of Iowa in Iowa City. The state-of-the-art center will host leaders in the field of diabetes research in an effort to find a cure for the disease. The FOE has pledged to donate $25 million over a five-year period to help with research efforts. About 24 million Americans have diabetes.

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Local girl part of diabetes awareness effort

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