It was my job to bring you to school and pick you up around lunch. We had long chats in the kitchen and we had so much fun playing in the basement. I remember you riding your go-cart in the snow, wearing nothing more than a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. Your ear to ear grin is a picture in my head I will never forget..
We keep in touch, your parents and I. When they let me know you were diagnosed with diabetes in 2006, I was gobsmacked.. No... not you David... that was not fair!!!! I got my diagnosis 4 years earlier, but I was already an adult, married, with two children. You were only 18 and you have a whole life ahead of you. You were not supposed to get diabetes. I wished for you and your family a happy and healthy life without worries.
You had a hard time letting diabetes come into your life. It was not something you welcomed.. I wanted to come over and give you a hug. Let you know everything was going to be okay. I wanted to relieve your pain. Diabetes is a chronic disease, and up till now there's no cure. We keep hearing a cure is in sight, but so far, we're still waiting. We still need to provide our bodies with insulin and we need to poke our fingers several times a day to prevent complications in later life.
I read your family article online. I'm so proud of you guys! What a commitment. You are so lucky to have a supportive family. They love you to pieces, David! You're a pretty special boy, you know. I know you're a man now and it's been so long since I last saw you, that I still see the little blond boy you were back then in Chelmsford, Mass.
Let me copy the article here. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation could use some extra funding. Good luck David! Till we meet again. Say hi to your mom, dad and brother for me, okay?
Chelmsford Family To Walk to Cure Diabetes
The McHugh Family will participate in the annual 5k.
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Chelmsford residents Dennis and Susan McHugh walked their first 5K with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) five years ago and have not given their feet a break since.
“The annual JDRF walk is very personal for us,” said Susan McHugh.
The couple discovered JDRF back in 2006 shortly after their son David, then 18, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
“When we first found out our son was diagnosed we really didn’t know how to help him or ourselves,” said McHugh. “The disease really is a life-changing thing that affects so many people.”
Following the news of their son’s diagnosis, the family contacted a close friend who referred them to JDRF. According to McHugh, she and her family quickly became involved in the organization, walking in the Boston 5k that year.
“We walked then and continue to walk because we see what the organization is doing. We want more of it and we want to support it,” she said.
Since 2006, the McHugh family has continued to work with JDRF not only by consecutively participating in their annual 5k, but also by speaking at informational meetings hosted by the foundation as well.
“There are a lot of organizations out there doing great things, and JDRF is one of them,” said McHugh. “They really have found the magic and caused us to be hopeful.”
McHugh said seeing the event grow year after year has brought her hope.
“The first walk we did was amazing,” McHugh said. “We met other families going through the same thing we were, and there was so much positive energy. We were all there to help support the research that will make the lives of those affected better now.”
McHugh said the families she's met through the walk are inspiration for her to keep going.
“Living with diabetes is manageable, but it comes with lots of complications,” she said. “It’s not like you can skip treatment one night, like you can with brushing your teeth. It’s an ongoing thing. The only thing consistent about the disease is its inconsistency.”
McHugh hopes that the support from her family and others in and around Chelmsford continue to raise money and awareness for a promising future of diabetes.
“I believe the disease can be cured,” McHugh said. “The answer is out there, and we just have to push it over the edge to us.”
McHugh and her family will be lacing up their sneakers for their fifth 5k with JDRF this Saturday, Oct. 1. She hopes others in the community will support the event as well.
“The walk itself is going to be on a beautiful day, with lots of wonderful people and lots of fun,” she said.
Although she is excited for this year’s event, McHugh knows that her support for JDRF and the future of diabetes is just getting started.
“Things can always happen, and we all must support each other to find a solution,” she said. “We will beat this. We will walk forever if that is what it takes.”
To donate to the McHugh family in their walk in the JDRF 5K this Saturday, please visitwww.walk.jdrf.org, click on "Donate to a Walker" and type in Susan or Dennis McHugh.
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