Sometime ago, our library was having a clean-out sale, dumping the “You haven’t been borrowed on a high enough rotation” books, for the gorgeous, paperback variety with the glossy covers that just make you want to glide your hand over its pristine appearance and breathe in the fresh print.
We were handed a large, heavy duty paperbag, the type you would see in an American movie where the checkout chick offers “Paper or Plastic?” Lance and I couldn’t believe our luck-there were literally piles and piles of kids’ books. He was in sheer literary heaven.
A lady with a perfectly placed coiff suggested that I take a browse at some of the parenting books. I told Lance exactly where I would be, whilst his paper bag was quickly growing in size. He gave a hurried nod, and I shuffled over to what looked like a very BORING section.
There were books about how to make your own macrame pot plant hangers, casserole recipe books,” How to grow your own bathroom ferns”, and yes, even a pearler entitled “How to Help your Moggie Have A Home Birth.” I stifled some laughs at the titles that were clearly hot trends circa 1977=year I was born.
Then there were some health books. “How to help your anaemic child..”Growing Pains,or just a Growing Pain?” “Asthma? Is It All About Your Mattress?
The title of the next book wiped the sardonic smirk off my face in a heartbeat.
Parenting A Diabetic Child.
A Practical, Empathetic Guide to Help You and Your Child Live With Type 1 Diabetes.
I stopped, re-reading the title over and over again. Why do I always trip over these rare books, articles, old newspaper clippings.. not that I’m complaining, as they are so pertinent to my life. It’s just that I promised myself a while back, no more diabetes books, they only leave me miserable and swollen with tears that explode five days later at a really inappropriate time…
Anyway, of course I clutched hold of it, shoved it into Lance’s already bursting bag and paid my $5.
I wanted to go straight home and start power-reading.
It was published in 1991, so I was interested to see if I could source where a particular idea or notion had grown from. (I could already envisage the many passionate people -myself included-baulking at the title..very unpolitically correct, Gloria!!) But hey, what was political correctness in 1991?
After reading the book, I wouldn’t have cared if she called it “My Diabetic Kid and Me With My Pretty Little Perfect Pancreas.” She got straight to the heart of the subject and addressed SO many of the issues that an endocrinologist has not and can not give me answers for.
Gloria is actually quite the celebrity, not particularly well known in Australia, (or maybe she is, and not in my circle??) She is the former wife of Alan Thicke,star of 80’s comedy Growing Pains. She has entertained at the Academy Awards, made countless albums, performed with Hollywood’s Greatest and earnt some very favourable reviews. (See below)
“She’s been described as having “one of the best vocal instruments in pop music since the salad days of Barbra Streisand.” As a singer/actress/songwriter/author Gloria’s career has spanned three decades encompassing recordings, concert tours, appearances on stage, television, and radio.”
She also wrote the theme song for Diff’rent Strokes (that theme song is smokin’!!!!) and Growing Pains…my hero! (I adored these two shows as an 8 year old girl, especially when a television channel put them on back-to-back.
All of these accolades are fantastic, but after reading the book, to me, I felt that she was just a parent, like me, with a young boy (Brennan ) who was diagnosed at an early age with Type 1 Diabetes.
Gloria is also an outstanding advocate within the American Diabetes Community. In fact, it was the determination and positivity of her and several other parents that started the JDF-(Juvenile Diabetes Foundation,) which some years later became known as the JDRF;( Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.) From a small group of parents who wanted to see their children set free from this condition, it had grown into an annual, million dollar making non-profit Foundation in Australia alone.
Considering Gloria’s book is the best part of 20 years old, she has certainly done her homework. If this was the first book you found and read after your child was diagnosed, you would still have an accurate and rich knowledge base behind you. She writes about all the things that I had always craved answers for, but have had to go through the painful reality of finding them out for myself, and very often through the cruelest way of all; seeing my baby Lance suffer.
My favourite part of this book is how she states that the then “JDF can only fund only one of out five researchers who wants to do worthwile studies in diabetes. THe U.S. Government funds only one out of four researchers. That means that 75 to 80 percent of the scientists who would like to be working on diabetes-related questions are not able to obtain funding from JDF or the US Government;the two largest sources of diabetes research in the world.”:
She then goes on to say-“A CURE CAN BE FOUND.”
Her reasoning? “During President Franklin Roosevelt’s term in office, a commitment was made to find a cure for polio. It became a priority, and the task was accomplished.”
“The same thing happened after John F. Kennedy inspired us all to believe that we could put a man on the moon. In the same way, with commitment and the proper allocation of resources, we CAN make diabetes a thing of the past.”
When I think of the current Islet Transplant Program that has been in the workings for the past four years, and all of the other scientists that are conducting JDRF funded trials in Australia alone, I suddenly realised that it is reasonable to consider that a cure is possible in Lance’s lifetime.
Does Prime Minister Rudd not have a major problem on his hands, with 5 children or young adults being diagnosed daily with Type 1 Diabetes, and a shortage of specialists to treat them?
(I am going to send that one particular paragraph from Gloria’s book to Prime Minister Rudd.)
JDRF Australia continiously provide new and exciting developments in the world of Type 1 Diabetes. They ensure that new and promising research is always continuing, new trials and breakthroughs are always investigated, and desperately needed funds are being raised throughout each year.
However, I think that the unsung hero here is Gloria and her band of parents’ who supported and believed in her sole passion.
On behalf of Lance and the 140 000 Australians living with Type 1 Diabetes-Thank You Gloria. Parents like you are the people who didn’t flinch when their child was diagnosed, therefore helping other parents have hope, by giving their children belief and self-assurance that one day, they may lead an insulin independent life. We just have to keep hoping, battling, praying and fighting for this cure. Every mothers’ baby, whether their “baby” is now a fully grown adult or a seven year old boy, deserves to know that there can be miracles if you believe. ( I think I just used a line out of a Mariah Carey/Whitney Houston Duet…) Oh well..it was appropriate, and I don’t think Mariah and Whitney will be too worried.
Why did the insulin die in my pancreas? 