Local mother helps in raising awareness of Type 1 diabetes

For Belinda Enamorado, juvenile diabetes is something has impacted her family’s life for the past eight years with what 13-year-old daughter Vanessa has to go through. Despite that, she has become a strong advocate to bring awareness to this disease to Middle Georgia.

Juvenile diabetes is a non-curable disease that affects as many as three million Americans, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation [JDRF], which is the largest private funded organization for research of type 1 diabetes in the world and started by parents whose children had the disease.

Enamorado said that it’s difficult for people who have type 1 diabetes to function normally on a daily basis, including Vanessa.

“My daughter is type 1 diabetic and diagnosed at age 5 and there was nothing she did to get it,” Enamorado said. “There is nothing you can do to get rid of it or cure. (Vanessa), like all the other type 1s, constantly have to almost become an awareness campaign on their own and educate people one by one as they go because they constantly get questions like your mom must have fed you a lot of sugar when you were little. Until there is a cure or better technology, every time she eats needs to count the amount of carbohydrates she is eating in that meal in order to figure out how much insulin she needs to take to cover that. (She) needs to prick her finger and test her blood sugar and needs to see her blood sugar before she eats and measure her food, how many carbs are in it, take a shot then eat. That is all day, every day.

“When they eat, it’s so common for someone looking at them and saying, ‘Should you be eating that?’ When sugar has nothing to do with that, they need to have a healthy balanced diet like anyone else.”

If it wasn’t for a doctor’s visit to see what was causing Vanessa to pee in her bed, it could have cost her life. At the time of diagnosis, Enamorado’s daughter had a 900 level blood sugar, which is well above the normal 80-120 range.

According to Enamorado, eating unhealthy or not exercising has nothing to do with the condition of people who have the disease. Some of the symptoms that can be a factor of type 1 are frequent urination, rapid weight loss, lethargy, fruity smell to the breath and increased appetite.

“(There is) no cure but (it is from a) genetic factor,” she said. “Typically in all families, there is only person who has it. When diagnosed (that person is) typically sick with some kind of virus.”

Currently, there is a Middle GA JDRF Type 1 Support Group led by Enamorado along with Donna Kinnas and Tammy Hankinson. Both Kinnas’ 11-year old son John and Hankinson’s 15-year old son Brandon also have Type 1 diabetes. All three ladies serve as co-leaders for the support group and have monthly meetings the last Wednesday of each month at Bare Bulb Coffee Shop in Kathleen at 9 a.m.

The support group brings in pharmaceutical representatives and diabetes educators that talk at the meetings and talk to the families about an array of topics including carb counting and sick management to give them a good perspective on how to deal with their children who have type 1 diabetes.

Enamorado said that she would love to see more testing done to benefit families.

“All of us would love for it to be standard for all and child who are well and (who are going for) sick visits check for blood sugar in kids,” Enamorado said. “It would serve every well.”

For more information on the Georgia chapter of Type 1 diabetes visit Georgia.jdrf.org and you can reach Enamorado at 678-891-8196.

HHJ News