Raising Ryker: Type 1 Strong

05/19/2026

London is a fellow type 1. I follow her on Facebook and this post has scared me senseless! Mama explained that this is a possibility and it is my reality also. Sensors fails. Technology fails. Missed alerts with a dog can happen. But with technology, an alert dog (not soon enough), and a Mama, hopefully we can continue to catch my lows. Please pray for my friend London and her family!

My hands are still shaking as I write this and it was the most terrifying night of my entire life. Last night at 1:30 am London had a seizure due to low blood sugar. I heard her low alarm going off and I had treated the low twice and went to sleep once I knew she was safe. A little while later I woke up to her screaming in her sleep. When I checked on her I couldn’t wake her up and she was shaking and screaming and was combative. We grabbed the test kit and tried to give her fast acting sugar but she wasn’t able to swallow. Finger prick showed “lo” on our meter so I grabbed the G-Voke immediately and gave it to her while my husband called 911. I think that was the longest 2 minutes of my life while we waited for the glucagon to save her life. She stopped seizing and started to wake up and then the paramedics arrived. Her blood sugar was up to 74 within 5 minutes but she was still very out of it and confused. After being assessed we decided not to go to the hospital because she was stable enough and we know what to do in this situation.

So how did this happen?! We are not new to T1D after 10 years but this is the first time we have used glucagon and her first seizure due to low blood sugar. I know we did nothing wrong or negligent and yet my this still happened. We are on a work trip/mini vacation and London swam all day at the pool. At dinner she had more carbs and insulin than she usually does and Dexcom randomly had a sensor error. When I tested she was higher than normal so I dosed her and she finished dinner. Dexcom came back on and I tested and it was accurate. There was no mistake, no warning, nothing unusual. Type 1 Diabetes doesn’t play nice or care if you do everything perfect. Maybe it was the prolonged activity from swimming all day combined with the correction and the Dexcom sensor error. The thing is that we did everything right. We are on top of it and I feel guilty and upset that this happened. I know it wasn’t anyone’s fault but it just hit me like a ton of bricks.

London is ok. She’s tired and the glucagon made her feel very nauseous and she threw up. Then she asked if the firemen were cute so I knew she was ok lol.
My husband and I are shaken up. Watching your child have a seizure due to low blood sugar is something that will stick with you. London’s older brother helped us when she was having the seizure too and he definitely felt how serious this was. It was traumatic watching her go through this and feeling so helpless.

Sharing this because it’s real and raw and a great reminder to always always always have your glucagon with you. You never know when you might need it and using glucagon doesn’t mean you did anything wrong. This disease is relentless and terrifying.

05/16/2026

Today was so much fun at my friend Piper’s birthday party! I made it up the wall multiple times. Mama was prepared with snacks for lows, but somehow I stayed consistent the entire time.

05/15/2026

Guess what? We are over 1/3 of the way to our goal! I am soooo excited! Thank you so much for everyone that is supporting me, sharing my page, purchasing items on Marketplace, or making donations. Every penny is going towards my diabetic alert dog. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything.

05/13/2026

Just a quick weekday update..
I got a Computer CAMP award, had lunch with my teacher, teacher appreciation week, nurse appreciation day, Mother’s Day, Poetry Cafe, and making dinosaurs in food with Cub Scouts, it has been a busy week full of lots of fun!

05/08/2026

Video of me leaving the school

05/08/2026

Just remember, this isn’t what you want on a regular day, but today was extra special! I got to ride home in a Police Car!!! My class saw me off and I got to give everyone stickers.

FYI - I have recess at the end of the day and you can guess what happened while walking outside to get in the police car… I was dropping low, so we had to take care of that first before we needed an ambulance also 😂

Thank you Wylie PD for being a part of the Smith Auction and making this a reality for me. Thank you Officer Smith for letting me talk on the speaker and teaching me about your police car.

05/07/2026

Today is my Diaversary. A term most people have not heard of, but in the Diabetes world, this is something that we cherish, reminding us how strong we are. 1 year ago today, I was diagnosed as Type 1 Diabetic.

Check out my Diaversary Shirt!!

05/03/2026

A Ring Bearer… I was a Ring Bearer yesterday for my (now) Aunt and Uncle! Well, technically, they aren’t blood but they are my adopted Aunt and Uncle, as they both have been in every aspect of my life for 3 years - from coming to my musical, dinners, going on vacation together in Oklahoma, meeting for mini golf in Missouri, dancing, and my biggest scare where they spent 3 days in the hospital with me, ensuring that they also learned about Diabetes right along with us. I am young, so having people by my side is so important to me. Thank you Aunt Kim and Uncle Scott for being my family!!! The past two days were all about them. From the rehearsal and dinner to the wedding and reception. I got to be a part of all of it and I was so excited. With some extreme BG lows heading to rehearsal and then more lows heading to the ceremony, I somehow managed to stay within range the entire ceremony and the reception! I was so excited to be a ring bearer. Thank you for giving me such an important role in your wedding!!! Patrick, thank you for helping me get ready and to the church on time. I know Mama had a lot going on as a bridesmaid, so thank you for being there with me!

04/26/2026

Hi Everyone!

Well, I had an additional medical diagnosis this week and am now on medication for it. That’s ok, it is actually helping me along and I can focus better! Let’s see how this week at school goes during Station time though.

I helped out with a Conservation Project at the Heard Museum yesterday. We walked a remote path and cleaned up trash that we found. I enjoyed it and got to get muddy in the process!

I had some really hard days with blood sugars soaring high since I have been sick and had multiple pumps that failed. It definitely made this week more stressful for me.

Oh, but hey, I mastered both of my MAP tests! I had a goal and hit it for both of them. That is sooooo exciting and such a significant improvement over the past few years.

Fundraiser update - we are at 28%! Mama came up with some more ideas for t-shirts. What do y’all think?

04/24/2026

Diabetes has no concept of sleep or time. Mama woke me up, did a finger stick, told me she thought the pump we put on just before bed failed and needed to change it again. I drank an entire bottle of water. So here we sit waiting to see my next few updates in hopes that this new pump brings me back down into range.