View full sizePaul and Kathy MacBride stand with their son Graham, who was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes when he was 16 months old.BAY CITY — When her 16-month-old son, Graham, was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, Kathy MacBride was shocked.
“It took me a long time to recover, quite honestly, there was a lot of sadness,” said MacBride, 45, of Essexville. “The fact that you know that life is never going to be the same. It’s never normal.”
But MacBride said she and her husband Paul took on the challenge of educating themselves about the disease and on Sept. 1, Graham celebrated his 13th birthday.
Now, the MacBrides want to share their knowledge about juvenile diabetes and raise awareness in the area.
They started by founding a local support group that meets from 6 to 7:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month at Brewtopia coffee shop, 810 Saginaw St. in downtown Bay City. From that, grew the idea for a walk to support juvenile diabetes research.
The group held its first Walk to Cure Diabetes last year, with more than 1,000 walkers taking part and raising more than $63,000, according to walk co-chairwoman Sarah Hendrickson.
The second annual walk takes place at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, beginning at the Bay County Community Center, 800 John F. Kennedy Drive. Participants will complete a 3-mile walk along the Riverwalk in Veterans Memorial Park.
Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. Participation is free but donations are being collected. All proceeds go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Hendrickson said.
“Last year, I thought it was important to have an event in our area,” MacBride said. “The (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) director in Detroit said, ‘If you get 250 people, that would be great.’ We ended up with close to 1,000. It was very successful.”
Hendrickson, who lives in Essexville and has two young daughters with juvenile diabetes, said organizers are expecting close to the same number of walkers this year, but hope to raise $75,000.
MacBride said diabetes is such a difficult disease because of it’s unpredictability.
“You can do everything right with this disease and something can go wrong,” MacBride said. “(Graham) had four incidents where he’s had hyperglycemia where he’s had to go to the emergency room.”
MacBride said advancements in research have helped Graham better manage his diabetes. For instance, he used an insulin pump when he was 7 that caused a growth spurt. Even with better technology, MacBride said she knows that when her son is older, he could suffer diabetes-related complications.
Kelly Weiss works in the Diabetes Self-Management Clinic at Covenant said kidney disease, nerve damage, heart attack, stroke and amputations are all possible complications down the road with diabetes. Weiss said while those complications are possible, the goal is to keep those with diabetes healthy.
“They can live a normal, healthy life,” Weiss said.
MacBride said they try and treat Graham as a normal kid while still reminding him that this is something he needs to keep an eye on.
“We try and make life as normal as possible, but on the same token, you do have to say, ‘You’re not the same,’ ” MacBride said.
In addition to the walk, MacBride has taken part in other fundraising efforts for diabetes, including a 100-mile ride through Death Valley as part of a Ride to Cure Diabetes.
“I do this so one day I don’t have to do this,” MacBride said.
“To find a cure would be my goal. It’s a very difficult disease for children.”
