Learning to live with diabetes has made Rebecca Kell just a little bit stronger
By Meg Heaton
Kell, the daughter of David and Claudia Kell of North Hudson, was 13 and in the eighth grade at the Hudson Middle School when she was diagnosed. Now a senior at Hudson High School, she thinks the month she was seriously ill before she was diagnosed has been the worst time of the entire experience. She was out of school for a month and doctors were unable to determine what was causing her extreme fatigue and painful migraines. She saw a series of doctors who theorized what might be the trouble, but it wasn't until she underwent a rather routine checkup that her diabetes was discovered. That period of not knowing was the worst for Kell, now 17. "I just remember feeling so low. I was down to 60 pounds and I couldn't lift my head off the pillow. And what made it worse was nobody knew what was wrong. I was used to my parents having all the answers back then and here they were just as clueless as I was. How can they and the doctors NOT know what's wrong? That was scary," said Kell. What may have complicated the diagnosis at the time, according to Kell, was the fact that she didn't share all the symptoms she was experiencing at the time with the doctors or her family. The migraines, because of their severity, sort of blocked everything out. She didn't think that all those trips to the bathroom had anything to do with how she was feeling, and she was shocked when a nurse told her she weighed just 60 pounds. "No way. I couldn't believe it." Immediately following the diagnosis, Kell was hospitalized at Children's Hospital St. Paul for a week to get her blood sugar under control and to learn about living with diabetes. That week in the hospital was full of mixed emotions. Kell remembers being relieved to finally know what was wrong with her, yet at the same time being overwhelmed by all the information that was coming her way and what she had to do to get her disease under control. "I remember always being hungry. They had me on a really strict diet that week and I thought, 'I'm only 13. Is this the way it is going to be the rest of my life?' " During the week in the hospital she attended classes that taught her everything she needed to know to live with diabetes. There were also classes for her family. Her grandparents attended and "my brothers even came and missed hockey." Kell gets an insulin shot twice a day, at breakfast and dinnertime. The first week after she came home her older brother Jonathan gave her the shot. Her parents gave her the shots for the week after that, but by about the third week, she was able to start giving them to herself and she has done so ever since. And once her blood sugar was back at a more acceptable level, the diet restrictions eased up as well. She still follows a regimen that keeps her blood sugar where it should be, but she learned to compensate when she eats something off her regular diet. "I once and awhile will eat a candy bar, not often, but I know what happens if I decide to do that. I know what I have to do and I know there will be consequences like a headache or something. I am pretty good about my diet and I know what I have to do to stay feeling good." Kell says she has a routine she follows regularly that includes a daily snack at about the same time every day and regular mealtime. And she exercises, in her words, "frequently not" but she's trying. She must. Since her diagnosis more than four years ago, she has maintained control of her diabetes and has not been sick once since then. Kell sees her doctor once every six months and attends a class about some topic related to diabetes as part of every appointment. Beyond staying healthy, Kell said she had also gained something else from her diagnosis - determination. "I guess I feel lucky that I learned young that I deal with something like this. It has made me a stronger person. There's a reason things like this happen. My mom thinks maybe I'll end up helping kids like me deal with something like this. At first I felt it (diabetes) hindered me. But I don't feel that way now. Now I think I've grown because of it. It's not tragic. Tragic was not knowing what was going on." Two of Kell's closest friends, Erica Rudy and Bridget Worrell know all about her diabetes and know what signs to look for in their friend if she gets in trouble. Rudy has seen her get faint and lightheaded and helped her to the nurse's office for assistance. Both girls say Kell "doesn't make a big deal out of it" and is very much in control of the disease and her life. "Sometimes kids say, 'How can you give yourself a shot every day?' I tell them that needles keep me healthy and of course I can do anything that keeps me healthy," said Kell. When they were sophomores, the three decided to participate in the annual Walk for a Cure at the Mall of America to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the Diabetes Research Foundation. Along with more than a dozen other friends and family members, they raised $500 in pledges from individuals and businesses in Hudson. They also won an award for the best team photo. Last year as juniors they raised $1,500 and won the award for the most creative team t-shirt. This year they are out again looking for pledges for the walk that takes place this Saturday. As they have always done, everyone will meet Friday night at the Kells for a sleepover where the girls get very little sleep. Most of the time is spent working on their team shirts and having fun. This year's shirt design of friends linked arm in arm was created by Rudy and appears with this story. Rudy knows that she would never have known much about diabetes or participated in the walk if not for her friend. "I didn't know anything about it except what people say about not eating sugar. Becca gave a demonstration speech on it in school and I learned so much from that." Hudson School District Nurse Sharon Kaltenberg has put Kell in touch with some elementary age students who have diabetes whom she believes Kell might help. "But I think it must be harder for those kids. They have been diagnosed so young. I mean I've only had this for four years. But I am looking forward to meeting them and working with them. I think we can help each other." Kell hasn't decided if she will attend UW-Madison or UW-Eau Claire next fall. She is planning on a career in nursing. She thinks her experience as a diabetic will be useful in her profession and will help her relate to and support her patients someday. She admits to some nervousness about living away from home on her own with diabetes but quickly talks herself out of it. "It will just be a matter of getting into a new routine, getting control of things in a new place one day at a time." She says she is not afraid to tell a roommate or new friends about diabetes. "I've found that people are willing to learn. They may be scared a little at first but the more open I am about it, the more relaxed we all are, the more they understand this is just the way my life is and it really isn't that big a deal." Kell is optimistic that a cure for her disease will be found in her lifetime, maybe even within the next 10 to 15 years. She says she would not like to have children until a cure is found. "I think it must be much harder for kids who are diagnosed when they are very young. I wouldn't want that for my child. But I think the cure is very close." In the meantime she will walk with her friends and family on Saturday, knowing something about them and about herself that she might not have known so young or appreciated as much if not for diabetes. Said Kell, "I know that I am loved and that there are lots of people who are there for me. And I know that I can get through just about any struggle there is because of that support." To make a pledge for this year's Walk for a Cure, call Kell at 386-8177.
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