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No cure in sight: Diabetes poses serious challenge for children

Malcolm Morris was only 5 years old when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes during a school physical.

The news came as a shock to his parents, Donovan Sr. and Ann-Marie Morris of Oak Park, Mich.

"You just think, 'If the parents don't have it, where can it come from?' " Ann-Marie Morris says.

Diabetes is a chronic disease in which the body does not make or properly use insulin, causing the body to lose its main fuel source. Insulin is the hormone needed to convert sugar and starches into energy. Each year more than 13,000 U.S. children are diagnosed with type 1, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, according to the National Diabetes Education Program.

The good news is that diabetes can be managed through insulin injections or medication and lifestyle changes. But so far, there is no cure.

Malcolm was recognized recently as one of four youth ambassadors at America's Walk for Diabetes in Detroit to raise awareness and funds for research. He raised more than $90 by going door-to-door in his neighborhood.

"We're working to do what?" Morris asks her son.

"Get the cure," says Malcolm, 10, who has given himself insulin injections twice a day since he was 6 years old.

While genetic and environmental factors play a role, the exact cause of type 1 diabetes is still a mystery. Meanwhile, the number of children diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which is usually associated with obesity and diagnosed after age 40, also is hitting epidemic levels.

George Grunberger, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich., physician who specializes in treating diabetes, says he's especially concerned about the increase in type 2 diabetes in children because this type of diabetes is preventable. With both types of diabetes, Grunberger says, "If you can control the disease, you can prevent the complications."

To control Malcolm's diabetes, the Morris family sticks to a rigid schedule of meals and snacks. Family members also learned to prepare and administer insulin shots.

"We had to look at it as a change of lifestyle, not as a burden of any sort," Morris says.

Today, Malcolm, a fifth-grader, attends summer camp, plays sports and even goes trick-or-treating on Halloween -- but he's careful to limit his sugar consumption.

Malcolm offers advice for other kids who are diagnosed with diabetes: "Don't worry. Everything is going to be all right."

10 symptoms of diabetes

If some of these symptoms exist, ask your doctor to test your child's blood sugar.  It takes only a simple blood test to diagnose (or rule out) diabetes.

SOURCE:   Published in the Home News Tribune 10/06/04, By KARA G. MORRISON, GANNETT NEWS SERVICE