Caring for your family is a value that is universal amongst our patients. We care about our family and especially those who are most vulnerable — the youngest ones. When Maria started to notice her son, Ulisses drinking more and more water she thought it was odd, but wasn’t immediately concerned. 

Type 1 diabetes, formerly known as Juvenile Diabetes, is a condition where the pancreas makes little or no insulin. There is no cure and is a daunting reality for many kids and their families. There is a constant balance that needs to be made with every decision that is taken. 

Maria had to learn the ins and outs of this condition in order to care for her youngest son. “It’s difficult to cook for him because he doesn’t like vegetables or salads,” said Maria. 

Ulisses started drinking tons of water and urinated more frequently. He would get sick more often and lost a significant amount of weight in a short period of time. Maria took him to his pediatrician, but while in peak Covid-19 they chalked up his symptoms to that. Time and time again Maria noticed changes in her son’s health that seemed odd, but every time she took him to the doctor, they told her he was fine.  

“When he started having his sugar very high, he would vomit and that’s when they told me that it was because of Covid — but I knew it wasn’t that because he couldn’t even hold his head up. I told them I was going to take him to the hospital and my oldest daughter, and I took him, and his blood sugar was up to 500. He looked like he was fainting on our way to the hospital and when we got there, he was taken to the intensive care unit, and we were there for 3 days. That’s one of the reasons why I started coming here because they just wouldn’t listen to me over there,” said Maria. 

LCH has been here for Maria and her son when they felt like no one else was listening. LCH has provided care not only in with Ulisses’s diabetes but also with his mental health. “He learned how to manage his diabetes right away. I make his food, but he knows what he should and shouldn’t be eating…He also came here for therapy because in the beginning he didn’t want to talk about it — he didn’t want anybody to talk about it. Now he can say that he has diabetes but before he couldn’t and would cry about it,” said Maria. 

It’s been difficult to adapt to this new way of life for everyone in Ulisses’s family but they’re learning and LCH is here to help. If you for someone you know needs services call 610.444.7550. If you would like to learn more about Type 1 diabetes click here: https://www.jdrf.org/ or here: https://diabetes.org/