Fourteen-year-old Ruben Rodriguez likes sports, being outside and hanging out with friends, like any teenager. But he has a daily routine most other teens don't have -- five to six times a day, he has to stop everything, prick his finger and check his blood sugar.
Ruben also must carefully monitor his diet and wear a small pump that gives him regular doses of insulin through a tiny tube under his skin.
Because Ruben has type 1 diabetes, daily life is a little more cumbersome than for the average kid. But this past weekend at Camp Perry outside Rio Hondo, Ruben and other children with diabetes could almost leave the disease behind for a day.
The American Diabetes Association sponsored a youth retreat at the camp on Saturday, offering diabetic children ages 8 to 14 the chance to participate in swimming, canoeing, archery, arts and crafts and other activities. Diabetes educators, nurses and a medical director also were on hand to monitor the children's blood sugar and administer medications.
"We really just want the kids to have fun, where parents don't have to worry about their medical care," said Laurie Pulido, associate manager for the American Diabetes Association's South Texas chapter.
The chapter received grant funds from Novartis, which manufactures a drug used in patients with type 2 diabetes.
In type 1 diabetes, which is usually diagnosed in children and teenagers, the body stops producing insulin, requiring lifelong dependence on injections or an insulin pump. The cause of type 1 diabetes isn't clearly known.
In Type 2 diabetes, which is more common in adults, the body stops producing enough insulin -- a condition often brought on by poor diet, obesity, age and physical inactivity.
The children at the retreat all had type 1 diabetes, but diabetes educators, who served as camp counselors, said they're seeing more and more Valley children with type 2 diabetes, which concerns them.
"I'm seeing a lot more type 2 (children) than type 1," said Linda Roberto, a diabetes educator at Doctor's Hospital at Renaissance who worked at the camp. "And I'm seeing a lot of patients with pre-diabetes."
If those cases aren't caught early, those children, too, will have to watch their diet, blood sugar and insulin for life, the educators said.
The association is trying to start more programs that would reach children and youth before they develop type 2 diabetes, Pulido said. Organizers also want to establish a four-day camp for kids with diabetes, they said.
For the children with diabetes who attended the retreat, they welcomed the chance to feel "normal" for a day, they said.
"I like that there's other people here going through the same thing," Ruben said. To see more of The Brownsville Herald, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.brownsvilleherald.com. Copyright (c) 2008, The Brownsville Herald, Texas Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
Copyright (C) 2008 The Brownsville Herald, Texas