A Mother's Perspective: Polishing Off Juvenile Diabetes

Help Me Help My Son—Cure Diabetes!

Silpada Designs Representative Angela Kolb shares her son´s story of living with Juvenile Diabetes.

When they said it was diabetes, we were devastated. We didn’t quite know what that meant or how much it would totally change our lives, but we knew it wasn’t good news. It took two days of bedside manners, IVs and shots before we realized two important things.

One, our son was alive and we thanked God for that every minute of the seven days that we spent in that hospital. Two, diabetes would be with him for the rest of his life. And because of that, all of our lives were changed forever. Ryan was only 3-1/2 years old on D-Day (diagnosis day), and he looked so small in that big metal hospital bed. His father and I sat with him day and night, participating in a crash course on how to manage our everyday existence that, quite suddenly, was so much more complicated. We learned to count carbohydrates, draw insulin and give our only child shots several times a day. It was the hardest thing we’ve ever done. Plus, to add to it, I was almost five months pregnant at the time.

Now, four years later, life with diabetes is still hard. Ryan is on an insulin pump instead of taking shots, but every day is still a challenge. As he gets older, he does more for himself now, and I am torn. I’m so proud that he is learning the skills that he will take into adulthood when he is old enough to manage his own care, but I pray that my son has happy memories of his childhood—that he won’t think only of the endless chain of finger pokes, needles and blood sugar numbers. I joined Silpada because I needed to supplement our income, but still wanted the flexibility of being home with my two boys. I really hesitated over the decision, since I had done other direct sales before, and was unimpressed with the money, the effort and the extensive sales pitches involved.

Then I saw that Silpada supports the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). When I looked into this further, I discovered that the company had donated over $500,000 in the past three years to JDRF through the sale of jewelry Polishing Cloths. With our intimate view of juvenile diabetes, this news touched my heart. I could sell jewelry, have a great selection of my own pieces to wear, spend time with my girlfriends, AND help out my charity of choice. That was it. I signed on, dove in headfirst, and I haven’t looked back since. My own personal goal is to sell as many of these Polishing Cloths as I possibly can to support JDRF and help my son along with the thousands of other kids out there living with this disease.