More Nick Jonas - a response

This is a response to Scott's recent post about Nick. Scott moderates comments, as is his absolute right, so I thought that rather than put him on the spot to publish or not publish my comments, I'd just post here.

I have two sons - one is 7 and is a big Jonas Brothers fan, one is 12 and is so over them, but does have type 1 diabetes.

The lyrics of the song "A little bit longer" don't promise a cure - it actually says 'waiting on a cure but none of them are sure'. I think that the experience of hoping for a cure is part of most people's experience with diabetes, at least in the beginning. You have to let the newbies have their experiences -- and their hope. In fact, newbie-fueled hope is essential to sustaining research! And "I'll be fine" doesn't have to mean a cure. Maybe Nick already knows this, maybe he knew it when he wrote the song, but in the hospital at the time of his diagnosis, he really did only have to wait a little bit longer to be 'fine'. It's been 23 years for me, but I can recall that feeling upon diagnosis - that "oh my god am I going to die?" feeling. Hard at 18, for me - brutal (I can imagine) at 12 or 13 years old.

Consider this, if you can't recall the fear at diagnosis. When Jake was diagnosed, he was not very ill. Still, because it was midnight, we went to the emergency room. Pulling up to the ER he said to me, "The Emergency Room?? It's that bad??". Here's a kid who knows diabetes, knows you can live with it, and isn't feeling deathly ill - and he was scared by the ER sign. Imagine how kids who don't know diabetes and are feeling awful react when they get hospitalized and hooked up to IVs and such. Scary. And definitely a time when you need to hear, and believe, that you'll be fine.

I don't need each of my diabetes "role models" to represent all the facets of diabetes. My god, it would be exhausting if everyone tempered their hope and enthusiasm with constant reminders of the threat of complications. Personally, I think Nick is a nice balance to the fundraising ads (from both JDRF and ADA) that blast the list of diabetes-related complications in an effort to raise much-needed funds.

I heard Nick sing that song at a concert this summer (through earplugs, and over the screaming of thousands of teen girls). I don't recall any mention of a cure. He spends a *lot* of time talking about how diabetes hasn't slowed him down. That, to me, is his 'fine'. No guarantees about a life free of complications, but proof that diabetes doesn't have to win any given day.