My son lives with type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed when he was twelve, the required shift in his life, and the lives of those who love him, was substantial. Everything changes: food, sleep, activities, friendships, schooling.
Initially, fear is omnipresent. The learning curve is incredibly steep. Death is expected to arrive without notice due to dangerous swings in blood glucose. And, while the child’s health status has changed dramatically, it is the entire family that has been diagnosed.
The disease is common enough that almost everyone knows a friend, colleague or neighbor who lives with type 1. The disease, however, is rare enough that support groups are hard to find. Time, distance, age, gender, philosophy and medical direction conspire to create a wall that is impossible to climb. The internet solved this problem.
Type 1 Moms
Most mothers and fathers handle the diagnosis differently. Fathers analyze and internalize. Mothers often bear the brunt of the daily responsibilities. This observation is a generalization of course but, if one joins an online support group for the parents of children with type 1 diabetes, upwards of ninety percent of the members are mothers. I joined a Facebook group.
Watching my wife changed my life as much as watching my son. The stress she experienced was enormous. Her loneliness was overwhelming. I suggested she join the Facebook group.
Among the central benefits of the group was community. Among the drawbacks was the negativity and oppressive viewpoints. Anger and fear bring out the worst in people. Then, I was approached by a videographer with whom I worked. Her nephew had type 1.
The idea
At the time, I was working for a public television station. Workdays surrounded me with cameramen, sound engineers and storytellers. YouTube was just starting to take off. Mary, the videographer, wanted to interview the mothers of children who live with type 1 diabetes and edit the interviews into dozens of digestible one minute videos that provided information, hope and community. We called the project Type1Moms.
The goal was to find mothers between New York City and Washington DC, interview them and edit the content down into one minute, ultra-healthy snack-sized bites.
I developed social content that could promote the videos. Still learning about blogs and social promotion, I began by writing headlines.
These headlines.
The reaction was staggering to the posts on our Facebook feed in preparation for launch was overwhelming. Mothers laughed, cried, lashed out, fought and thanked us. What more can be asked of a writer?
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The project never made it into full production, in part because the family demands placed on Mary and I by the disease were simply too much at the time. Perhaps we’ll return to the project one day. Until then, I have the promotional content on this page.
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