Something good will come from diabetes.

It is the eve of the JDRF walk for diabetes. This will be the second year we have participated in William's short five year life.

He was diagnosed at 20 months-a baby still in diapers with no idea why this awful hospital trip was happening to him.

I remember his diagnosis at the pediatrician's office. They checked his blood sugar and came back with a reading of 491. She said, "I'm sorry, sweetie. William is diabetic and needs to go to the emergency room immediately." I was shocked, scared, and full of dread, as the prospect of what was to come loomed. It was every bit as horrible as I imagined it, culminating with the nurses' (plural) inabilities to start an IV on my little boy's small veins. I don't like to remember, but feel that I should document it for his sake.

Since then, he has endured countless finger pricks, injections, pump change-outs, highs, lows, infections, ketone checks, and hours of fear and pain.

Diabetes is not a death sentence. It is more a life sentence. It never stops and it can never be ignored. It is constant and requires vigilance.

As a parent, I have come to realize that I cannot rest easily unless I know that his blood sugar level is stable. That is something which John and I can control. But what happens when he is in college? An adult on his own? Our fears are real and constant.

There must be something positive that comes from having a child with type 1 diabetes. There has to be.