InKredible Kids
A podcast with Kosher content geared toward empowering Jewish kids of all ages. We interview kids from around the world and have many interactive segments for all kids to enjoy. While having fun and learning new skills, kids will hear about responsibility, empathy, confidence, and more!
InKredible Kids
Living with Diabetes: Stories, Routines, and Resilience
In this episode of the InKredible Kids Podcast, you’re going to meet two InKredible kids, Shira and Noah, who both live with diabetes — and you’ll see how the same challenge can look completely different for different people.
You’ll hear Shira explain what diabetes actually means in a calm, kid-friendly way. She talks about pumps, beeps, carbs, school, camp, and learning how to manage something big — without letting it define who she is.
Then you’ll meet Noah, who brings you right into his world of sports, recess, and real-life moments where diabetes shows up at the most inconvenient times. From getting pulled out of a football game to dealing with beeping devices and juice breaks, Noah shares what it’s really like — with honesty, humor, and heart.
This episode is not just for kids who have diabetes.
This episode is for you if:
• you’re dealing with any kind of challenge
• you want to be a better friend
• you’re curious about what other kids might be going through
• or you need the reminder that you are not your diagnosis
As you listen, you’ll learn:
• how challenges don’t define you
• how technology can help — but courage matters too
• how asking “Are you okay?” can make a big difference
• and how being a good friend doesn’t mean fixing — it means showing up
Shira and Noah show you that you can live a full, fun, meaningful life — even when something hard is part of your story.
💛 Help Spread the InKredible
If this episode meant something to you:
• share it with a friend, classmate, or family member
• follow and rate the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts
• tell others about the InKredible Kids Podcast
Putting together episodes like this takes many hours of planning, interviewing, and editing — and sharing is the biggest way you help keep this going.
Dedication opportunities are available.
If you want to dedicate an episode, email info@inkrediblekids.org.
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Thanks for listening — and never forget:
You are an InKredible Kid. 💙
Hey kids, welcome back to the next episode of the Incredible Kids Podcast. My name is Lord Searies, and I will be your host through this incredible journey. We are going to meet many incredible kids. They are going to share with us their stories. Some of them super cool and different like you've never heard before. And some you may say are just ordinary, but all of them incredible.
SPEAKER_05:If you have great ideas, email me today at iKidspodcast at gmail.com. And now it's time for Inscribable!
SPEAKER_06:It's time for the joke of the day! Yay! Today's joke is brought to you by Pachava G from Great Neck, New York.
SPEAKER_04:Why shouldn't you write with a broken pencil? Because it's pointless.
SPEAKER_06:Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Incredible Kids Podcast. Thank you to all of you who sent me feedback about an episode we put out right before Hanukkah with Mrs. Slovey Wolf. The messages, the voice notes, the emails, they mean so much to me. And if you didn't get a chance yet to listen to that episode yet, you have to go back and listen. I really recommend listening to that one as a family, parents and kids together, or parents on their own, or of course kids on their own. There are so many pearls of wisdom and such meaningful takeaways for families. A mom wrote to me and said that after listening, she decided that this Hanukkah, she wanted her kids to focus, like we talked about, on giving rather than getting. To quote Mrs. Wolf, she said, instead of what did I get, what did I get? What did I get? We're gonna be saying, What will I give? What will I give? What will I give? This mom sat down with her kids and together they made beautiful cards. They baked Hanukkah cookies, and on Hanukkah itself, they did this, and then one of the days of Hanukkah, they brought all of this to their local nursing home and they handed out those cards and the cookies. And the residents there were so happy. She said it made all of them happy. Her and her kids felt so good, and of course, everyone there appreciated it so much. These people were so bored and they were just so excited to see children and happiness. And she sent me pictures of it. When I saw that though, I said to my kids, okay, we gotta do this too. We didn't do the cookies because Barcha Shamar House is a little hectic these days, but we did make the cards, really pretty ones. We all spent time sitting there with stickers and decorations, and then we went to the nursing home right before Chavez. We sat with some of the residents there and we spent time with them and we did silly dances with them, and it really felt so good to make a difference, this Hanukkah. And I hope that it lasts after Hanukkah, this spirit of giving, giving, giving. So thank you for inspiring us from our listeners. It reminded us how powerful it is to be inspired and then do something about it right away. So if any of you dear listeners also have some sort of impact to share, we would love to hear about it. And now let's talk about today's episode. We're gonna hear from two kids, a girl named Shera and a boy named Noah. They both have diabetes. You're gonna hear from them separately, because even though they technically have the same diagnosis, like they have the same health condition with their body, their experiences are so different from each other, of course. And that's really a big idea we're gonna talk about. Like how everyone's lives look so different. There's like an infinite amount of ways that people can deal with their problems and the way that affects their lives. So we're gonna start with She-Ra. She's gonna explain some of the bigger words and the ideas that come up when people talk about diabetes because there could be some of this new like vocabulary to learn. Not in a scary way, just so that kids and adults, anyone who's listening, will understand what we're talking about. I actually learned a lot myself and hear some of her experiences. And once we have that understanding, when you listen to the second part of the episode with our interview with Noah, and you'll hear his experience and his perspective, you'll understand what some of those things are already. What you'll notice is that really their experiences are so different. The things they choose to share are so different because people are different. Surprise! Spoiler alert. And of course, guys, that's not just for diabetes, it's for anything in life. In this episode, we're also gonna talk about the role of friends. If you're wondering, like, why would I need to hear about this? Well, there's so much we can learn from it. When you wanna understand what other people are going through, one of the best things you could do is learn about it, even just a little bit so that you understand, and then see how you can be helpful. What does it mean to be a good friend to someone who's dealing with something hard and maybe scary for you to hear about, not familiar? How can we be helpful and not be like awkward? How can we support them? And if you are listening and you have some sort of diagnosis, whether it's diabetes or something else, I want you to know that this episode is for you as well, because all the things that you're dealing with do not need to hold you back in any way, and you can have a full, amazing, joyful life with the challenges that you're dealing with. And if you don't have a diagnosis, it's also for you because this is gonna help you be more mindful, you'll be more understanding, you'll be kinder, and you'll be able to look around kids at school, at camp, at recess, in the neighborhood, and start thinking, I don't know what they're going through, or I might know a little bit about what they're going through. But everybody has something, and I'm just gonna try to be a little more understanding of those around me. So let's start listening and never forget that every single person's story matters. And now introducing She-Ra. Shera, I am so excited that you're here, and I want you to share your cheerful energy with everybody. So, Shera, tell us about yourself.
SPEAKER_01:Hi everyone, I'm Shera, and I go to NSCI. I live in Baltimore. I'm in eighth grade.
SPEAKER_06:How old are you now? 13. When did you find out that you had type 1 diabetes? In like the end of sixth grade, so like a little bit over a year and a half ago, I guess. So let's go back there. What made you and your parents realize that something was going on with you?
SPEAKER_01:So we caught it really early. Usually, like most diabetics come into the doctor's office sick. I wasn't sick. I just lost a lot of weight. Um how we found that out is I got like a skirt from my cousin and I had to like seamstress it, and she made it a lot looser. And I tried it on, I was gonna wear it, and it completely fell off. So my mother realized something was wrong. So we went to the doctor and we did blood tests, and my doctor we found out on Chavez, actually. Yeah. You found that on Chavez. How does that work? So my doctor, she's not Jewish, but she came to our house. She's a really good doctor.
SPEAKER_06:She came to your house to tell you the results. Yeah, she came to tell us. Okay, because I guess that kind of blood test results is a little bit urgent.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, because I was very high, so she wanted to make sure I got hooked up on T Ivy. Wow.
SPEAKER_06:Okay, so that was a turning point. So take us back there to that Shabbos. For people who are listening at home, I don't want you to worry that you have no idea what we're talking about, because we're gonna explain all of the big words that she's saying in a moment. So on Shabbos, what happened?
SPEAKER_01:She just knocked on the door, like So yes, she knocked on the door, like my father answered a door. Her name's Dr. King. My father was like, Dr. King's here. My mother's like, What? Like he thought my brother's. Yeah, she never comes to our house.
SPEAKER_06:So what part of Shabbos was it?
SPEAKER_01:We were like about to start our meal. Oh gosh. Yeah, happens to be my niece who's like three weeks. My sister-in-law and brother were by her house. And my grandmother, like it was like the kiddish. Whoa. Yeah, we had a guest, and my father had to like care of the meal.
SPEAKER_06:So she comes inside, she knocks on the door, she's like, Hi, I have to talk. And then she breaks the. I spoke to my parents and she's like, Yeah, so I don't know.
SPEAKER_01:I think she might have like type one diabetes. And my mom was like, Um, what do you mean? Like I was like, Okay, what do you like think we should do now? She's like, I think you should go to the hospital. So my mother's like, Should we drive? Should we walk? Like she was discussing it with my father, and then my doctor's like, Oh, I could drive you. So she drove us and we got to the hospital. Let's focus on you for a second. What are you thinking right now? First I was just like, Hey, whatever, because my doctor said, Oh, it's fine. Like, all our patients that have diabetes, like they're totally normal, they're totally fine after like they get used to it. I do not like needles, so she's like, You have to get IV. I was like, No.
SPEAKER_06:Already not worth it. Um Did you know anyone before who had diabetes, or it was like completely foreign to you? Like, I don't know what you're talking about.
SPEAKER_01:Like, my sister's friend has it, and I was just like, Okay, what is it? It meant nothing to you. Yeah. Okay. I was scared. I was in the emergency room. I got admitted to the hospital. I had to start taking shots. You have to test your blood sugar, which is like what your numbers are. And depending on that, you take insulin. Okay.
SPEAKER_06:For everyone listening, if you're confused, which I would be also, like, what are you talking about? Why do you need so many shots? Like, what's happening over here? What's insulin? What is diabetes? What's type one? Like, so we have a lot of questions, but that's probably exactly what you felt like in that time. I don't know what everyone's talking about, right? Like, I'm just a kid. I'm just a sixth grader. Like, I was just having my niece's kiddish. Like, this was not supposed to happen. That must have been extremely overwhelming and new for you. And now I just want to give you the opportunity to explain just a little bit. It's not gonna be like super boring for people. We're not trying to tell people, like, okay, if this is how you feel, this is what's gonna happen. Because it's a pretty rare thing. It's not something that like people have to be worried about. It's gonna, let's say, happen to them, but if it were to happen, or if they were to know somebody else in sleepway camp or in their class or in their neighborhood or in their family, they could kind of understand what they're going through and not be like so afraid of all these like words that kind of like normally would fly over your head. That's the purpose. Shira, do you feel comfortable explaining what diabetes actually is?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, sure. So everyone has insulin in their body, but someone that has type one, the difference between type one and type two, type one is genetic, but sometimes you could just get it, like that's what happened to me. But type two is like most like older people that are unhealthy, they get it. That's like a lot of people are taking Ozempic now. That's what people with type two take. But type one is when someone, their pancreas produces insulin.
SPEAKER_06:Where is your pancreas? Obviously, you can't see it on the outside. Do you know where it is in your body? I think it's under your liver.
SPEAKER_00:Who lives in the abdomen next to the spleen? Oh pancreas!
SPEAKER_01:It helps your liver, and also in your blood, you have like sugar, right? So when your sugar goes up, the insulin brings it like down. So it keeps your blood sugar under control. Otherwise, no one would feel good if their blood sugar was always high.
SPEAKER_06:So the job of the pancreas is to make insulin in connection to how much sugar is currently in your body. So if you have a lot of sugar in your blood, because your body has taken in a lot of sugar, then your body's gonna have to also make a lot of insulin to like even it out, right? Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Basically, anytime you eat, you've got insulin. Any carbs has sugar. It's not really about the sugar, it's more about the carbs.
SPEAKER_06:Carbs is short for carbohydrates. And you probably did not I I would imagine that before you got diabetes, you probably couldn't care less about carbs. What in the world is a carbohydrate, anyways, right?
SPEAKER_00:Come on, carbohydrate! I am carbohydrate, carbohydrate. The energy source, carbohydrate. Potatoes, we potatoes, rice, and wheat. I'm the main energy source for your body.
SPEAKER_01:It's like a nutritional fact, and it says, like, how many grams of something is in a food. So that's what I take insulin based on.
SPEAKER_06:You have to figure out how many carbs you're eating. Let's say in a packaged food, where would you find it?
SPEAKER_01:Okay, even check on your cereal boxes. It says the measurement by the like nutritional facts, it says like how much sugar, how much that, whatever. And then it says carbs, and it says how much carbs is for half a cup, let's say, of Cheerios.
SPEAKER_06:So I guess in the beginning, you probably were checking all of the time for sure. Even for your parents, like anyone who's helping you, I don't know how many carbs are in Cheerios. Like, most people don't walk around knowing this information by heart. Plus, if it's something that you can't find on a nutrition label, like an orange, like Heshim's fruits don't come with nutrition labels, you have to learn that kind of stuff. How is that process of figuring out? Like, okay, so I'm gonna need to take insulin. And again, you're taking this insulin because your body's pancreas is not working the way it should. That's the problem with people with diabetes. So you need to basically give your body an insulin boost every time you eat carbs, which is crazy because, like you said, every time we eat, we're taking in carbs, even if it's not a sugary thing.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. It's like a lot of mass, it's like a little annoying. It's like more common with like homemade stuff, because my mother doesn't like when she, let's say, makes muffins. It's like very hard to figure out how much flour is this, whatever. The dietitian, the person that like came and like told us, like, oh yeah, you have to like calculate carbs, like how you do it. The technology is like insane nowadays. There's like apps that you could like put in and it calculates it for you. That's just amazing. Also, a lot of stuff you could like Google.
SPEAKER_06:Mm-hmm. And now with Chat GPT, you could take a picture of a recipe and it would do it. Yeah, and say, okay, like this recipe made me 12 muffins. How many carbs are in each muffin? That's one way of using technology to help us, actually. You said you were terrified of needles. That's something that I'm sure a lot of kids could relate to. Eventually, you didn't have to. You got the IV in the hospital, but then you probably learned soon after that people with diabetes have to prick themselves and give themselves these insulin shots when they're eating. That must have been horrible.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I still don't like needles. It more applied in the beginning because it used to be a lot worse. Now they have like all these like devices. So I have like a pump and they have a Dexcom. So for like a person that doesn't have these things, they have to take shots like that have insulin. So you have to use a needle for shots. And also there's a thing called a finger stick. Like you put a needle on your finger, basically, and blood comes out of your finger and you test it. But I have something called a DAXCOM, which most people have when they're diabetic. It's really cool. It like reads your blood sugar like every five minutes. It updates, and you only have to change it every 10 days, so much better than doing it like every time you want to know.
SPEAKER_06:Like, how are you supposed to know if your blood is good or bad and if you're if you need more or less insulin or whatever, instead of pricking yourself all the time, you have this device. Where do you wear it?
SPEAKER_01:They say to wear it on your arm, but I wear it on my thighs, but for some reason it doesn't really work so well, like wherever I put it. So I like switch it around a lot. Like I do it on my stomach also. It's attached through a needle? It's basically this like small circle. I have like a device, there's like a wire Bluetooth. I have a phone. It's really cool. Like my parents and my doctor could track me wherever I am. Like, could be in Africa and they could still track me in my house. It's really cool.
SPEAKER_06:As long as you have Wi-Fi. Yeah, you have to have the tooth. Because the idea is you want to see numbers that are in a safe zone for you. It's annoying that you can't figure out like the right placement for it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It works most of the time.
SPEAKER_06:So what do the numbers mean? What numbers are you looking for?
SPEAKER_01:It's above and below. So for me, like you have a range and I have a range. So my range is let's say in between 100 and like 180. In between that, it's not like high, it's like in between. Like it's not like the best. Like after I eat, I usually go to let's say like 200, 215, whatever. 250 is considered high. Really high is like 350. Also, there's like something called lows. Let's say my numbers are at 70 or like there's like different symptoms for when someone's high or low. So for low, it's like it could be very dangerous. If you go to a certain number low, I don't know, like 10. It doesn't really happen with DEXCOMs because it alerts you. But for people, right. That's why it's convenient. For someone where it's not working or they don't have one, it could be really dangerous when you go low because you couldn't.
SPEAKER_06:So that going low could happen from not having enough sugar on your body or having like, let's say, too much insulin that got rid of too much sugar. Exactly, yeah. And now suddenly your body's like, hey, we need sugar to survive. Right. And by the way, when we say sugar, we don't mean like always eat candy your whole life. It just means that like to survive, you need these carbs. That's very important. So what do you do when you are, let's say, high? If you get like an alert, like, oh my gosh, you just had something that made you spike to I don't know, 350. What happens?
SPEAKER_01:So on high, the first step, the only thing you could do is take insulin, because insulin is what brings you down. So that's what you like. There's nothing really to do for highs. You have to like wait, because it could be dangerous if you take too much, then you below, whatever. But if you're like crazy high, there's something called ketones, and it could be really dangerous. It could like make someone like get sick.
SPEAKER_06:When you get high, the insulin's job is to bring it down. And you said that now you have a pump, so you don't need to take shots of insulin, right? How does the pump work?
SPEAKER_01:So my pump is basically like my pancreas, it's from outside. So since everyone's pancreas is in their body, it like takes like a few minutes to kick in. So since it's outside, it takes 20 minutes to go in. I have to like do it before I eat.
SPEAKER_06:How much before you eat? Do you have to think about like what you're gonna eat for the meal to know how much insulin to give yourself?
SPEAKER_01:So there's like a few different types of insulin. There's like one that's like quicker, like it takes like a few minutes. But I was like getting allergic reactions when I think shocked. So I switched over to like one it takes like a teeny bit longer. I should have to do it like 10 minutes before.
SPEAKER_06:We take for granted that we could just pop food into our mouths with a working pancreas. Like, gotta be careful that we don't eat totally unhealthily, but we could eat a range of foods and our body knows what to do. But here you have to really think before like I'm gonna be having a hot dog and a bun for supper with french fries, but how many french fries? One, two, three, four, five. Some people are like, okay, I'll start eating french fries. Hopefully, I'll eat a hundred. But you're like, no, if I eat 10 French fries or 100 French fries, I'm gonna need a very different amount of insulin, right? Right. Exactly. So do you ever like adjust it while you're eating and you're like, actually, like, I'm still hungry, I need more.
SPEAKER_01:So once it's in my body, I can't like take it out. But if I have supper and I decide, oh, I want to have ice cream, so then I just take more insulin and then I like wait a few minutes and I have the ice cream. Wow. Yeah. What does the pump look like? It looks a little scary, but it's fine. I keep it in like a pouch, sort of, for people that can't see. It's crazy. Yeah, I have a I have a case, don't worry. It looks like an iPod. Basically, it's a screen. It says my number over here. Uh-huh. And then my Dexcom is connected to my pump. And then over here, I could see like from the past like six hours, 24 hours. It's really cool.
SPEAKER_06:And could you control all of that from the app on your phone?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:I've seen it before, but this one's really cute. For the listener, Shira is holding up her pump and it has like a rubber case around it that's a pink and purple and blue tie-dye. So fun. So, you know, you gotta make it, you have to make it interesting. Otherwise, it's just very scary-looking and boring and not exciting. Is this something that you're generally like comfortable talking about? Like the fact that we're even talking about this now or with your friends at school, how do you usually deal with that?
SPEAKER_01:So I'm not like quiet. I'm the type of person that like tells everyone everything. Before I even came to school, like everyone knew that I got diagnosed with diabetes. I'm very open about it. I know someone that's very hard for her because she doesn't tell anyone about it and it's like a little dangerous. Like for emergencies.
SPEAKER_06:Right. People don't necessarily know, especially when you're a kid and you're in school. I mean, I'm sure you're much more professional than many people, you know, out there right now because you've been dealing with this for over a year and a half, but there's just so much that you'd be confused about. You have a Sium in school, you have a Malava Malka at school, you go on a Shabbaton. If you're so private about it, you could be very anxious and worried the whole time that like you're doing something wrong. Right. Yeah. Have you ever had any situations like that where you were in a challenge? Spot and you're like, I don't know what I'm supposed to do, and you had to look for help.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so last year we went on a trip. It was really fun, and my infusion set that's how I get my insulin because that's how it's attached to my body. It's like a whole like launcher situation. There's like a little like straw. It's like not I need. There's like a clip. It doesn't hurt when I take it off. It's like a peeling off a band-aid. Wow. So I was on a trip and for some reason I brought every single thing besides infusion set. Of course, the time I didn't bring one, it came out. Oh no! And I didn't bring any like shots with me because I thought nothing would happen. So I cannot eat anything and I went like really, really high because I ate like candy before. When I'm off insulin, I get really high. Like if I'm not like doing exercise for any active activity, then I go really, really high. I was at like 400 when I got home. It wasn't like an overnight trip. It was just a day trip. We went in the morning and I came back at like five in the afternoon.
SPEAKER_06:Whoa. So you basically like fasted because you're like, if I eat any more, it could be very good.
SPEAKER_01:And also I get like really thirsty when I'm high. Like that's just like one of the results, I guess.
SPEAKER_06:So I was really thirsty. Do you have like a special bag with you that you bring around with like all these like extra things that you might need? No, but I should. I know people with diabetes who have like a special purse or a fanny pack or Yeah, a fanny pack. I'm not like specially use it.
SPEAKER_01:I I should really get something. Do you carry a phone with you for the purpose of the app? Yeah, and I got it because otherwise, like if there's an emergency, I have my mother and my father's number on my phone. I just call my parents. I keep it in my knapsack pocket and my pump just beeps whenever I need to do something.
SPEAKER_06:So I was gonna ask you about the beeping. When your pump or your phone app starts beeping, that either you're high or you're low or something's off.
SPEAKER_01:How do you usually react to that? So my pump does a lot of things. There's like a lot of things that beeps for. Beeps for like changing my infusion set. So that's every three days it has like a different beep. I'm already used to it. I already know what it is.
SPEAKER_06:Okay. It's like when your car dashboard, like when there's like the check engine light, it could be like 50 different things. Yeah, you just like no.
SPEAKER_01:There's a lot of different beeps. Like there's one for like high going up very quickly. That's also another really cool thing about Dexcoms. It shows what direction you're going in. Let's say I'm steady, it shows like an arrow going straight. If I'm going up really, really quickly, it shows two arrows.
SPEAKER_06:Very technologically advanced. So cool. This is such a new phase for people with diabetes. People who had this kind of situation years ago, like not even such a long time ago. Like it must have been so scary and hard to manage it. Yeah. Take shots. So when you hear the beeps, you kind of know already like what's like in school. If it beeps when you're with your friends in school or camp, are they used to it or do they like get alarmed?
SPEAKER_01:Whenever they're like used to it, like everyone like starts like laughing. Like hemisphere, it always beeps like at the perfect timing, like when it's like silent or like when the principal's in the room.
SPEAKER_06:But I could see that being so embarrassing for people. Like you have such a good nature about it. I can imagine some people like you mentioned you know someone before who was like mortified, you know? Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:It is everyone like turns, like looks around. Let's say, for example, in Chicago for my cousin Bar Mitzvah, a lot of people are like, Oh my gosh, is the oven beeping? I'm like, No, no, no, it's me.
SPEAKER_06:And they're like, What? You have diabetes? Oh, you vee. And you're like, I'm fine. Did you ever have a moment where you felt really proud of yourself? Like, I'm sure you've come a long way in terms of handling it. Have you become more independent to the point that you're like, Wow, I got this. Like I could really do so much more on my own than I could have. Well, I go to sleepway camp, so I guess I go to sleepway camp.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I actually went going into seventh. I got diagnosed like a month before camp and I still went. That's wow.
SPEAKER_06:And that was your first time going to sleepway camp. Yeah. That is brave.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it was a little scary, but it was really fun.
SPEAKER_06:I mean, it would be kind of horrible if you had to like cancel your plans because you felt like you weren't prepared to deal with that. But then it'd be like, seriously, diabetes has to ruin my life and my summer.
SPEAKER_01:That's what my doctor said. I have a really good doctor. But my other doctor, he moved to Saudi Arabia. He was an heir. He was a really good doctor. And usually most people, when they get diabetes, the reason why you do shots is because in case of like a malfunction. So if they don't teach anyone how to do shots, they're never gonna know how to do it. And if something goes wrong, it's gonna be really dangerous. Understood.
SPEAKER_06:Like if your pump is not working and you don't know how to take care of yourself with the regular insulin shots, then you're stuck. Right.
SPEAKER_01:Most people you have to do it for three months. So my doctor somehow he got I was only I only had to do it for a month. And I was able to go to camp. And the nurse, I didn't even know till when I got home. But my parents told me that the nurse called on like the second day of camp. She's like, I don't know. We might have to send her home. Like my parents are very worried.
SPEAKER_06:By the way, I just have to say that I'm remembering now. You didn't get diagnosed so long ago. It's like let's say a year and a half ago. Right away, you were like, I got diabetes, I want to be on a podcast. Do you remember? And I was like, okay, could you just adjust to life for a minute? I'm sure you'll have a lot more to say in some more time. Exactly. It's so funny. And then when I was like telling my kids that I want to do an episode on diabetes, they're like, Well, you have to ask Shira if she wants to be part of it. Yeah, it's big hawk. But you know what? You normalize that. You make it that if this is what has to be, and this is obviously what Hashem chose for you, then you're rocking it and you're showing that yes, you can be a fun, normal kid. It could be pen classical, just laugh about it. I'm sure there's times that it gets really annoying and frustrating. How do you deal with that? Do you have those moments often? What does that feel like or look like for you?
SPEAKER_01:I don't like express it so much, but sometimes it's just like frustrating. Like a lot of times it doesn't like bother me, but like there's always those times. Like when I do the infusion or like the DAXCom, it just like burns, it hurts.
SPEAKER_06:Different discomforts that like you don't even necessarily think about when you think of someone with diabetes. Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01:Also, like a lot of times when I go like up or down, I don't feel so good. Not comfortable. Right.
SPEAKER_06:It really shows us that the amount of sugar that's in our body really affects our moods. For anybody, think about it. You have this very clear way of seeing that without insulin, your body's gonna go nuts. Like, for example, when you're high, like what does it feel like? What does your body feel like doing?
SPEAKER_01:I feel like I get more hyper when I'm low for some reason. No, for low, also it's like both mix. But there's always different symptoms. Like every time is different. So for me, a lot of times, like I get very thirsty and like very like hot. I get either very tired or very hyper. Mostly for low, I get like very dizzy and like colds, but whenever I'm high or low, I feel a certain feeling that like, oh my gosh, I'm high. Okay, now I feel like I'm thirsty. Like I'm low, oh my gosh, I feel like dizzy, like just like automatic.
SPEAKER_06:You know something's off. Exactly. We talked about what happens when you're high. When you're low, your numbers are dropping. What do you do to bring up your numbers? Because insulin in that situation is not going to help.
SPEAKER_01:So you just take sugars. Everyone's body is different. So what makes me go up really quickly is juice. So I have like these small like juice boxes and also fruit sticks. Really, any candy works, but for me, juice is the fastest. Someone told me that rape juice helps. I tried it, not for me. A lot of times my mother has to wake me up in the middle of the night. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_06:Your mother has to wake up in the middle of the night because it starts beeping that you're low. Yeah. What if you have a snack before you go to sleep?
SPEAKER_01:Does that help? Before I go to sleep, a lot of times I check my numbers. Oh, I'm I'm at like 1k, so maybe I should have like a bar or something to eat.
SPEAKER_06:So that's why you're saying that it's important that your parents also have that app on their phone so they can hear those beeps in the middle of the night in case you're sleeping through it. This way somebody I always I sleep through every night. That would be me also, by the way. I've slept through fire alarms before. That was like when I was younger. They were like knocking on my door. They're like, Siri, get off. Oh, a family standing outside. It was like nothing. Someone burned toast, probably. I feel like now I sleep a little bit later now that I'm a mother for a Hashem. It's like mother, they never sleep. We all complain sometimes. But you're not like a complainer. Do you know what I mean? You're not a kfetch. Some people, their struggles that they're always k'fetching. Like I feel like, yeah, you're allowed to admit that something's difficult and hard, but I feel like your personality is that you're not gonna just go around like expressing how annoyed you are all day about it. When you found out that you had this diabetes, I'm sure that it made a lot of emotions and thoughts go through your mind. Did you accept this right away? Like this is my situation, this is what Hashem wants, or did that take time to work on? Took time.
SPEAKER_01:Like when I got like used to my pumpkin actually having it, I guess I accepted it. I found that there's like a lot of people in a community that have it. In the beginning it was like very hard, like always that's just how it works.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Is it like a secret club or it's like something that like people know about? Both. You found out about all these other people. Were they all willing to share with you, or it was almost like, hey, shh, we have diabetes also, don't tell anyone, you know?
SPEAKER_01:So the people in Baltimore that I found out. The people that know them, like all their friends, that they're all like good about it. So most people like people know that they have it. It's very hard to hide.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. If there's a kid out there who finds out that they are a diabetic, that they have diabetes, what advice would you tell them?
SPEAKER_01:So at first it's very, like, very overwhelming. And then it's just like another thing to do before you eat and like you get used to it. They're just like, oh, I'm about to eat. Okay, so I have to take insulin. A lot of times I even like forget about it. Like that's what they hear. Yeah. My grandmother always asks me, Oh, now that you're like on a pump, like, like you don't think about it. I'm like, yeah, I don't really think about it. Only like before like meals, I'm like, oh my gosh, okay, I have to take insulin.
SPEAKER_06:I don't think about it all day. That's great. What would you say to somebody who's a friend to someone who has diabetes who wants to be helpful, but they're not sure how.
SPEAKER_01:Be supportive. If let's say the person like acting like strange, I used to ask them, Are you okay? Like a lot of times when I'm like not myself, my friends always ask me, Oh, are you okay? Like, is everything alright? So just like be a supportive friend, and like I'm telling you, like I always appreciate when everyone asks me, just be a good friend. In general, just be a good friend.
SPEAKER_06:Always be a good friend. Basic. Exactly. And also like know what your friend wants. Like some people are the type that don't mind answering a thousand questions, and some people, even if they're not private about it, still don't want to talk about it the whole day. They don't want to be, let's say, known as the kid with diabetes. They want to be themselves, and if you have a question occasionally, like we could talk about it. Some people think it's open season to say whatever you want. Like that's also not okay.
SPEAKER_01:Also, like give them space, I guess. I feel like if they want to tell you something, they'll tell you.
SPEAKER_06:It's a very mature way of looking at it. I don't know if you can tell it in yourself, but I'm sure those people who spend a lot of time around you might notice that it kind of makes you more mature in a lot of ways, Shera. Having this sort of situation, becoming responsible enough to deal with it, and obviously, like your parents have to have a certain amount of trust in you. It's a big deal. Your life is precious, and you're doing a great job. It forces you to grow up a little bit. Yes, thank you. I'm so impressed. I'm curious to know about fast days, because you're already 13. So what happens on a fast day?
SPEAKER_01:So, really, I never fasted because I got diagnosed like right after my boss mitzvah, a few weeks after Pesach. So I never really fasted. Only like last Yom Kippur, I did she rem. It's like when you have like teeny bits of food and only certain foods at like certain amount of times and like certain amounts of whatever your rub says. But a lot of people could fast and a lot of people can't. It happens to be the first fast I did actually was this Yom Kippur. Usually I go low because I don't eat or my thing gives me insulin, but I did a whole Yum Kippur this year.
SPEAKER_06:That's something that I guess people with diabetes have to talk to their doctor and their rev, and they'd be surprised that sometimes even though it seems like it's the most important thing in the world to fast, it's more important to take care of your health if it's actually dangerous.
SPEAKER_01:One of my family friends, he has diabetes, and they never knew it was like possible. Like only five years ago they came out with like pumps and all these crazy things. So he never started fasting. He never tried to fast. I guess the younger you are, the more easier it is to try.
SPEAKER_06:You're already going into it with more ability to be able to like manage what's happening. So it's like, okay, I could always keep track and see how it's going. Super. I guess on the fast day you have to let your rabbi in the app also, right? No, because he doesn't look. He doesn't never iphone. Right, because that's gonna happen. But I'm also saying, like, even on Shabbos, like you mentioned, you have to check your numbers on Shabbos. Like, these are things that show us the Torah values.
SPEAKER_01:Shabbos is a little tricky, but right.
SPEAKER_06:It's tricky, but you're not we're not gonna get into all the like all the different hello, but as much as it's important to keep Shabbos taking care of our bodies and doing this is like super uh if not more important. I just want you to finish this sentence for me. Diabetes does not stop me from it doesn't stop me from like anything.
SPEAKER_01:I could still be a normal person. It doesn't stop me from going to school, going to camp, like being a normal person. I could eat any food besides like very sugary food. I could go on trips, I could basically be a normal person. I just have to press a button on a device and I have to take insulin. I just have to think a little bit more about what I eat. It's amazing how it works nowadays. I could do basically anything a normal person that doesn't have diabetes could do.
SPEAKER_06:Fantastic. Well, you should stay healthy and Hashem should continue to give you this simchayim and this willpower to just keep prevailing and pushing through. I know, Shera, that people are gonna be listening to this and they're going to be inspired for many reasons. Incredible Kids has been around now for almost three years, and I've gotten so many emails from people specifically saying my child has diabetes and they want to know that other people experience challenges, specifically with diabetes. It's just so crazy. I mean, we have a lot of listeners, so it doesn't mean that everyone has it. It just means that there are lots of different kids in lots of different communities around the world struggling with this. And this is the same for any struggle, really, because whatever you're going through, chances are there's lots of other people going through it also. So this really gives us an inkling into what it feels like, what it looks like, what it could look like once you're used to something. Like let's say somebody just finds out news now and you listen and they're like, wow, Shera sounds awesome and it's a year and a half in. I can do this too. Come on, you can do it. And for those who bar Hashem have a healthy pancreas, and Hashem should bless everyone's pancreas that it should continue working properly. We can be more understanding and we can look out, like you said, sometimes ask what's going on, sometimes try to help, but like just understanding what our friends are going through is really big. And also just not being afraid of talking about medical terms. Like it's fine. Don't be afraid exactly. Any final parting thoughts for people in general struggling with any sort of challenge, whether people know about it or they don't.
SPEAKER_01:So, first of all, you should be strong about it. And if you ever need help, ask for help.
SPEAKER_06:Shera, thanks for sharing and thanks for being such a huge part of Incredible Kids. Thanks for having me. Bye. And now please enjoy this interview with Noah. Noah, I can't believe how grown up you've gotten since I saw you last. Remember we were neighbors? Yep, I remember. Those were fun times. Now it's been a couple years and a lot has changed, especially in your life. Yep. What are you into these days? Baseball, football, sports, that kind of stuff. Sounds normal. Tell everybody about yourself. Just a little introduction.
SPEAKER_04:I'm in middle school. I'm 11 years old. I like to play sports also.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah, mostly I just do sports because that's all that I have in mind. That's on your mind all day. You're still into Lego? I feel like you had a Lego phase. No, not really. That was like when I knew you. And maybe also Harry Potter. A little bit. A little bit. It's like a phase that goes in and out. You were a pretty early reader. Yeah. I remember you were reading books like that, and I was like, whoa. Yeah, my dad helped me most of the time. Good times. Okay, so tell us about the diabetes journey that you have. Yeah. So, how old were you when you first found out that you had diabetes?
SPEAKER_04:I was eight years old. I think I was 29. My mom was taking me to an appointment for a pre-op for dental work. My mom told my doctor all like the symptoms and things that were happening. We're about to walk out, and the doctor wanted to get my urine real quick so then she could just see if anything was wrong. And then after that, she sent us to the hospital. And then they told us that my numbers were 63, which is really high. They were shocking. Crazy high. Yeah, almost a thousand. Wow. So that is crazy. That's how my life turned upside down and it's been crazy ever since.
unknown:Woo!
SPEAKER_06:Do you feel like your life has gotten increasingly crazier or like it was super crazy in the beginning and now it's kind of more like a controlled crazy?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I think that now it's controlled. Like it's gotten easier over time and I'm handling it better.
SPEAKER_06:That's a really mature way of phrasing it. It totally just throws everything into chaos. Speak to that a little bit, if you remember, because it was almost like three years ago at this point. It's my third year. Crazy stat right there. We're gonna steal a baseball term. Yeah. Crazy, you're in your third year. You're no rookie anymore, right?
SPEAKER_04:Nice one! Yep, and especially my sister now. She has diabetes.
SPEAKER_06:That's crazy because as we'll discuss, it doesn't even run in your family. Like it's just so nuts.
SPEAKER_04:Like they said it was a 5% chance um for a sibling to get it. And look at you.
SPEAKER_06:Lucky lucky. Five percent. Yep. So let's go back to your story for a minute. It totally comes out of the blue. No one in your family has diabetes. Like grandparents, like whole family history.
SPEAKER_04:No one.
SPEAKER_06:What was the biggest change for you?
SPEAKER_04:Probably when I found out that I was gonna have to use needles. I had a huge needle phobia before. It was hard for me to adjust, but now that I have a pump on, it's way better.
SPEAKER_06:From my understanding, it takes time for kids' pumps to be available and approved for them to use right away. Yeah. How long was the period that you had to keep getting shots? I think eight weeks.
SPEAKER_05:Okay.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Would you call that like eight weeks of torture? Um, yeah, I guess. How did your parents or whoever was helping you, like how do they actually get you to get the medicine that you needed through the shots or the insulin? Well, when we were in the hospital, I I got a little bit used to it because I was there over Shabbos. Was that the first time, you know, obviously since you were a baby, that you were hospitalized? I think yeah. Was that experience like scary in itself for you, or you were like kind of confident?
SPEAKER_04:They're trying to give me one of my first needles. I actually ran and hid in the bathroom because I was so scared. Oh my! How did they get you out? They bribed me with a what? With a Lego set.
SPEAKER_06:See, I told you the Lego, I remember. That must have been your Lego phase. Yeah. They had to bribe you with a Lego set. Did you just say, okay, I'm gonna just do that? Now I'm gonna have the most Lego in the world because I'll just lock myself in the bathroom every time. Yeah. How did your parents know what to do? Like there's so much new stuff to learn.
SPEAKER_04:Well, yeah, they also had to adjust to it, but after a time they caught on and they were able to handle it also.
SPEAKER_06:Wow. Describe your feelings at the time in the best way possible, those early days.
SPEAKER_04:I was a little bit confused because like I was just sitting there on the hospital bed just waiting to like go back to school. I actually got a bunch of people who came to visit me. Some people sent cards, the school nurse even came to visit me.
SPEAKER_06:That's really sweet. Do you spend a lot of time in her office? Yeah, a lot. You got like the easy get out of class card, right?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:I gotta go to the nurse. No one could stop you when you say that. So you left the hospital and then at what point did you go to school?
SPEAKER_04:Well, it was around param time. I think I went like maybe a month or two later. Wow, because it took a while to like adjust for this new lifestyle. If I went to school, then there'd probably be a lot of candy going around, so I wouldn't be able to what a challenge to have this happen around param time. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Candy is just like falling from the sky, baby. Basically.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:That's already a major obstacle.
SPEAKER_04:I was really upset, but the upside about it was that I got a bunch of gifts from people. Some of the things I got were from my sports thing, because that's how I also started getting into sports. I got a bunch of bunch of Harry Potter Lego sets. Also, one of my friend actually, when they heard that they went to the library straight away and started reading about diabetes to try to help me. That's so sweet.
SPEAKER_06:So they could like understand what you're going through right away. That's such a great friend. So then you finally were ready to try going to school. Did you go for like a half a day at a time or the whole day? Full. And how was that transitioned?
SPEAKER_04:It was fine. My principal was diabetic actually. No way.
SPEAKER_06:What?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:There's a whole club going on there. Yeah, the past two years there's been two other kids who've joined diabetic. So in what way is that helpful to have others, even principals and social workers and other kids.
SPEAKER_04:Well it helped because also the nurse usually had off days on Fridays. So if they're in the building, then they'll just do it instead.
SPEAKER_06:Like if you have any shots to do or insulin to monitor, the principal and the social worker are very knowledgeable and trustworthy. That's a good comfort for you and your parents. It's like a bracha that it was all set up like that for you. Shout out to your staff at your school. Did they explain it to your friends like what diabetes is, like when you came back? What did they tell them?
SPEAKER_04:And they did it. Text my mom and ask if they wanted me to be there when they're talking about it or do it while I'm still in the hospital. So I chose I'll be in the hospital because I thought it would be a little bit awkward if I'm in a classroom full of people while they're talking about me. Yeah, that'd be super weird.
SPEAKER_06:And then they can't ask questions also because they feel weird.
SPEAKER_04:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_06:What do they tell them? Did anyone ever tell you? Mm-hmm. Probably only the things that they had to know. Yeah. The facts. Like you know.
SPEAKER_04:Also, my whole class, including some of my teachers, sent a bag of cards to me.
SPEAKER_06:That's so sweet. I have them all upstairs. You save them? Yeah. It's so meaningful. Are you like a sentimental person in general? Yeah, sometimes. You like to hold on to things? Yep. I'm the same way. I know how that feels. It could be annoying sometimes because you like kind of want to get rid of junk, but that's not junk. That's like Yeah, then you like feel bad after. Mm-hmm. But that's like really special. That's a special thing to save because I'm sure they meant so much to you at the time. Yep. Sometimes going through a tough challenge like that is gonna be tough no matter what, but having good teachers and friends and like a support system could make it such a different experience.
SPEAKER_05:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:Now that you're older, you're 11, you're in middle school, what can you do now more independently than you could do back in the beginning?
SPEAKER_04:Diabetes-wise or responsibilities and school-wise?
SPEAKER_06:I mean, I guess in every area, but specifically with managing the diabetes.
SPEAKER_04:Well, this year I finally got to hold on to my lunch and my phone so that I could do it myself. Because before I would have lunch at 12 something, and now I have it, I think, uh like one.
SPEAKER_06:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_04:One of the good things about it is that I usually go low about the same time every day during lunch. So I could just get out of class sometimes when I low so that I could get a little bit to eat.
SPEAKER_06:It's normal for your body to go low on blood sugar during lunchtime. Yep. That's like your body's pattern. Mm-hmm. That's so interesting. Do you know why? No. Just something that you notice based on the numbers? Yep. So what do you do to boost it when your numbers are low?
SPEAKER_04:Well, before we used to have candy. Okay. But someone gave us a tip that juice would also work. So sadly, we had to switch from candy to juice.
SPEAKER_06:You're like, oh man. Yep. In general, do you have the same amount of candy that you had before you had diabetes or you're more in control of it?
SPEAKER_04:I think a a lot less. Like, especially on purm, because that's like the hottest time of the year. But I'm dealing with it and I think that it's all gonna be great.
SPEAKER_06:What do you always have with you wherever you go?
SPEAKER_04:My phone glucagon, which is like some if I pass out, God forbid. What's it called? It's a glucagon. Okay. It's like this thing that you like spray into like the nose, I think. Okay. And then like it gives you a little bit more.
SPEAKER_06:Gives you like a direct pump of sugar. Yeah. To revive you. Do you wear like a diabetes bracelet or something? I used to, but it fell apart. Somebody I know wears a necklace and I asked him, like, why do you wear that necklace? And he's like, it's a diabetes necklace. And if, like, God forbid, chaspa shalom, if he passed out and fainted because his sugars were too low, people would know right away, like, oh, he has diabetes, he just probably needs sugar.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:It's important to know that before imagine because if they don't know it, then it's like, uh, what do we do with this person? What happened to him? It could be a hundred million things, you know, that just tell him a little bit. What most likely is the problem. Does diabetes ever get in the way of doing things that you want to do?
SPEAKER_04:Sometimes with people who like don't fully understand it, like they're a little bit scared to do things like sometime my friends want to give me like something to eat and they keep on confirm it. So they always just go and ask the nurse, like in the mouse, it's a bum for me because I don't have to wait longer.
SPEAKER_06:Do you tell them like it's fine, I can have it? Yep. All the time. And they're like, We're gonna ask anyways, because they're probably just nervous. They don't want to be responsible for getting you into a trouble situation. Yeah. I guess it's good that they're being cautious.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, I guess. Especially for my class.
SPEAKER_06:It sounds like people in general are very sensitive to what you're going through. Yeah. What about during sports and stuff? Because I know you're into sports.
SPEAKER_04:Like usually um I'm fine, but sometimes during like lunch, the teachers want me to go inside if I'm low. Oh, if you're low.
SPEAKER_06:And they would know that because they're tracking it on the phone?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Who has access to your numbers while you're in school through like an app?
SPEAKER_04:It's mostly the nurse. She just walkies to the other teachers to send me inside. Like it happened a bunch this year so far that like I'm in the middle of playing football. It's like the last play of the game and they just make me go inside. It's really annoying. The nurse is the only one who knows that your numbers are low. You don't realize it on your own? I could, but like I noticed some of the symptoms. Sometimes like I feel it, but I just want to finish the game. I can hear that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Like how inconvenient is that?
SPEAKER_04:Like the best time is probably which I'm really happy about is Fridays when she has her break, so then I don't have to go inside. How do you know when you're low? What does it feel like for you? Um, well, sometimes I feel like hungry, shaky, like low in energy, just want to go to sleep.
SPEAKER_06:But you're also determined because you're like, it's the last play of the game. I'm not gonna fall asleep, I'm not gonna fall asleep. Yep. Then you come inside and then you have to boost your sugars.
SPEAKER_05:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:Wow. Tell me about your summer. I heard that you went away this summer. Tell us about it.
SPEAKER_04:First of all, we were just trying to find something new, and then like close to the end of the summer, and you went to New York for a few nights, and after that we were gonna stop in Philly for this goodbye party or some one of my relatives that were going to Israel. And then Emma kept them drinking and drinking and drinking, and she wouldn't stop, and then she keeps on need to go to the bathroom, and so then finally we picked her finger with my finger pricker, and we saw that her blood sugar, I don't know exactly what it was, but she had diabetes. So we had to turn around and drive back home and instead of to Philly, and that's when Emma started to have it.
SPEAKER_06:Did a sister having diabetes totally make things even crazier?
SPEAKER_04:I think for my parents, but not much for me. How did it make you feel? Um, it made me feel You could be honest. I felt a little bit annoyed that I finally get something no one else in my family has, and then she pops up a few years later and gets to have it also. I mean I don't want her to have it, but I was kind of having the time of my life being finally different than all the other guys in my family.
SPEAKER_06:Like it was kind of a part of your identity. Like this is part of my challenge and you like got used to it being the only one with it.
SPEAKER_04:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_06:Do you feel like you have to share that now with her?
SPEAKER_04:Yep. All the fame.
SPEAKER_06:She's going through all those beginning phases. She's way younger. Like Yeah, she's seven. She's younger than you were at the time. Do you see how things are different or does it look like the same thing again for you?
SPEAKER_04:I feel like it's just gonna be the same thing. Kind of. She's gonna go through this all the same things. It's been a few weeks and she's probably gonna get a pump soon, so that's gonna make her life easier.
SPEAKER_06:She's still in that really hard stage of not being able to manage it easily. Yep. You know, you realize though that over time you could be a major resource to her and maybe she to you. Like who knows? Down the road, you'll each have your own experiences, and I get that it's annoying, but like maybe one day it will actually be something that you'll say, like, hey, this is actually cool that me and my sister have like something that we share. Who knows? But you don't have to feel that way, especially not now. Yeah. And then this summer you also had a really good time at IMAD camp. What is Ema D? Because I know that it's a Maryland program.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, Baltimore Silver Spring. So basically, they choose a select amount of kids who are part of it. And medical things, not only diabetes, like a bunch of other things. Like any other medical thing you have, you could be a part of it. Like you can volunteer if you don't have any medical things, like to do something. For Ema D camp, basically a bunch of kids, including me, can get selected to go away for 10 days. And there's a boy session and a girl session. I've done this, I think, ever since I got diabetes. I came the first year they did it.
SPEAKER_06:So she can say I need to. I mean, are you drinking apple juice? Yep. Did you already take your insulin? I'm actually low right now. Oh, you're low right now? Is that why your mother just brought you a cup of apple juice? Mm-hmm. Wow. Okay, drink up. Your mom didn't even say anything. She just knew that like you must be low.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:Were you starting to feel it? Or you didn't even.
SPEAKER_04:Sometimes it takes a while.
SPEAKER_06:Also you're a little distracted because we're like in the middle of an interview.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. So like Imadee one of my top things about um Imadee Campus probably Great Wolf Lodge, they go for a whole day to the water park.
SPEAKER_06:That's so fun.
SPEAKER_04:Basically, Imad also rents this whole like campus for must have stayed at. They make like a clubhouse like the first year. They're in the clubhouse. They like made a wood sign that said Dexcom Diner, because there was this girl there that had the opposite of diabetes. Actually, what's that? I don't really understand it, but I think that I need her, but she'd rather be high, like her body makes too much insulin?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Interesting. Mm-hmm. So she also wears a Dexcom.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:Like you do, I'm assuming.
SPEAKER_04:Yes, she does. Actually, my first summer I I actually went there for a day camp. I was like sit in the car for an hour on the way back and then way there. But the sad thing about it was while that whole hour I would miss activities. Last year was my first summer away. They have a nurse there. She literally has a box full of meds for each kid. Oh my gosh. It's pretty hilarious when you see her walking around on field trips with it.
SPEAKER_03:Please let this be an own field trip.
SPEAKER_04:Does she need like a wagon? Yeah. For real? Yeah.
unknown:Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, like one of those like plastic wagons she actually brings it around. That's so smart. This year we went to Turkey Hill and Dutch Wonderland in one day, and she had so much meds that she had to carry them all around.
SPEAKER_06:But that's so reassuring to know. And I guess like you could also go to like a regular camp if you want to, but.
SPEAKER_04:And they're amazing about my diabetes also.
SPEAKER_06:That's amazing. Yeah. What does it feel like to be in an environment where all of the kids around you are having some sort of medical issue that they're dealing with?
SPEAKER_04:Sometimes it's a little annoying that can't have like the nurse focusing on you only. But sometimes it gets a little bit overwhelming. Like sometimes actually fun. Like this year they had like 10 kids. People can volunteer like to be counselors there. And if like I had an this amazing counselor, Lev Shelva, and he was on top of my diabetes the whole time.
SPEAKER_06:That's amazing.
SPEAKER_04:Yep, and also like one of the counselors there was related to the owner of the O's. The Orioles.
SPEAKER_06:Yeah. Baseball, in case anyone doesn't know.
SPEAKER_04:He actually called him on the phone and I got to talk to him. Come the last night of camp, they have like a big party. They do paper plate awards. This year, me and my counselor, and we won Best Camper and Counselor Duo. Thank you! Yeah, my counselor was filled with all this energy just like what I have.
SPEAKER_06:Does Imadi help you during the year? Like with you know, all sorts of things.
SPEAKER_04:I have pods of like my first year I got two guys who are now in Israel Rafi learner Yashiah Faheri. And now last year I had another guy who just went to Israel named Yassi Friedman. Now this year I'm still waiting to hear who I'm getting.
SPEAKER_06:Wow, they're like big brother mentors. Yep. That's really awesome.
SPEAKER_04:I actually, um, I went to Israel at the end of last school year and I got to visit them. Oh, that's so nice. Mm-hmm. Because they're in Yeshiva there? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Well, that's so nice that you keep in touch with them.
SPEAKER_04:Like Yassi on Friday he texted my mom to ask how middle school's going. Imadi, they've taken me to O's games for my birthday. And it was my first year of Imadi. They got me like a signed baseball bat from the major leagues. That they had used in a game. Yep. That was really cool. Yeah, it was signed by old O'Reilly's pictures.
SPEAKER_06:Do you use that bat, or are you just like you're too scared to use it?
SPEAKER_04:I usually keep it up up on display. It's like a collectible item now. They've done a lot for me in the past. As soon as they heard that my sister had gone diabetes, they gave her someone immediately.
SPEAKER_06:Like a big sister mentor, similar to what you have.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah. Like also, first year I had diabetes. They also gave my sister someone also. Because like siblings could also get someone.
SPEAKER_06:It's so good that we have organizations like that, and it's so good that you, Noah, recognize how much good they do for you. And it sounds like you are really excelling in the middle of Hakar Satov, recognizing all the good things and realizing that it's a special thing that you have that resource in the community. It sounds like your school's really amazing about dealing with this and your camp and your parents and so all your environments are doing the best they can. What do you wish that other people would understand about your diabetes?
SPEAKER_04:I just want them to like know bugs, not be like that like crazy about it.
SPEAKER_06:They should just chill out a little bit? Pretty much. Yeah. That means that you're with so many healthy people in your life. What advice would you give to a kid who just found out that they had diabetes, even though it's a it's very rare. It's not like something that a lot of people should worry about, but like if there's someone who just got diabetes, what do you want them to know?
SPEAKER_04:It's gonna be okay, and if you just hang in there, everything's gonna turn out.
SPEAKER_06:That's awesome. Diabetes is now part of your life. Yeah, it doesn't go away.
SPEAKER_04:And there are also a bunch of people in NFL and MLB that actually have it. Like there's someone on the Ravens named Mark Andrews. There are two people in the MLB, one named Jordan Hicks. These are baseball players, and one named Mason Miller. Wow, you know your stuff. Who told you this information? Um, my dad. Mostly they're trying to get me to meet Mark Andrews. Ema D is probably at some point, um, are probably just gonna find an event and do it, probably. They're probably gonna do that.
SPEAKER_06:Find out where he is and just stick you in somewhere.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, because my Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:There's a bunch of other diabetic kids who would probably love to meet him also. Wow, yeah, that'd be so cool. And what's cool about that is this is exactly what I was getting at is that despite the fact that you know that diabetes is a lifelong challenge, you know that there's so many people who live a full, fun, fulfilling life and they're following their dreams. So really nothing's gonna stop you. So especially professional sports that take so much exertion from the body, somehow they manage. I wonder also like if they have challenges like you have in school.
SPEAKER_04:My dad showed me a video of Mark Andrews on the sideline, pricking his finger and saying, like, I have a low blood sugar.
SPEAKER_06:And you're like, I know that feeling. Sounds familiar.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:It's so crazy to think that like three years ago this was all I didn't even know what the idea or pancreas was. Right. I have a pancreas. What's a pancreas? Help. People just don't know. We take it for granted that our bodies just work, things just go, and then when they stop, we're like, oh my goodness, this is really crazy. There's so much to know. Do you feel like you're continuing to learn more about it, or at this point you just know everything?
SPEAKER_04:I think almost everything, so I put on my pumps now on my own. I like to know what's happening, like what I'm doing. And my parents usually let me. Actually, when I was in the hospital when I first started putting on Dexcom, my Dexcom's transmitter actually failed. And my endocrinologist, he felt so bad. So he gave me a Harry Potter game that I still have.
SPEAKER_06:Wow. I just heard beeping in the background. Was that connected to your numbers?
SPEAKER_04:I think so.
SPEAKER_06:For your sister.
SPEAKER_04:I think it's me, but I just had you so halfway like a few minutes. Okay. Like mostly like 15-20. Why would it be beeping? Just to alert my parents and me that I'm low.
SPEAKER_06:Maybe it needs a few more minutes to like go through your body. So you're not worried from those beeps.
SPEAKER_04:Yep.
SPEAKER_06:When you used to hear those beeps a long time ago, did you like freak out?
SPEAKER_04:Not really. A few people in my class did a few times. And that was also a little bit hilarious. Kids in my class always jumping.
SPEAKER_06:Every time your thing beeps, they're like, uh-huh. They all want to be superheroes and save you. Yeah. What do you want to be when you grow up? Probably a professional baseball player. Sounds about right. Do you think that one day you're gonna help other kids going through similar challenges like volunteer?
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, that's what I'm probably gonna do. Because I feel like anybody's just done so much for me that I want to do something for them. That's really nice.
SPEAKER_06:These boys who went off to Israel one by one, right? What is it about them that you appreciated?
SPEAKER_04:They always found time for me. Like they made sure that I had the best time and that we all had some fun.
SPEAKER_06:They have good personalities? Yep. I asked that because sometimes we think that like the most talented people are the best. But really, if you use your God-given talents or skills or personality to help another person, you're making such a difference in the world. And it makes you, Noah, want to give back and want to do that for someone else to pass on the goodness. To just have those abilities and talents is great, but to be able to share them to bring joy to somebody, especially to someone who's going through a real hardship, it's such a big lesson in recognizing that you have the ability to make a difference.
SPEAKER_05:Yeah.
SPEAKER_06:Before we wrap up, do you want to say anything you want to all of the incredible kids out there who are listening to this episode, Noah?
SPEAKER_04:Just hang in there. Enjoy life while it lasts. Because it's a real treat that you're living, and you should enjoy that by helping other people and doing what's right.
SPEAKER_06:Love that, Noah. Well, Noah, thanks for joining us today. Thanks for being so open with us and telling us about your experience. I hope that things just continue to be controlled. Like we said, controlled crazy. Yeah. Right? Sometimes we can't fully control things. Yeah. And it was cool to also see things happening in real time, like your life right now. Beep, beep, beep, apple juice, beep, beep, beep, ignore. Right? Yeah. I'm rooting for you.
SPEAKER_04:Yeah, thank you.
SPEAKER_06:Thank you. Bye. Bye.
SPEAKER_05:And now it's time for homework. Oh, come on, not that kind.
SPEAKER_06:I hope you love listening to these two accounts, these two interviews with two different children dealing with their diabetes. They're moving on with their lives. They're leading beautiful, full lives. They are inspiring us to remember that a health condition or something like that does not make you who you are. It's something that you can live with and lead a beautiful life with. So for this week, I want everybody to think about someone around you. Someone in your camp, in your bunk, in your neighborhood. Of course, I say that because maybe you're listening to this in the summer, seven months after it came out. So however this applies to you, think about somebody who might be dealing with something that you don't really fully understand. Okay, so think it could be something like diabetes, obviously. That would be an easy one if you happen to know someone like that. Or some sort of condition that they have. It could be something related to their health. It could be something related to what their family is going through. It could be something related to their learning abilities. And you don't need to fix anything. You don't need to ask a million questions. And what you should do is try one of these things. Be a good friend, a steady friend. Invite them in, speak kindly to them, treat them the way that you would want to be treated. Just think about it. Be mindful of it. And if you are the one dealing with this, like if you're the one who's like going through something exceptionally hard, you can do this too, right? There are others as well going through things. And this will help you understand that you're not alone as well. Maybe it feels alone. Maybe you don't know other kids with the same thing as you, but look for something different that someone else is going through. But remember, You are not your diagnosis. You are not your challenge. You're a whole person. You have strengths, you have talents, and a future filled with possibility. Everyone is carrying something. And when we learn to see that, we become better friends, better people. So let's work on this together. And now, I just gotta say, the Incredible Kids Podcast has one mission. And that mission is to make the lives of kids more incredible by helping you realize that you have superpowers that are already deep inside of you. Every single person has them. And the biggest way you can help support this is actually not hard at all. Guess what it is? Tell your friends. Share the episode with other kids, other families, other classrooms. If you're listening on Spotify, please give us a good reading. Make sure you're following. If you're listening on Apple Podcasts or wherever else, make sure that you're subscribed as well. And if you're listening on 24-6, definitely tell your friends about the podcast. That's really all that I can ask because putting together episodes like this takes hours and hours and hours. Research, interviews, editing, planning. It truly means the world to me when you support it by sharing it. Also, in case you don't know, there are dedication opportunities available. So if you want to dedicate an episode, reach out to info at incrediblekids.org. And one more thing, if you would like to be part of a future storytime episode, head over to incrediblekids.org, click on future episodes, and you'll see the current storytime prompt there. Don't miss out. Thank you, Shera. Thank you, Noah, for sharing your stories. Thank you, everyone, for listening with a big heart open. And thank you for being part of the Incredible Kids. I'm Oratsiri, and I'll see you next time.
SPEAKER_03:Are you an incredible kid? Send your story to iKidspodcast at gmail.com. Subscribe to it.
SPEAKER_05:Thanks for listening, and remember, you are all incredible kids.
