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“When I check my blood sugar or eat food, I need to adjust my insulin dose accordingly,” Derek said. “If my blood sugar is low I need to eat something with carbohydrates that will raise it. If I am high, I need to take a larger dose of insulin to balance things out.
“I’ve had cases of hyperglycemia where my blood sugar is too high, like in the 400 range and I have trouble getting it down,” he said. “I’ve gone to the hospital a few times and the doctors help me to lower my blood sugar. It is frustrating sometimes. When things go wrong, I just think about what my dad said when I was first diagnosed. He said, ‘If you don’t do this you are going to die.'”
Youth works with school nurse
Stevenson, who is an eighth-grade student at Wilson Junior High, works with a school nurse to keep his blood sugar in line during the school day.
“Derek’s school does a good job with helping him control his diabetes,” Karen said. “The school nurse is very nice and easy to work with.”
Karen said misconceptions about diabetes can sometimes cloud peoples’ thoughts about the disease.
“Derek doesn’t want to be seen as different,” she said. “He just wants to be like every other kid. There are people that think diabetes is contagious. Others are afraid to what might happen if his blood sugar goes low and he passes out.
“The fact is that type I diabetics can live normal lives if they check their blood sugar regularly, eat right and take the appropriate amount of insulin.”
Derek was selected to be the 2011 Walk to Cure Diabetes youth ambassador last December.
“At last year’s awards ceremony, I was picked to serve as youth ambassador,” he said. “It is an honor. I’ve done announcements on the radio and gone to talk to civic groups on behalf of JDRF.
“I had a team of about 10 to 20 friends and family members at the last two walks called Derek’s Demolition Crew. We raised $5,000 in two years. This year will be a little different as youth ambassador. I will have a few more responsibilities this time.”
The Sheboygan Falls walk, which will also include entertainment, food and kids’ activities, covers Sheboygan, Manitowoc and Fond du Lac counties. It is one of more than 200 held worldwide each year.
In 2008, 500,000 Americans participated in the Walk to Cure Diabetes. Collectively, the JDRF raised more than $100,000 last year to fund more than 1,000 research centers, grants and fellowships in 22 countries.
JDRF is the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 diabetes. It was founded in 1970 by the parents of children with type 1 diabetes.
The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications through research. Type I diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes children and adults suddenly, and can be fatal.
Although it helps type 1 diabetics maintain steady blood-sugar levels and live relatively normal lives, insulin is not a cure and it does not prevent potential complications, which may include kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke and amputation.
