My Hero & Inspiration

My biggest inspiration and hero is my 9 year old little sister.  Her name is Vivian Eve.   She is a beautiful blue eyed, blonde haired girl.  She is spunky and has an attitude of a teenager on her.  She is the sweetest little girl you will ever meet.  She is the youngest child out of 5 in our family, with me being the oldest!         One fall September day in 2008,  I was sitting at my parent's house babysitting Vivian, my other sister Becky was home as well.   I can remember she wanted milk.  So I gave her a glass of milk and as soon as it was gone, she wanted more. So I kept giving her milk. After about 5 small glasses, she threw up all over the couch!!! It wasn't a normal color it was pretty disgusting.  So I grabbed her hand and ran her into the bathroom.  I was freaking out, cause I didn't know what to do.  She threw up some more. I cleaned off the couch as best as I could. I called my parents, and told them everything that happened. They told me to lay her down on the couch with her puppy and a blanket, and give her water to drink. So I did just that. She drank the water and kept asking for more. I thought this was really odd for her to be drinking so much.  So my parents came home, and Vivian was on the couch watching television half asleep.  So the weekend came, and Vivian and my mom were in my uncle's wedding on September 23. Vivian was the flower girl. That whole day she looked so pale, and would not leave mom's side. She said she didn't feel good. Everyone in the family took it as she was just sick, and didn't think anymore of it. The weekend pasted and college was just starting up that Monday. Dad dropped me off at college, and then took Vivi to Dr. Glantz office. He checked her sugar and it was over 400. (The doctor's meters only read up too 400).  Dad took her to Rome Hospital, they said her sugar was over 900. They got her sugar down to a more stable level and took her by ambulance to Upstate Hospital in Syracuse! My mom met dad at Rome, and rode in the ambulance with Vivian, and dad followed behind in the van.  Mean while, my two younger sisters and brother have no idea any of this is happening. They were all in school.  My parents didn't want the kids to worry while in school. My parents were updating me, so I could figure out what to do, as far as to go home, or stay at my grandparent's house.  I told them I was going to finish classes I only had 3 hours for the day.  I called my grandparent's and they came and picked me up from school. 
Dad came home that night, at told my siblings what was going on, and that mom was going to stay at the hospital with Vivian.  When the kids went to bed, Dad told me that as soon as he walked into the Upstate hospital, found Vivi's room, he saw her eyes rolling in the back of her head and lost it and walked out.  They diagnosed her as having type 2 diabetes commonly called Juvenile Diabetes. 
 It has been a rough road these past 3 years. She is doing great now. Last year she did have a seizure and my parents called the ambulance and the fire department came and worked on her. Her blood sugar was extremely low!!!! When she came too, she told the paramedics that she had to be home in time for her soccer game at 10. 
Before she had the pod, she would get 4-8 shots of insulin daily (on a good day, when her sugar was in the normal range for her). Other days it would be 8-10 shots a day. Now, she has been on the Omni Pod for about a year. That works wonders!! We don't have to worry about giving her shots anymore. Every 3 days, my parents change her pod, and attach it to another part of her body. (Arms, stomach, backside, or her thighs) It already has the insulin in the pod. So she carries around a little monitor around with her wherever she goes. She calls it Petey!.  What it does, is she pricks her finger and it reads her blood sugar, then she eats and after she's done. The carbs in all the food she ate gets added all together, and entered into the monitor, and then we enter her blood sugar before she ate, and it gets calculated and then it tells the pod how much insulin to inject into Vivian. It's so much simpler then counting the carbs, and doing all the math then putting a needle into the vial of insulin and listening to her cry when the needle was injected into her. With having all this happen to her she has never really ever complained about it. The only thing was when she was first came home, and she wanted something to eat and she couldn't have it, she told us : I hate you, I hate diabetes!! She got over it, when we told her  she could eat pretty much what she wanted, we just had to keep an eye on how much she ate, she was overjoyed!!! 


After all this happened and I realized how strong and brave this little girl as only 6 years old going through all of that, she truly became my inspiration to get up in the morning and actually want to do something with my life, and want to be someone.  Vivian is the most incredible little girl I have ever met, not because she is just my sister, but because she is a hero to so many people.  We started a team called Vivian's Vision. Our family participates in community fundraisers, and all the proceeds go to the JDRF in hopes to find a cure for this horrible disease. She told everyone when she grows up she wants to be a doctor that helps people with the same disease she has. Now, keep in mind this girl is only 9 years old and already has her mind set on what she is going to do with the rest of her life. Her mind and heart are set!!!