Mira

From her mother, Michelle:

This is our family’s Type 1 diabetes (T1D) story. Mira was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in 2015 at just 7 months old. It was the holidays of 2015 when Mira got sick with the flu. The days leading to her diagnosis, she would eat very little, she preferred to only take her milk and nothing else. On the eve of her diagnosis, she exhibited an abnormal breathing pattern — rapid, deep breathing as if she was running out of breath. That prompted us to bring her to the ER. We believe that it was God’s grace that the pediatrician on call at the ER knew exactly what to look for and what to do. The first thing he did was check Mira’s blood sugar. We thought we were going to lose her as her  blood sugar was so high that the glucose meter could not even get a reading! That’s when the pediatrician said, “You’re daughter has Type 1 diabetes, we are getting an ambulance and transferring you to Children’s Hospital. The endo team will be waiting for you at Children’s.” Mira was admitted to the PICU in DKA. After four days she was discharged from the PICU and so began our journey to a life of pokes, scales and insulin.

Since she was diagnosed so young, she doesn’t know any other “normal.” As her parents, it was a rollercoaster of emotions. We were initially in shock because no one in the family has type 1 diabetes—Mira is the first. At such a young age, it was hard to comprehend, and there were a lot of “why’s.” Her endocrinologists say she is the youngest patient that they have ever encountered to be diagnosed at Children’s Hospital.

It is now year 10 of Mira being a T1D warrior and we celebrate her everyday and how brave she is, how strong she is and how resilient she is at overcoming all of her challenges.