One Test At A Time

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  Wai'anae, Hawai'i
  November 08, 2013 - Wai'anae, Hawaii
  
  15,000 adolescents in the United States are diagnosed with type one diabetes each year. Type one diabetes is when the body doesn't’ produce insulin. Without insulin, the body cannot convert sugar from food into nutrients for the cells. Some effects are extreme thirstiness, weight loss, drowsiness, and heavy breathing.
  
  According to American Diabetes Association, about 2,050 children in Hawaii are affected by type one diabetes. In 2013, ten-year-old Markaiya Spencer became one of the 2,050.
  
  Markaiya had been having stomach cramps, nausea, and vomiting for the past year. She was suffering from these afflictions, not knowing that they are some of the symptoms for type one diabetes. “Because I had a really horrible pain, like every time I breathe, it hurt. One day, it just tightened up every time I took a breathe,” she said. Soon after the symptoms started, Markaiya was sent to the hospital, finding out she has type one diabetes.
  
  There is no cure to type one diabetes, but there are treatments to manage the condition. With proper management, diet and exercise a person with diabetes can still live a long healthy life. Markaiya is now taking five shots of insulin a day, and also has changed her eating habits. She eats three meals, and two snacks every day.
  
  “Before every meal I have to do all my medical things like test my blood sugar, and do my Humalog, which is my needle shot,” she said.
  
  She has to take a shot to check her glucose level, or sugar count. The glucose level tells her how much insulin to take.
  
  Markaiya also has to go on a diet of 60 grams of carbs per meal each day. She can no longer eat candy, or any type of food with high sugar in it.
  
  “I can’t eat when I want to when I’m hungry now, and because sometimes when I want to play outside I can’t because of the insulin. It might come out of my sweat when it’s really hot outside,” Markaiya said.
  
  She uses a booklet that contains a list with how many fat, carbs, and sugar is in a certain type of food. She then takes all of the food she’s about to eat, and adds them all up to equal 60 grams of carbs. The mathematical balancing act is time consuming, but it is a small price to pay to stay healthy.
  
  Being diagnosed with diabetes at such a young age and having to take on greater responsibilities to make sure she maintains a healthy lifestyle has opened up her eyes in a new way . “I just want to say that diabetes, now that I experienced it, I feel really scared. And now I know that kids diabetes is worse than adult diabetes and that’s what makes me really scared, and that’s all.”

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Looking Back

Overall, after this experience, I learned how diabetic manage their eating.



Jazmine Calixtro, Reporter

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Over the course of this project, I learned that over 15,000 adolescents are diagnosed with diabetes each year.


Kelcy Spencer, Photographer 

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