Issue Date: March 1, 2009
ParentSmart |
REYHANEH FATHIEH |
|
Diabetes test can save your child's life
Although it affects more than 1.5 million Americans, including 125,000 kids, type 1 diabetes is often overshadowed by its more common cousin, type 2 diabetes. But for parents, type 1, known as insulin-dependent diabetes, should be of primary concern because it is most likely to strike children. In the United States, the peak age range for diagnosis is 8 to 14.
A simple blood test can determine whether your child is at risk. (It's free at several locations across the country; find out more at diabetestrialnet.org.) Although type 1 diabetes can't be prevented or cured, detection and advance treatment can lessen the severity and even save lives.
Denise Jonas, whose son Nick, 16, the youngest member of the Jonas Brothers, was diagnosed with the disease at 13, knows firsthand the lifesaving importance of early detection. She didn't know to get Nick tested for the disease until it was almost too late. "If we had waited another day, Nick could have been in a coma," she says. "Nick's blood glucose was close to 800 -- normal is 70 to 140."
Want to know more about diabetes testing? Click here.
|
