I absolutely love our JDRF coffee meetings in my area! I've had the opportunity to meet some really wonderful people that "get it".
Today, I met a woman with an 18 yr. old that was just diagnosed this past Sept. She is a mess worrying about the "what if's": how will she wear a pump on her wedding day someday, how will she keep safe at college in the fall, will she be able to have a safe pregnancy some day, will she always take care of herself..... She mentioned that her daughter actually asked her, "Mom, What if I don't wake up tomorrow?". This is something that hit all of us to the core. I started crying and the other moms were tearing up. I spoke up and told her that she is not alone in this; we are all walking the same journey as her and we "get it". We all have the same fears.
We discussed stem cell research and the JDRF walk. Since I don't agree with embryonic stem cell research, I learned that you're able to designate where you want the money to go from the walk. You can specify that you do not want the funds to be put towards the embryonic stem cell research fund.
A man brought up life insurance. Evidently, it's harder for type 1 diabetics to get life insurance and it's more expensive. I never thought of getting life insurance for our children. It would definitely be cheaper to get a whole life insurance policy when kids are younger.
For those of you that are thinking of taking vacations this summer to amusement parks, be sure to check in with Guest Services when you get there. Sometimes they give diabetics the opportunity to go to the front of the ride lines.
For you prayer warriors, please pray for parents that are struggling with disobedient diabetic children. Pray that the kids will come to realize that they have to stop sneaking food. Pray that their bodies will be protected from the abuse. We have a woman in our group that has been struggling for over a year with her 11 yr. old daughter. This mom is at her breaking point and just doesn't know what to do.
This was a wonderful meeting and I feel so blessed to have the opportunity to meet up with other parents of diabetic children.
It's always so encouraging to meet with others who understand our lives so well. This is encouraging to hear because we are working to start JDRF coffee groups in the area where I live.
ReplyDeleteWe also just went through the whole life insurance issue and it is true. My husband changed jobs so we needed to get a policy for both of us until his insurance kicked in at the new job. They offered a rider policy to add on to mine for the kids. After answering preliminary medical questions, my daughter who has T1D was specifically denied from the policy. Now I know it is only life insurance and I pray we never have to use that for either of our children, but it was still so sad to know that at only the age of 6 they saw her risk of dying as being too high and would not insure her. We were still able to get a policy for our son and I highly recommend it to all. It guarantees that even if he is diagnosed with T1D or anything else that this policy can convert to a regular policy when he is an adult no medical questions asked.