Tannon Warnick, 4, patiently waits for his mom, Stacey, to prick his finger. She is not being cruel, she’s monitoring his blood-glucose levels to determine if he is in need of insulin. Tannon has type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile-onset diabetes. Stacey tests his blood six to eight times per day and estimates that he’s already had over 8,000 pokes on his cute little fingers since his diagnosis in July 2006.

Back then, Stacey and her husband, Steve, noticed Tannon was very thirsty and that he was urinating excessively. Steve also has type 1 diabetes, so they knew the warning signs. A test at the emergency room confirmed an elevated blood-sugar level.

According to The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), “Diabetes is a chronic, debilitating disease affecting every organ system. There are two major types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2.

“Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food.

“Type 1 diabetes usually strikes in childhood, adolescence or young adulthood but lasts a lifetime. People with type 1 diabetes must take multiple injections of insulin daily or continually infuse insulin through a pump just to survive.

“Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which a person’s body still produces insulin but is unable to use it effectively. Type 2 is usually diagnosed in adulthood and does not always require insulin injections. However, increased obesity has led to a recent rise in cases of type 2 diabetes in young adults.”

Stacy said Tannon is really good about having his finger poked and will often prick himself for the test. Tannon has a pump that delivers the insulin. It works like an IV. There is a larger needle inserted in his skin with a long tube that hooks into his pump, which doses out the insulin. His insulin-pump site is changed every two to three days.

Tannon said, “The big pokes hurt a lot. That’s when I really want a cure.”

Stacey said, “He still generally puts up a fight when we have to do this, but there have been a few times recently that he has stayed still and relatively calm, so there is hope in sight.”

According to the JDRF Web site, “Taking insulin does not cure any type of diabetes nor prevent the possibility of its eventual and devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack, stroke and pregnancy complications.”

But, without these insulin injections, type 1 diabetes would be fatal.

John Moore, freshman at USU, was diagnosed nearly eight years ago, during the time the 2002 Winter Olympics were in Utah. He said he also benefited from a knowledgeable parent – his mom is a nurse. She recognized the symptoms and got him right to the doctor. He said over the years, she regaled him with horror stories of diabetics who did not properly manage their disease in the hopes of scaring Moore into taking good care of himself.

“She would come home and tell me about patients who had to have their legs amputated or of people who died as a result of not controlling their blood sugars,” Moore said.

Her tactics must have worked. Moore has had relatively few health problems relating to his diabetes. He tries to keep his blood sugar levels as stable as possible, high readings require an injection of insulin to prevent complications and low readings can be particularly dangerous. Moore said he has had four seizures throughout the years as a result of low blood sugar.

“I try to avoid being low at all, even at the risk of being a little high sometimes,” he said.

When low, diabetics must raise their levels by eating carbohydrates. Stacey said once she gave Tannon too much insulin and his blood sugar dropped fast.

“I couldn’t have him eat enough to raise it. We ended up giving him a shot of Glucagon, which is a hormone that causes the liver to release its stored sugar. After about 20 minutes he was back to himself, but it was scary for a while there,” she said.

Moore said students ask him if he feels bad about having diabetes and his answer is no. “It’s just part of me. I don’t feel bad about it. Sometimes I get strange looks when I’m walking on campus and stick myself in the abdomen with a hypodermic needle to give myself insulin, but that doesn’t bother me.”

Warnick believes that it’s important to instill in Tannon the view that there is nothing wrong with being diabetic.

She said, “Everyone has to deal with something. Tannon’s thing just happens to be diabetes.”

For those who have diabetes, the JDRF Web site advises that they tell people around them that they have diabetes. It’s not necessary to tell everyone, but those that students spend the most time with, like roommates, or those that may be in the position of taking care of them, like resident advisers. Others that students should tell are close friends, on-campus medical professionals, professors and other staff they deal with. It’s important to tell people about diabetes in case of an emergency or when they have low-blood sugar but also so they don’t feel like they’re hiding their disease.

USU alumnus and Aggie golf team member, ‘90-’94, Steve Warnick can attest to the importance of this. When he was a student he worked part time at Icon Fitness. One morning he didn’t show up for work and had not called in sick or away for a golf tournament. His coworkers, knowing of his condition, had the boss call his apartment. His roommate checked his room and found Steve semiconscious, his blood sugar was extremely low. Warnick said his openness about his condition saved his life that day.

Even considering the difficulties that diabetics face today, they are much better off than those diagnosed 50 years ago. According to the National Institutes of Health, in the 1950s about one in three people died within 25 years of a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Today, that number is fewer than one in ten – about 7 percent die within 25 years of initial diagnosis. Many diabetics faced organ failure, blindness and amputation before succumbing to the disease and some still do – as Moore’s experienced mother warns – but, again, the numbers are fewer.

The Moores and the Warnicks, along with the millions who suffer from diabetes, hope that with awareness and money for research, doctors will be able to discover a cure. The Warnicks are big supporters of the JDRF, chairing the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes in Salt Lake City. Tannon advocates awareness himself. He has met with the Utah Legislature, Utah Jazz’s Deron Williams and has even appeared on KBER’s (101.1 FM) “Freak Show with Mick & Allen”.

The JDRF is “the leading charitable funder and advocate of type 1 (juvenile) diabetes research worldwide. Its primary mission is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research,” according to the Web site.

–tam.r@aggiemail.usu.edu