Livin On A Prayer

I am one that appreciates good music. I enjoy all types of music...just as long as it is good. I often pull lyrics from some of my favorite songs and post them as inspiration on Facebook. I guess the reason that these songs are my favorites are because of the lyrics. Confusing....I know, but try to follow. Anyway, Bon Jovi's "Livin' On A Prayer" has a verse in it that really spoke to me one day.

"We have to hold on'
Ready or not,
We live for the fight,
When that's all that we got"

There is NO cure for Juvenile Diabetes...or at least not yet. So everyday there are children with Juvenile Diabetes, that wake up and have to fight this disease, because that is all that they got. While these children fight this disease, there are mothers that worry and fathers that feel as if they are helpless in protecting their children. I know this, because this is where Heather and I are at.

My view point is much different than most fathers of children with Juvenile Diabetes because I too have Juvenile Diabetes. I know how Micheala feels when her blood sugars are off, I share her frustration when everyone is eating cake and other sweets and she cannot have any and when she has to take time out from playing to check her blood sugars. Heather and I both worry when we are not within an arms distance of Micheala. Sending her to school and to daycare is nerve racking, but we have learned to trust those people that care for her in those places. We get frustrated when friends and family members seem to "just not get it" when it comes to her diabetes, but have also learned to understand that this is something they don't deal with on a day-to-day basis like we do.

Like most parents of diabetic children, we wake up in the morning and don't know what the day has in store for us in regards to diabetes. Is her pump site good today? Is she getting enough insulin for her food intake? How much is she going to play today and how will that effect her blood sugars? Questions that we cannot answer until they happen.

The one thing that I am sure of everyday is that we still have diabetes and we have to fight and advocate for a cure! So we choose to fight! We choose to advocate! We choose to fund raise! We choose to do these things because it's all that we got.

So my message today goes to all of the kids like Bryce, Celia, Ellie, Taylor and Micheala. It also goes to the parents of those children. KEEP FIGHTING! We will have a cure someday and we can put all of this behind us and start living the lives we were meant to live.