At nine years old, senior Alex Hoffman could tell he had become constantly thirsty and easily fatigued. Hoffman knew his father was diabetic, but now had to consider the possibility that he may be too. After recognizing some of the signs, Hoffman used his father’s glucose meter to check his blood sugar level. A non-diabetic person’s level is between 80-120, whereas Hoffman’s level was 520.
After this alert, Hoffman’s family called their doctor who told them to bring him into the emergency room. Before he hung up though, he did tell the family that he was positive Hoffman was now diabetic.
“I remember I was drinking a lot of liquids and my dad is diabetic too so he knew what the signs were,” Hoffman said. “At first I didn’t want to believe because it isn’t something you can get rid and I knew I would have it the rest of my life.”
While Hoffman was preparing for a new life with diabetes, his mother Barbara’s head was spinning.
“I went through a mix of emotions from ‘Ok, we can deal with this, we are strong,’ to about a million questions going through my head, to totally crying my eyes out,” Barbara said. “I was crying the first night Alex was hospitalized and I thought Alex was sleeping, but then I heard him say the sweetest thing ever ‘Don’t cry mom, now I am just like Dad.’ From that moment on, I knew we could handle this.”
After Barbara cleared her head, she became Alex’s caretaker. She now reminds him to check his levels from three to four times per day, schedules his appointments, and has even had to call 911 when Alex went into a full diabetic reaction.
“She is always there for me and she will drop anything for me,” Alex said. “She knows me the best too and she knows once something is wrong with me.”
Just when Barbara and Alex adjusted to life with diabetes, they were hit with another surprise this past summer.
“Alex usually doesn’t let his diabetes slow him down much, but it does,” Barbara said. “Alex was diagnosed this summer with DKA which stands for Diabetic Keto Acidosis. This can be controlled by controlling your levels and taking care of yourself. If not controlled, DKA can kill you.”
Barbara decided to fight back by supporting the American Diabetes Association (ADA).
“Alex and I have participated numerous times in ‘Step Out: America’s Walk to Fight Diabetes,’” Barbara said. “I gave a motivational speech before the walk started. It was hard to do without crying, but it was one of the greatest honors I have ever had.”
Although diabetes is a serious issue, Alex feels he is coping with it and is comfortably adjusting to it.
“Diabetes really didn’t affect anything, I just learned to work around it,” Alex said. “I would say playing sports was most affected because my sugar levels were always going down. I just had to check at halftime every time and that was very annoying.”
With the help from his family and friends, Barbara is proud of how far Alex has gotten with his diabetes.
“I would say that he had overcome diabetes by living a normal teenage life by playing soccer and other sports throughout his life, carrying a job, helping out others and spending time with friends,” Barbara said.
While Barbara is happy for how Alex is dealing with his diabetes, he is equally as happy with his mother and how she helps him.
“She is really my hero,” Alex said. “She is the best mom I could have.”