At the age of 15 months he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, which typically strikes children and teenagers. Every three months he and his mother visit a health department clinic in Pikeville, Kentucky, for consultation with specialists from the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine in Lexington. For almost 20 years, its staff has conducted a traveling clinic to help families in eastern Kentucky and nearby rural areas to manage a once-fatal disease. Type 1 diabetes affects about one in 600 children and teenagers nationwide, according to the American Diabetes Association. Although no cure is known, the disease is manageable through careful attention to diet and regular injections of insulin.
Diabetes management is a demanding and never-ending process.
Patients must check blood sugar levels several times per day. Hurley recalls many incidents like this in Jason's childhood. The next thing, he'd be passed out. On the advice of her local physician, she made the four-hour drive to Lexington to consult with C. Charlton Mabry, M.D., at the University of Kentucky. As it happened, Mabry had already taken the lead in addressing the human and monetary costs of inadequate care for young diabetic patients.