Positive Profile
Luke Wharram was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on September 13, 2007 at two and a half years of age. Now four years old, Luke is still learning what it is like to live with diabetes, but takes each day without complaint. His parents, David Wharram and Franziska Neumann, share their story of Luke’s diagnosis and adjusting to life with type 1 diabetes.

“Becoming parents has been quite a rough ride for us. Luke was born in New York City, two years after we settled there and started building a design career fairly successfully. His arrival combined with a lack of continued visas for my husband forced us to leave New York and return to London when Luke was seven months old. We were in Spain for a holiday and Luke seemed off the whole ten days. At the end of our trip, he drank huge amounts, which we blamed on the heat and we figured it had maybe all been a bit much! Back home I let him rest lots and figured he’ll come back around. Getting visibly weaker by the day I took him to the doctor and she said his throat looked inflamed and that made him drink lots. I felt like a super bad Mum because I had not noticed anything about his throat, no fever, no hoarse voice. The nurse suggested doing a urine test just in case. The sample was lost and two days later Luke was so weak I became seriously worried. I had to carry him from the living room to the kitchen – absolutely out of character for a little guy who started walking at ten months and usually ran around happily all day. Back to the doctor we went and this time I insisted on the urine test, still not sure about why or what it would do but very sure that the prescription for antibiotics to ease his throat was not what this was about! That night we received a call that said we have to take him to the hospital straight away … “ketones” was a foreign word to me and I had absolutely no idea what we were in for.

At the hospital the nurse visibly felt sorry for us when she said “he will need insulin”, while I was relieved that they knew what would make him better and thought “well, get on with it then and get us out of here” … of course we were there for three days learning how to put needles into our child endless times a day!! Luke was too weak and could barely move with all the drips attached to him. I remember trying to see some positive sign in the circumstances, maybe it is a new beginning for us, but really I felt completely beat and angry as to why parenthood seemed to be full of cruel twists of fate for me when others just get to enjoy it!

It took about six months to get over the initial shock and to get sort of used to the new regime. Of course we stopped sleeping again (Luke sleeps fine!) and sort of had a newborn all over as we couldn’t leave him out of our sight. Three months after his diagnosis we returned to the United States and he is now blossoming wonderfully and we do fully enjoy having a pretty cool kid around!

Tricky parts are wondering about how much we talk to him about the diabetes and what foods to eat or not to eat. We have tried to make the insulin work around whatever his needs are at first but now he is big enough to actually eat a whole piece of chocolate cake, if left to his own devices …
At this point the kids his age also have lots of play dates and the parents take turns looking after the kids. For us it is obviously tricky to just let him be with another parent that does not know diabetes and we haven’t found one yet that would seriously be willing to do a blood test. We will probably have to wait until he will do his own, which I think might be soon, as he sooo wants to be independent. The irony is that even if he did, he is too small to understand what the numbers mean, let alone to be able to read them!!! Another parent with an environmentally sensitive child gave us some great advice: make your house very attractive, so that all the kids come over to you!! She gave us a huge play structure for our garden that her daughter has outgrown …

We have organized a Kids Walk to Cure Diabetes for JDRF at Luke’s nursery and love our local support group for parents with type 1 children. To share with others who experience the same is crucial to us and if there is another way in which we can help, we would love to.

With kind regards,
Franziska Neumann, Luke’s very proud Mum!”

Back from Children’s Congress,
New Mexico Delegate Shares Her Experience

“The 2009 Children's Congress was more incredible than I could have guessed. It was amazing to be in a room filled with kids from all over the country, all with diabetes. I had never seen so many other kids living with diabetes before, and I became emotional because all of these kids knew exactly what I was going through.

The few days we had were jam packed with events which included meeting Nick Jonas and Sugar Ray Leonard. We understood the impact we knew we were making in the Senate hearing. Perhaps one of the most exciting parts though, was on Tuesday morning when we met with President Obama to take pictures. We were the largest group to ever meet with him, 152 kids, and we couldn't hold in our excitement.

President Obama walked across the lawn with a huge smile on his face to greet us, and this feeling of awe and inspiration swept over us. I can't really explain it, but he was amazing in person, and though I didn't actually get to shake his hand (Mary Tyler Moore was standing in front of me), I felt like running down there and thanking him for his support in stem cell research, because I know that when the cure comes, he'll be one of the many people to thank for it.”

Larisa Gearhart
2009 Children’s Congress New Mexico Delegate  

For more information on Chidren’s Congress, please visit www.cc.jdrf.org!    

Positive Profile
Shelby Kord was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on March 9, 1998, when she was only 17 months old. She is now a happy 12 year old, who spends her middle-school days playing the cello and texting her friends. She also tests her blood sugar level every two hours and must teach her teachers, friends and other student at her school about her life with diabetes.

In 2004, Shelby and her family worked together to organize the First Annual Walk to Cure Diabetes in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Since that time, Shelby has been featured in a local newspaper, participated in radio interviews, and has spoken to service organizations about everything she has endured and what she wants to do with her life Ð become an Endocrinologist. Shelby has been one of the top fundraisers every year at the Walk, and hopes to keep that streak alive this year!

Positive Profile
Jonathan Vogel has had Type 1 Diabetes for three years, and he dreams of a cure.  Dreams will only get you so far, and Jonathan is very well aware of that.  In a newspaper article done recently highlighting him and his mission towards a cure, he was quoted saying “You either sit back and wait, or you do something to get it.”

Jonathan first started speaking out about diabetes in 2006 at the Tucson Fathers of the Year Awards Dinner and Gala, and it went so well that they invited him back for the 2007 dinner. His role in the dinners was so moving that $13,000 was donated to the Steele Clinic Angel Wing for Children with Diabetes. He has been speaking and fundraising ever since. He and his family have walked in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes ever since his brother Daniel was diagnosed and has raised almost $25,000 to JDRF.