This year, our support through Fund A Cure is motivated by Buz, Cale, Jaxson, and Michele Smith, an incredible family impacted generationally by T1D.
In 1950, Cale’s father Loring “Buz” Smith was born. In February 1974, after returning from Vietnam War; Buz was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D). The next few years would prove to be a challenge in monitoring and treating his diabetes with the resources that were available. From checking blood sugar levels through urine and multiple daily injections with pork insulin, sugars were always an approximate and specific targeted treatment was still in the works. In 1979, Buz and Michele (Cale’s mom) got married. Michele had familiarity with type 1 diabetes (T1D), at the age of 10 her brother had also been diagnosed with T1D. Later, in 1982 Cale was born.
By 1990, Michele embarked on what Cale describes as one of her many selfless acts of love. Cale remembers his mother going to visit her brother, Mike who also lived with T1D. Cale later found out that his mom donated her kidney to his uncle. At the time he had a 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. The procedure gave Mike five years to live. He unfortunately passed away due to complications involving his type 1 diabetes in 1995.
In 2002, Buz recalls receiving his first pump which dramatically improved his life. Fast forwarding to 2014, Cale noticed his vision changed and that summer he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at the age of 32 by his primary care doctor. He was prescribed Metformin and Glimepride. The next 6 years would prove to be turbulent in his diabetic care as it seemed as though nothing would truly work to keep his numbers in line and A1C results in a desired level.
In September of 2016, Cale welcomed his own son, Jaxson. Michele made the hour drive in to Buffalo weekly to help babysit Jaxson during working hours. She would spend a great deal of time with him and became very concerned when she started noticing a trend of lethargy, unquenchable thirst, and extremely wet diapers. In May 2017, Michele insisted that she felt something wasn’t right with Jaxson so, with these symptoms, Cale decided to check his blood sugar. With a reading of over 450, they headed to the Children’s Hospital in downtown Buffalo where the Smith family would receive the official word that at 13.5 months of age, Jaxson had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1D).
With all of the advancements being made in the care for diabetes and Cale’s personal struggles with management he decided to seek out an endocrinologist. Compiling all the data, the doctor determined that Cale was experiencing what was referred to as LADA or Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adults; a hybrid of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. At this time, they agreed to start a 2-week insulin therapy trial of MDIs with Novolog and Lantus; the results were instantaneous. Cale’s body accepted the insulin, and I was finally able to consistently manage his blood glucose in normal ranges.
“Through all of this throughout the last 49 years there has been 1 constant. A “glue” that has held us together, kept us strong, focused on the positive and moving forward; my mother. My mother does not have diabetes, but she has lived with it for over 4 decades.
Funding research for managing and inevitably finding a cure for diabetes is what has allowed my family to still be together today. Without the funds that are raised every single year, these advancements would not be possible.
