VHEW rallies around student fighting Type 1 diabetes

Surprising even themselves, the students, faculty and staff of Vestavia Hills Elementary West were astonished to learn that in their third year hosting a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk, they had raised $11,000 — nearly four times their goal. That grand total, earned through a school fundraiser selling $1 sneakers for a two-week period, is the most money raised by a school in the JDRF Alabama Chapter’s history. 

“This has always been a very giving community, but $11,000 is the most any Birmingham chapter of JDRF has raised in a school walk,” said Sharman Martin of VHEW’s physical education department. She noted that within the West family, several students have type 1 diabetes, as well as three staff members. “My nephew is also type 1 diabetic, so this cause is dear to my heart. I’m very proud of how our student body, teachers and parents stepped up to the plate.”

In lending her support, Martin was also thinking of West student Caden James Mitchell, who just completed kindergarten. Caden James was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two days after his second birthday.

 “Diagnosing him at age 2 was slightly difficult,” said Stacy Mitchell, Caden James’ mother. “As each symptom of type 1 presented itself, I assumed it was a normal developmental stage of becoming a toddler boy. However, as each symptom intensified and another presented itself, my mommy intuition began to tell me something was wrong.”

Following her son’s diagnosis, Mitchell began an intense care regimen that he will have to maintain for the rest of his life.

“Caden James must check his blood sugar at least eight times a day,” she said, adding that all of his food is weighed and counted for carbohydrates. “Caden James wears an insulin pump that delivers his insulin continuously throughout the day, and he also wears a continuous glucose meter to monitor his blood sugar trends. Within four hours of removing his insulin pump, Caden James could go into diabetic ketoacidosis, which is lethal. At the same time, if too much insulin is administered, that, too, has immediate and lethal consequences. Type 1 diabetes is a very difficult and time-consuming disease that never goes away...or gives you a day off.”

Given this new normal for their family, the Mitchells were overwhelmed with the show of support from their West family. 

“The school raised funds by selling $1 sneakers for two weeks. On the day of the walk, every class wore their school spirit shirt. Caden James was overwhelmed by the sight of his friends and school walking to help bring awareness and a cure,” she said. “Many children went above and beyond selling the $1 sneakers. We saw a post on Facebook of fellow West students selling lemonade to raise additional funds. How amazing and supportive is that!”

The school’s involvement in the walk has also carried the ancillary benefit of educating other students about the disease.

“West’s P.E. staff and teachers really get behind this fundraising effort as they coordinate the send-home information, encourage the kids to wear their West shirts, and devote a day of P.E. to walking the track,” said Vestavia West parent Alice Elmore. “We have type 1 diabetes in our extended family, and I appreciate the age-appropriate educational information the children see and hear in P.E. The way it is presented and explained made it easier for my child to understand the disease we have struggled to explain to her.”

What is a JDRF Walk?

Since 2013, Vestavia Hills Elementary West and the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) have teamed up to participate in the JDRF Kids Walk program.  It is an educational, in-school fundraising event with two goals: 

to educate students about type 1 and type 2 diabetes and the importance of a healthy lifestyle.

to provide them with an opportunity to make a difference by raising money for type 1 diabetes (T1D) research.   

How are JDRF funds used?

Caden James Mitchell often asks his mother when he will “no longer have diabetes.” As she responds, “We are working on it.” Stacy Mitchell cites this recent example of how JDRF funds are being used right here in Birmingham: 

“New research conducted at the University of Alabama at Birmingham has shown that the common blood pressure drug verapamil completely reverses diabetes in animal models. Now, thanks to a 3-year, $2.1 million grant from the JDRF, UAB researchers will begin conducting a potentially groundbreaking clinical trial in 2015 to see if it can do the same in humans. The trial, known as ‘the repurposing of verapamil as a beta cell survival therapy in type 1 diabetes,’ is scheduled to begin early next year and has come to fruition after more than a decade of research efforts in UAB’s Comprehensive Diabetes Center.”