Living with Purpose and Passion

In order for you to understand my outlook on life, and why I am so passionate about helping others achieve their dreams of better health and purpose in their own life, I must begin by telling you the story of my son, Kevin.

Kevin is my second child, born healthy and one of the happiest babies I had ever seen. He smiled early, laughed often, and sang and recited nursery poems before the age of one. While still a toddler, his older brother contracted a bad case of the chicken pox. Six weeks later, Kevin started acting much more fussy than usual, crying and demanding juice constantly. I took him to the pediatrician, expecting a typical childhood virus or other minor illness. Next thing I knew we were heading to the hospital. Diagnosis: Type I diabetes. No family history. No warning. No idea how this diagnosis would change our lives forever.

My husband and I, both being scientists, learned everything we could about the newest research on diabetes in order to provide Kevin with the best care possible. At that time the DCCT study for keeping Type 1 diabetes in tight control was finishing with positive results for preventing long-term complications of diabetes. His doctors encouraged us to keep his blood sugars in "tight control" using multiple injections of insulin.

Thus began the rollercoaster of Kevin's life. His small body reacted strongly to the insulin injections, even though we used mere fractions of a unit of insulin (.01 ml) needed with each meal. Convulsions became frequent- while playing, after full meals, during naptime, in the middle of the night. We knew this wasn't right, but the doctors encouraged us that "this is normal"

After a little over a year, we rejected the advise of our local physicians and took Kevin to a neighboring city for treatment. Appalled at the convulsions, Kevin's new endocrinologist relaxed his insulin requirements and life started becoming a bit more normal... we thought.

Turns out that significant damage had been done to Kevin's brain. He was never the same, happy child, but became upset frequently. He also struggled in school, and although teachers loved this sweet boy, writing and reading were particularly difficult. It took many years of testing and observation, but finally we realized that Kevin had lost his short-term, working memory. Think about it. What if you could not remember the first part of a sentence by the time you read the end of the sentence? What if you are diabetic, but cannot remember if you ate, or when you last ate? Someone asks you to write, and you forget what you were writing about mid sentence? You can't remember the names of your friends?

By the sixth grade, Kevin was depressed. Paxil was prescribed for his depression. Another disasterous result: this sweet boy became suicidal and aggressive, especially towards me. Further research showed that these tendencies had happened with quite a number of adolescents on Paxil .

Things had to change! I pulled Kevin out of school to homeschool him. We slowly reduced the Paxil and a more holistic, nutritional approach became integral in our lives. We started living our lives with purpose- keeping a positive outlook on Kevin's abilities and focusing on helping him make the most of his life. And so, Kevin's life has changed.

Kevin's dream was to become an Eagle scout like his older brother. With much determination, Kevin made that dream a reality in 2008. He struggled through his merit badges, but succeeded. He learned how to manage his diabetes on over 130 nights camping and high adventure trips. He organized his Eagle project, wrote out all the plans, and supervised teams of boys and adults in carrying out that project. He is an Eagle Scout, and by overcoming his disabilities he has shown me that anything is possible. We can all learn from this lesson in perserverence and determination.

Living to honor others through Purpose and Passion!