By Suzanne Rhodes
Official Kids Mag
It's the evening of March 22, 2021, and
Kyler is sick—very sick. He can't keep
anything down, which makes Kim, his
mom, think he has a stomach bug. He
wakes up several times during the night
to drink water. In the morning, he's
stumbling and dizzy. His speech is slurred
and his breathing is quick and shallow.
Something's terribly wrong! Kim calls
the doctor for an appointment but the
office isn't open yet. Suddenly Kyler is
unresponsive. He's gone into a condition
called DKA, as his mom will soon learn.
DKA stands for diabetic ketoacidosis. I'll
explain that in a minute. For now, let's
see what happened with Kyler.
Kim rushed him to the emergency
room where doctors diagnosed him
with "new onset of diabetes"—more
specifically, it would be identified as
Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). They called
for Angel One, the helicopter used
by Arkansas Children's Hospital for
medical emergencies, but Kyler doesn't
remember riding in the helicopter. At the
hospital, he remained in DKA for several
hours but when he came around, the
first thing he did was ask the nurse for
pizza!
Ten-year-old Kyler from Harrison is our
Kid Hero because it takes a lot of tough
stuff to be told you have T1D.
"I explained to him what happened,"
Kim said, "how he was flown to Little
Rock and diagnosed with Type 1
Diabetes and what that looked like for
him for the rest of his life." This would
mean close monitoring of daily activities,
cutting back on sugar, and getting at
least four injections of insulin a day. "We
prayed about it, hugged, and he told
me he knew we would figure it all out
and that I would take good care of him.
Kyler has been such a trooper since his
diagnosis. While we were in the hospital,
it was just me and him. I told him he
could feel free to get out how he was
feeling—sad, angry, cry, yell … whatever
he needed to do."
What do you think he did? What
would you have done? Kim explained
that "he looked at me and told me he
was seriously okay. At 10 years old he
was concerned with making his chronic
diagnosis harder on ME. As a family we
deal with anything and everything with a
sense of humor." She went on to say that
no matter what the situation is, "if you
can find a reason, a way to laugh about
it, you'll be able to get through it with a
kind of grace you might wouldn't have
without a sense of humor. His brothers
have stepped up to keep on eye on
him since his diagnosis. (Kyle has a twin
brother and fivel other siblings.) They
know the seriousness of it, but they'll
'There's
worse
things than
diabetes'
Kyler's an awesome role model
for kids with health problems
Resources for Parents of Diabetic Kids
Washington County Regional Medical Center – Diabetes Education
https://www.wregional.com/main/diabetes-education
American Diabetes Association
https://www.diabetes.org/
Parents of Type 1 Diabetics Facebook Group (ask to join)
https://www.facebook.com/groups/165620186816092
42 • July 2021 • www.OfficialKidsMag.com
