A Family Reunion With Special Focus on Hereditary Ties
In some ways, the gathering of the Valdes family Saturday in Buena Park was like any other family reunion: There was lots of home-cooked food, reminiscing about old times and astonishment at how much the little ones had grown.
The family gets together often, meeting for baptisms, first Communions and birthdays. But Saturday’s event had a serious undercurrent. All 70 or so members are related to a woman who died of juvenile diabetes. At least two other members of the family suffered from the disease as well.
These relationships made the family members candidates to participate in a national study that tests relatives of people with Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes. The tests will determine whether they are at risk for developing the disease.
They gathered Saturday to be screened by Dr. Lynda Fisher of Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Julie Valenzuela, study coordinator.
Fisher and Valenzuela set up screening equipment in the master bedroom, and parents coaxed their children to lie down on the bed and extend their arms.
Alex Lilly, 8, was the first family member to have a vial of blood filled from a vein in his arm. His mother, Vickie Valdes Lilly, held his hand throughout.
It was over in two minutes.
“It was nothing,” he said afterward. “I’m not scared of needles,” he added, before running outside to jump back into the swimming pool.
Alex is among 100,000 people nationwide who will be screened. Researchers hope to find 800 people with a high risk of developing the disease--but who are not yet diabetic--to take part in the study.
Participants will be given insulin with the hope that such treatment will either delay or prevent the onset of diabetes.
On Saturday, 5-year-old Samantha firmly declined to be tested, but she offered to hold the hand of her 15-year-old cousin Chrissy Speer.
Chrissy had been through the test before and is well-versed in the problems presented by the disease. Her 12-year-old sister, Stephanie, developed juvenile diabetes at age 3.
When that happened, her parents, Steve Speer and Heather Valdes Speer, immersed themselves in the world of diabetes treatment and research.
Valdes Speer started volunteering and went back to school five years ago to earn a master’s degree in public health. She is a research coordinator now at Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
“I think it’s pretty cool, especially if it will help my sister,” Chrissy said of the test.
About 10 million Americans suffer from diabetes; of those, about 800,000 have juvenile diabetes, Fisher said. Juvenile diabetes can strike adults into their 40s, though that is rare; it typically occurs before age 21.
Unlike the more common forms of diabetes that afflict adults, the juvenile version usually cannot be reduced by exercise and diet, Fisher said.
“There really is nothing you can do to prevent it, and it is a devastating disease,” she said. “Our treatment of it is better than it ever was, but it still falls short.
“And it takes a huge amount of work for a family to deal with,” Fisher added.
Stephanie was away at diabetes camp during the reunion. Her father said the family has learned to adjust to the disease’s requirements.
“The family is in crisis when this is diagnosed--it just destroys you,” Steve Speer said. “But instead of moping around and feeling sorry for ourselves, we decided to get involved.”
For more information or to participate in the study, call: (800) HALT-DM1.
