One day when you don t have to think about it. At least, Gallagher points out, the shots are not as painful as they were when he was a youngster. Also, when he took blood-sugar tests in the past, he got the results three weeks later. Now, with the new kits, he gets the result in 45 seconds. Courtney was one of the first children in medical history to be pre-diagnosed for diabetes, giving scientists a unique opportunity to watch the disease as it developed.
Many children suffer from a sudden attack.
For a week or two they are very sick, and then, if not treated properly, the attack can be fatal, as it was for a diabetic San Diego teenager several years ago when her doctor continued to treat her illness as if it were flu. A simple test for ketones might have saved her life. My daughter is part of a research program at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston in which they found out that years prior to the development of diabetes, the antibodies start to attack. It s a slow attack, so they re eating away at those insulin-producing beta cells. All of a sudden something triggers a massive onslaught of these antibodies, and they destroy the rest of the pancreas.