Supporting Juveniles with Diabetes in their journey one Jewel at a time!

Hello my name is Lindsey King. I have had diabetes for 24 yrs since the age of 5 yrs old. I completely understand the challenges for kids with diabetes.  

 Here is my story:  I have a strong history of diabetes in my family but mostly “Adult Onset”.   My uncle became diabetic at age 17 and I at age 5.  We are the only juvenile diabetics in my family.  I was an active, healthy 5 year old who became ill with the influenza virus that remained in my system for about 2 wks.  My mother of course worried about me being sick for that long of a period.  Closer to the 10^th day of this

what we thought was the flu, my mom woke me up in the morning and my eyes were sunk back in my head with large black circles under them, I was dehydrated and lethargic.  My mom immediately took me back to the doctor who checked my blood sugar and it was 895.  We were sent to a pediatric endocrinologist, (best in the state) and were told that this influenza virus attacked my pancreas and killed it.  Life changed drastically for me and my family from that point on.

I was one of the first children on the north side of Minneapolis diagnosed with diabetes and in the school system. People, teachers, and kids were scared of me because they did not understand nor want the responsibility to deal with. When I was in first grade my teacher was told that I was diabetic and that I needed to have snacks during the day. She put my desk in the back corner of the class and told me to face the wall and eat my snacks. One day my blood sugar slipped and I was very low and could not tell the teacher she thought I was sleeping and came and yelled at me I was not coherent. She called the nurse who called my mom and they came in and gave me a shot of glucose. My teacher refused to teach me because of this and made me feel like an outcast when it was not my fault. Needles to say because of her ignorance she was fired from her job. My physician had to come to the school and speak out in front of the whole school to make them aware what Diabetes is and that I am just a normal person that needs to have snacks sometimes. This made me feel worthless since people were scared of me. Kids refused to be my friend so I kept to myself a lot. We moved then to Maple Lake where it was much easier to deal with y issues people seem to not mind as much or make a big deal of it.

 Then came the teenage years, I became a very rebellious child. I did not care just because of teenage years and other family issues; I was tired of dealing with the Diabetes. I was thinking in my head if I forget that I have this disease maybe it will go away. I was luck that god was watching over me. I really did not start to care until after I became pregnant at the age of 19. I think god was worried about me and felt this was the only way to straighten me up. It truly did, I had to start thinking of someone other than me. It was different because my doctors told me I could not get pregnant so I never worried about it happening.  Now I HAD to care for myself it changed my life for the better.

I grew up and now I know how important it is to take care of yourself when you have Diabetes.

With that said, I came up with an idea to help juveniles with Diabetes by making beaded jewelry and selling them. I would like 50% of the profit to go into an account and I will have families email me telling me their stories and why their child needs help and with what (getting supplies, going to camp needle point, a mentor, anything at all). After 3 months if there are no requests I will give 10% to the ADA of what was put into the account to help the research and to help other diabetics. I feel if I can help at least one child by letting them know someone really cares and knows personally what they are going through it would make all the difference in the world to me. I just recently thought of this idea and wish to give back to the community and others. All your comments are welcome. I hope to help as many families as I can. I am also accepting donations of beads, beading supplies, money ( since right now there are a lot of children who would like to go to camp this year but can not afford it, or anything you feel will help a child with diabetes.

 Thank you for your support!!

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