WICHITA, Kansas –Chad Hamman is a fine athlete and student with a great deal going for him, but one big thing against him -- a disease that has no cure.
“I knew something was wrong, but I didn't know what and I definitely didn't think diabetes,” Chad said.But it was juvenile diabetes, which was diagnosed three years ago when he was 13. It means a lifetime of watching carefully what he eats and drinks, blood testing and insulin shots and hoping for a cure.
“I do the best I can to keep it from affecting me, you know, who I am,” he said. “It does have an affect on me and it does have an affect on the people around me.”“Knowing his life was gonna be different, it's probably changed forever, yea, it was devastating,” said Chris Hamman, Chad’s father.“Every time we go anywhere we have to plan ahead, make sure he has enough of his supplies for however long we are going, make sure he has enough snacks to last the whole time,” said Chris Hamman, Chad’s mother.Chad tests his blood sugar several times a day and then gives himself an insulin shot. Without insulin, high blood sugar would prove fatal. At four shots a day, in his lifetime he will have over 80,000 shots.“The hardest thing is probably taking the shots and not being able to just grab a snack when you want,” he said.His parents watch with a mixture of pride and fear. Pride for the way he has handled the disease and fear for the future.The long-term effects of diabetes can be devastating. Even if he does everything right, Chad can still face heart, circulation, nerve and eye problems – things most 16 year olds don’t have to worry about.“I'm going to do the best I can to avoid it, but when you're diabetic, sometimes you just can't avoid it,” he said. “It doesn't matter how good your blood sugars are, you just have some complications down the road whether you like it or not.”Chad is one of approximately 15,000 Kansans with type one or juvenile diabetes and one of about 2.5 million in the country. There is no cure, but research is ongoing.
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