Joint Base Lewis McChord spouse Autumn Moses knows all too well what it is like to have a child suffering from Type One Diabetes.

Three months after arriving at JBLM she noticed that her son, Parker, was showing symptoms of the disease.

"Since it runs on my husband's side of the family I thought I should bring him in," she said. "The pediatrician we saw actually listened to my concerns and had him tested right away. The urine test was positive for glucose so they sent us to the emergency room and there were doctors waiting for us to arrive. The doctors and nurses were with us every step of the way. They taught us how to test our son, how to administer medications, they even had a dietician meet with us to help us learn how to count carbohydrates and what foods were best for him."

Type one, or juvenile diabetes, is a disease where the body's immune system attacks the pancrease's insulin producing cells. The disease can come on suddenly with little to no warning and affects people of all ages. Type one diabetes requires insulin to treat and requires treatment for life.

According to the National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse, one quarter of all children under the age of twenty have diabetes. The symptoms of diabetes include extreme thirst, frequent urination, drowsiness, increased appetite, weight loss, vision changes, sugar in urine, fruity odor on breath, heavy breathing and unconsciousness.  

Type one diabetes can be difficult to manage and there are multiple factors such as changes of hormones and growth that affects the body's insulin production. Most children with juvenile diabetes require constant insulin checks. In addition to the multiple insulin injections daily, the children have to be pricked six or more times a day to check their blood sugar. Balancing insulin doses with food intake, and daily activity levels can be challenging for adults and downright difficult for children but the importance of making sure to balance everything is important, for high or low blood sugar spikes can cause life limiting or threatening events to occur.

Moses is extremely grateful to have medical insurance with a child diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. There is a lot of time, energy, and medication that goes into controlling the disease. In addition to the financial burden that is lifted by Tricare, she is also thankful for the Madigan Army Medical Center.

"Our son's endocrinologist and his nurse gave us their home phone numbers so that we could call him after hours if we needed to," she said, "We feel so blessed to have Madigan as our healthcare service and we really feel like they do an excellent job. I feel they are very unappreciated for the wonderful service they provide.  My son's health is good thanks to Dr. Newman and his staff."