The Real Moms...of diabetes

Mothers Day is on Sunday and perhaps I am a bit early with this post but watching a couple of videos yesterday motivated me to do this now. As you may have seen, the DRI  launched a new campaign called "The Real Moms of DRI".  It is incredibly moving and protrays some amazing Moms that I have the privledge to call friends. The vidoes were made by Moms of children with diabetes.  They spoke of what it is like to live in their world--their fears, their reality and their hopes. 

I didn't watch all of them.  I couldn't.  I fought the tears watching my friend Kim.  Her son and mine are close to the same age and have spent a day at the beach together.  Kim's son was diagnosed at 18 months while my son was not diagnosed until 30 months.  That extra year made the difference between calculating the carbs of food spit out on his bib (for Kim) versus calculating the food he vomitted into the toilet (my life). Kim is an amazing mom who has become an incredible source of support and inspiration to me.  Her children are all beautiful and a tribute to their parents.

I also watched Brenda's video. Again, she has been an amazing friend and source of support for years.  Her daughter Marissa is an incredible young woman.  Their family has done so much to help so many.  I listened to Brenda speak of her daughter's diagnosis at such a young age and growing into a young adult who is now planning her wedding.  She spoke of the support Marissa has from her fiance and the importance of him helping her with night time lows, etc.  Brenda has shown us what our children can do with the support of wonderful people. She offers us real hope for their future.

I loved the title of this campaign and began to think of the other incredible and completely "real" moms of children with diabetes.  I have been privledged to work with and devlope friendships with so many of these amazing moms.  Moms who live every day with the worry that their child will not wake up each morning. Moms who fight for the rights of their children in school.  Moms who fight to give their children the most normal lives possible.

They are an inspirational group.  There is Karen who son's shares my son's diagnosis date and lives in the same puberty nightmare as we do.  There is Stacey and Deb who kept us going in pump supplies and goodies when we had no coverage for such things. There is Sharon who was there at the very beginning when I was at the end of my rope and in tears.  Rena who makes me laugh with her blog and is so supportive of my ramblings. I can't forget Barb, Shirley, Michelle, Darlene, Barbara, Jen, Cheryl, Bonnie,Laura, Rita, Jo, Heather, Lauren, Michelle, Julia, Beth, Melinda, JoNell, Cyndi, Rachel, and the list goes on and on and on with hundreds of other incredible moms of children with diabetes.  I am so blessed to have met and had the support of so many great moms over the years. They have all had an impact of some sort on my life, the life of my son and of course have been a huge blessing to their own families.  They are all-- real moms of children with diabetes!