CHILLICOTHE — Avery Bamfield is a typical 11-year-old who loves Legos and enjoys being active, whether it’s running or playing a game of basketball or soccer.
However, the Adena student’s days are much different than most as he wakes each morning to a pinprick to test his blood glucose level. Avery was diagnosed with Type I diabetes, also called juvenile diabetes, when he was 13 months old. While the more commonly thought of form of diabetes, Type II or adult onset diabetes, can sometimes be reversible or preventable with diet, Avery is part of the 5 percent of those with diabetes who can only try to control it.
Juvenile diabetes is diagnosed when the pancreas doesn’t produce the hormone insulin. Without insulin, glucose from foods can’t be converted into energy and builds up in the body. Consistently high blood glucose can lead to serious health conditions, including coma and death.
In juvenile diabetes, cells that produce insulin are attacked and destroyed by the immune system. In Type II diabetes, the pancreas still produces insulin, but either not in large enough quantities or the body is unable to use it effectively. Diet control, exercise, oral medications and insulin are all treatments used to combat Type II diabetes
Avery’s mom, Valerie, always worried about having a child because she has had to manage the disease herself since she was 4 years old. She said the doctor indicated Avery would have a higher chance of inheriting the disease if his father, Larry, had been a diabetic. Although Larry is not, Valerie said his family does have a history of Type II diabetes.
“That was always my fear of having a child. I didn’t want him to have diabetes,” she said.
Valerie tried to deny it when Avery was 13 months old and developed an unquenchable thirst. As the thirst continued for a week, she broke down and tested his blood glucose with her equipment –it was 362, more than double the highest level someone without an insulin defect would have.
The pinpricks and carbohydrate counting became a natural part of his life.
People with juvenile diabetes must check their blood sugar regularly and inject insulin before meals.
They have to work to balance how much insulin to take to counteract what they’re about to eat.
Each year of school, Valerie asks Avery’s new teacher to explain to his classmates he has diabetes and sometimes might need to have a snack if his blood glucose level dips too low.
“It doesn’t really matter to them. They treat me the same,” Avery said of his friends.
Although he isn’t treated differently, Valerie said a child with diabetes can feel alone.
“As a child, sometimes you can feel like the only one that has it,” she said.
About a month ago, Valerie saw a Facebook posting by Jennifer Strickland for a bowling outing for children with diabetes and they decided to go. Strickland and two other mothers with daughters who have juvenile diabetes banned together in 2010 as “The Chillicothe Chicks” to raise money for juvenile diabetes research.
“It almost made me feel normal around them,” Avery said of meeting the girls who are around his age.
Although Avery is the token boy of the group right now, he’s OK with it. He and Valerie will go with the group to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s annual Walk to Cure Diabetes Oct. 9 at Ohio State University in Columbus.
Valerie has seen advances throughout the years such as testing blood instead of urine and counting carbohydrates instead of eliminating sugars. The biggest change has been the ability to use an insulin pump instead of shots.
The user inputs the number of carbs that will be eaten in a meal and the pump determines and dispenses the needed insulin.
Although a juvenile diabetic still can’t “graze” the way some do, the pump provides more flexibility than insulin shots that required a person to administer the shot at the same time every day and didn’t allow for a later change of heart on what to eat, Valerie said.
“Before he had the pump, he was on three shots a day, so it’s been a big improvement,” said Valerie, who has used a pump for a decade.
The hope for the Bamfields, however, is that a cure will be found one day, which is why they are excited to go on their first fundraising walk.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s mission is to find a cure for diabetes and it’s complications through the support of research. Since 1970, the foundation has provided more than $1 billion to diabetes research.
