Awareness Of Diabetes

The eight finger pricks each day are to test his blood sugar levels since McLellan has Type 1 diabetes, an auto-immune disease where the body’s immune system attacks cells that produce insulin, leaving people dependent on the hormone. McLellan had just celebrated his sixth birthday when he was diagnosed with the disease that affects more than 240,000 Canadians. Canada has the sixth highest rate of Type 1 diabetes in young people 14 and younger in the world yet those figures are expected to climb, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Experts expect diabetes will affect an extra 134 million people worldwide by 2025, up from the estimated 246-million diabetics to date.

McLellan’s sister Lydia, 4, does not have diabetes and the diagnosis was something mom Tamara knew virtually nothing about. She had taken a lethargic Jaedon, who suffered mood swings and frequent urination, to the doctor. Three years later, she still researches new developments about diabetes. “It’s a huge learning curve at the beginning,” said Tamara. “(But Jaedon) still does everything. It doesn’t limit him, barely at all.”

On Sunday, the McLellans made up three of an estimated 300 people who gathered at Maffeo-Sutton Park for a five-kilometre waterfront walk to raise awareness and funds as part of the Telus Walk to Cure Diabetes. It is the eleventh walk in Nanaimo, which raised more than $40,000, but similar walks were held across the country, where proceeds are forwarded to the JDRF. Research hopes to eventually find a cure. Jaedon enjoys sports and said he does not get bugged at school about his condition, which was explained to classmates. Three other students at his school are also Type 1 diabetics.