Type 1 diabetes patient's mom: "It's just so crazy how brave and strong she was"

Four-year-old Chloe Hammond must be brave; she receives at least six shots every day to regulate her blood sugar, along with finger pricks. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in September during an emergent trip to Riley Hospital for Children.

Her mom, Courtneay Dellavalle-Jones, began having concerns in August when her two oldest children, Chloe and brother Chandler, contracted hand, foot, and mouth disease.

"Start of school in August, new viruses going around, and we got hit with hand, foot, and mouth," Dellavalle-Jones explained. "I have a son who has kidney disease and Hao-Fountain syndrome, and he usually gets the virus first and he usually gets it worse. She got hit worse than Chandler. I saw that as the first sign."

Dellavalle-Jones began noticing other signs pointing to Type 1 diabetes too.

"She would chug an entire water bottle within 30 seconds," Dellavalle-Jones said. "An entire water bottle and still say I'm thirsty. She started bed wetting. She's been potty trained since she was two."

Dellavalle-Jones described the day she knew Chloe needed testing to better understand her symptoms.

"On September 21 of this year, I had taken a video of them at the campground, and you could just see it in her eyes, she wasn't there," Dellavalle-Jones said. "I'm like, something is going on! It was the 22^nd of September and I was here at the school. I called maybe five times because no one was listening."

Finally, a nurse practitioner called her back and instructed her to get labs that afternoon. Six hours later, life forever changed for Chloe.

"About 9:30 at night we get a phone call," Dellavalle-Jones said. "It was the on-call nurse, she said, 'Where's Chloe?' And I said, 'In bed sleeping.' And she goes, 'Wake her up now, get her in the car, and take her to the emergency room.' Her levels came back over 700, her blood sugar was over 700. She had ketones in her urine. I threw her in the car, no shoes, in her little PJ dress, diaper on, nothing, nothing at all. That's what they said, the best thing would be, take her to Riley hospital. They confirmed it that it was Type 1 diabetes. I'm like, 'Was it because she had a KitKat when she was two years old? Why did this happen? What did I do?'"

Dr. Linda DiMeglio, Endocrinologist at Riley Hospital for Children, explained it is never a person's fault when they receive the Type 1 diabetes diagnosis.

"Type 1 diabetes has a genetic component, has an environmental component, but there's nothing you can do to prevent type 1 diabetes even if you know somebody's at risk at this point," Dr. DiMeglio explained. "There's no way right now, even if we know somebody's at risk, to fully prevent them from getting Type 1 diabetes."

Chloe was admitted to Riley and sent to the 8th floor.

"It's just so crazy how brave and strong she was knowing the routine that had just begun," Dellavalle-Jones said. "It was just the start of a whole new life."

A new chapter that requires crucial attention to detail.

"I'm fighting to get it right and the math right," Dellavalle-Jones said, explaining some of the care that makes up their daily routine. "Are you using the right insulin pen, there's two different kinds, and the spots, and the way you hold it, and the way you push down on the insulin button to make sure that you squeeze it and let go and then pull out."

While managing this autoimmune disease is all new to Chloe and her family, especially her mom, she has a village surrounding her, helping her navigate each day.

"Our school, Blue River [Valley Elementary School], they're amazing," Dellavalle-Jones said. "They all were ready to just learn and be there and support us in any way possible."

Dellavalle-Jones urges other parents and caregivers to continue pushing for answers when it comes to your child's health.

"Advocate for your child because no one else is going to do it for you and you don't want to wake up one morning and not have your baby boy or baby girl."

For all patients navigating a diabetes diagnosis, information regarding screening, clinical trials, and other research is available on the IU School of Medicine's Wells Center for Pediatric Research page.