Fourteen-year-old Brooke Boutwell has a lot in common with her 68-year-old grandpa, Clyde Boutwell.
According to Brooke's mother, Andrea, the two have always had a connection beyond description. But the day Brooke came home from the hospital and laid out all her diabetic supplies in front of her grandpa, their connection grew even deeper.
"She has been an inspiration to me since she became a diabetic," Clyde says.
Although her father-in-law was smiling and proud of his then 8-year-old granddaughter's knowledge of the disease, Andrea says she saw a look of devastation in his eyes.
Clyde was the one who suggested having Brooke tested for type 1 diabetes. When she was diagnosed, Clyde says, he knew she could handle it despite the possible complications, because she had been helping him by giving shots and testing his blood sugar.
"It's a big inconvenience," Clyde says. "And it's a hassle, but it's not a hassle she can't overcome."
But Brooke says her future health is frightening.
"Probably the scariest part for me is my grandpa has it, and he's 68 and he's had a lot of complications with it," Brooke says. "That could be me in 40 or 50 years."
However, the advancements that have been made throughout even Brooke's lifetime have been so monumental that many have hope of a cure for diabetes.
"We do have that hope that she will not have to live with it for the rest of her life," Andrea says. "That is the biggest hope of all."
Everyday JobJoana Casas, national manager of media relations at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, says what the Boutwells hope for is often a plea from parents with juvenile diabetics.
"Their main concern is their kids are diagnosed at young ages and there's no cure," Casas says. "It's every day. It's a 24/7 job."
But she says there is hope.
Promising ResearchAccording to the JDRF Web site, in the next few years, $2.5 billion will be spent in an attempt to find a cure for type 1 diabetes. Among the initiatives are perfect islet transplantation, which involves transplanting beta cells -- the cells that produce the hormone insulin -- into a patient, and the creation, through stem-cell research, of insulin-secreting cells for transplantation.
But one of the most exciting initiatives, according to Casas, is the artificial pancreas project. The pancreas usually supplies insulin for the body, thus keeping blood sugars regulated. The artificial pancreas would be a closed-loop mechanical system that will include a glucose sensor and an insulin delivery system, according to the JDRF Web site.
If funding and research for these advancements come through, the treatments could help the approximately 20.8 million diabetics in the United States.
According to the American Diabetes Association, type 1 diabetes, which used to be called juvenile-onset diabetes, accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of the cases. Type 2, which used to be referred to as adult-onset diabetes, accounts for the remaining 90 to 95 percent.
All patients hoping for a cure must wait for the technology to develop. Until then, however, they control the disease with either insulin injections or through an insulin pump that delivers insulin 24 hours a day through a catheter placed under the skin.
Easy To Forget?Brooke not only uses the pump, but she's also convinced her grandpa to switch to it.
"The pump has made all the difference in the world," Clyde says. "I've had the pump about four months now, but I wish I would've had it for 10 years."
Brooke says the pump makes it easy to almost forget about her disease. Before the pump, she was constantly giving herself shots and regulating her diet. But now, she worries less about it.
"Which is good, but at the same time, is bad because I don't take care of it as well," Brooke says. "I get kind of lazy with my pump."
Dr. Edna Solitario, of Lawton, Okla., says the pump is great for type 1 diabetics because it allows them to not have to constantly mix eating meals and snacks with taking insulin. But she says the ease of the medication almost jeopardizes some diabetics.
"The No. 1 problem I have with kids in the pump is the falsity that they have," Solitario says.
She says that adolescents tend to already have a problem with thinking about the long-term complications of the disease.
"Adolescents live only for today so they don't take care of themselves really well," Solitario says. "They don't take care of themselves because they don't see anything wrong going on in their lives."
But the Boutwells are well aware of what the future may be like if the disease is dismissed. Clyde has lost toes, had vision problems and is currently on kidney dialysis.
"We were living with the long-term complications at the point when she was diagnosed," Andrea says.
Brooke, who's an active eighth-grader, says her disease has made her grow up faster. She believes a cure will be found in her lifetime.
"I hope it's true," Brooke says. "I think it is, with all the advancements they're telling me about. They need to find a cure. I don't like it."
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