What is Spencer's Amigo's?

Our oldest son is Diabetic type I, insulin dependant.  It was the summer before he would start middle school as a 6th grader.  I remember well the realization that something was wrong.  I sent him shopping for school clothes with a friend.  He came home with a size smaller jeans than he wore the year before.  By the end of the summer Spencer had lost 20 pounds, and was so lethargic, spending all his days and nights in bed...too tired to play with his friends, too tired to do anything but eat and sleep.  He was always starving and thirsty.  He ate 5 hot dogs and was still hungry.  He drank 2 1/2 gallons of water in one day.   My sweet boy  was dying.  I was scared and desperate.  Everyone kept reassuring me that he was going through a growth spurt and that is what teenagers do...sleep and eat.  I knew in my heart that something was terribly wrong.  Jeff and I decided to fast and pray for an answer. 
That same day my husband Jeff heard the still, small whisperings of the Holy Ghost.  Heavenly Father had answered our prayers. While driving home from church my husband said, " I know what is wrong with Spencer.  He has Juvenile Diabetes."  This prompting from the Holy Ghost led us to the Internet when we got home.  We read everything we could about the disease.  My husband then gave my son a blessing.  In that blessing I remember Spencer being told that Heavenly Father loved him,  that he gives us trials so we may become stronger and closer to him.  Spencer was told that Heavenly Father will bless him with the ability and strength to manage and live with this illness."
Tears were pouring down my face as I silently cried;  Silent because I did not want Spencer to know or see how scared and sad I was.   The blessing confirmed to me the fact that this illness was a lifetime disease, which meant a lifetime of struggles and suffering.  I mourned for my son, for the quality of life he had just lost.  For his youth, and freedom.
Diabetes is an all consuming disease.  Once you are diagnosed, you life becomes subject to numbers; highs and lows.  Peaks and Valleys.  You are governed by time, food, calories.  The freedom that was lost that day was immeasurable, not only for Spencer...but for our entire family.  I jokingly would tell people I am now his Pancreas.  I took over the roll of his ailing body, planning...preparing and measuring everything he ate.  I learned how to administer shots, and gave them up to 4 times a day.
Spencer went into shock.  He missed his first week of middle school.  Because of this he had no idea how to transition  from elementary school with one home room to now 6 classes a day.  At lunch instead of eating with his friends, he was in the nurses office...checking his blood and treating his new disease.   It was so traumatising for him; I remember offering to pay him a dollar a shot to give him something to work towards.  He said "No way, it's not worth it."  We ended up agreeing on two dollars a shot.  Times that by up to 4 shots a day.  I paid him a lot of cash that fall.  His grades slipped and it didn't matter to me.  I told him, just focus on your health this year,  you get a free pass for school work and stress this year.  We will refocus in 7th grade.  And we did. 
Spencer was 12 when he was diagnosed.  There is no cure.  They are getting close...which is sooo exciting.  Every year we walk and raise awareness and funds to cure this lifelong disease.  My daughter Kylee is the team captain and I couldn't be prouder.

This year we walk May 7th, 2011.  Please join our team or support us by making a donation. 

Donate here to support JDRF and our family team.

Here we have our happy models Kylee and Spencer wearing our team t-shirts.

A victory for Diabetes!

This year,  like many other people we got caught up in the Apprentice. I was so happy to see awareness brought to Juvenile Diabetes through Bret and his passion. Yes, he is a rocker, and a womanizer, but still, he and I have something in common.  The fight to cure Juvenile Diabetes!  I am so excited he won,  those funds are desperately needed because there is a cure on the horizon! 

JDRF Walk {Spencer's Amigos}

Tucker and Steve

Walk for a Cure~

Our oldest son is Diabetic.  It was the summer before he would start middle school as a 6th grader.  I remember well the realization that something was wrong.  I sent him shopping for school clothes with a friend.  He came home with a size smaller jeans than he wore the year before.  By the end of the summer Spencer had lost 20 pounds, and was so lathargic, spending all his days and nights in bed...too tired to play with his friends, too tired to do anything but eat and sleep.  He was always starving and thirsty.  He ate 5 hotdogs and was still hungry.  He drank 2 1/2 gallons of water in one day.   My sweet boy  was dying.  I was scared and desperate.  Everyone kept reassuring me that he was going through a growth spurt and that is what teenagers do...sleep and eat.  I knew in my heart that something was terribly wrong.  Jeff and I decided to fast and pray for an answer. 
That same day my husband Jeff heard the still, small whisperings of the Holy Ghost.  Heavenly Father had answered our prayers. While driving home from church my husband said, " I know what is wrong with Spencer.  He has Juvenile Diabetes."  This prompting from the Holy Ghost led us to the Internet when we got home.  We read everything we could about the disease.  My husband then gave my son a blessing.  In that blessing I remember Spencer being told that Heavenly Father loved him,  that he gives us trials so we may become stronger and closer to him.  Spencer was told that Heavenly Father will bless him with the ability and strength to manage and live with this illness."
Tears were pouring down my face as I silently cried;  Silent because I did not want Spencer to know or see how scared and sad I was.   The blessing confirmed to me the fact that this illness was a lifetime disease, which meant a lifetime of struggles and suffering.  I mourned for my son, for the quality of life he had just lost.  For his youth, and freedom.
Diabetes is an all consuming disease.  Once you are diagnosed, you life becomes subject to numbers; highs and lows.  Peaks and Valleys.  You are governed by time, food, calories.  The freedom that was lost that day was immeasurable, not only for Spencer...but for our entire family.  I jokingly would tell people I am now his Pancreas.  I took over the roll of his ailing body, planning...preparing and measuring everything he ate.  I learned how to administer shots, and gave them up to 4 times a day.
Spencer went into shock.  He missed his first week of middle school.  Because of this he had no idea how to transition  from elementary school with one home room to now 6 classes a day.  At lunch instead of eating with his friends, he was in the nurses office...checking his blood and treating his new disease.   It was so traumatising for him; I remember offering to pay him a dollar a shot to give him something to work towards.  He said "No way, it's not worth it."  We ended up agreeing on two dollars a shot.  Times that by up to 4 shots a day.  I paid him a lot of cash that fall.  His grades slipped and it didn't matter to me.  I told him, just focus on your health this year,  you get a free pass for school work and stress this year.  We will refocus in 7th grade.  And we did. 
Spencer was 12 when he was diagnosed.  There is no cure.  They are getting close...which is sooo exciting.  Every year we walk and raise awareness and funds to cure this lifelong disease.  If you have the means please donate to our team.  My daughter Kylee is the team captain and I couldn't be prouder.
http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmID=87637989

Spencer is a young man with great faith!

I am such a blessed mom. Spencer is such a great kid, I don't know what I did to deserve such a sweet spirit. I have been so worried about Spencer since I heard he was on a bike in an area with many hills. Because he is diabetic this is a health risk for him, when he exercises his blood sugars drop and he could go into a coma if not treated quickly. I have been praying for him and his health, and am so grateful Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. Read Spencer's letter to me below.



Hi Mom,

Well as for me my week was pretty good. We ran into this muslim guy last week and wow he is pretty cool. His dad was just baptized not too long ago and he wants to learn more about where he came from ; why he is here; and where we are going. 3 questions we can answer haha.
We also got a car! it was a pretty spiritual experience. Monday we had to bike all the way to an appointment down by the beach which was really far for us and basically it turned out to be a waste of time and a waste of energy. We had to bike over like a million different hills and one massive hill of death and when we finally got there she wasn't home!
So we biked all the way over another massive hill of pain to another person and they weren't home. Then I went low, but luckily I had a muffin to eat that we recieved that very day... so I ate that. Anyway after that it was far to late to do anything else so we biked over all the hills and the 2 massive steep hills of death back to our home... waste of time.
So that night i asked Heavenly Father if we need a car and I kid you not; the very next day our AP's call and ask us if we want a car. We both said yes haha. Our prayer was answered! haha it was cool. The Lord is definately looking out for us.

Anyway it was a good week,tough, but good. This area is just a little tougher than any other area I have had, but I know the Lord will provide. Anyway mom that's about it for me! I love you and miss you mom! take care!

Elder Flitton

Happy Birthday Spencer!!! 20 years old today!

Spencer just bought this bike a month ago, he is not in a car anymore.

This is how we celebrated Spencer's birthday today! We raised almost $1000.00 toward a cure for Diabetes! Our team Spencer's AMIGOS! Our t-shirt also won 1st place in the design contest!

Amazing athletes with type 1 Diabetes

Questions regarding Spencer's diabetes...

So my friend Kristen asked, "By the way, i just read the post on diabetes, sounds great!! But how will Spencer's diabetes affect his mission. Will you have to send him supplies in the mail? Will he have to be in the US? Anyway we are very excited for him."

His diabetes is in good control. He had a dental work up and a physical as part of his requirements to serve a mission. His doctor and his dentist both recommended he was in good health to serve a mission and that his diabetes would not be a complication. We will have to ship him supplies, and I am not sure where he will serve, many others with Diabetes type 1 have served in the states, so this is what we are expecting, however we have found no written information from the church on policies in regards to health issues and where missionaries are called.

Spencer will also be getting his wisdom teeth out soon, he had a scheduled appointment last Friday but had a sinus infection and the dentist could not do the surgery because of the risk of infection. So we have rescheduled that.

Spencer just finished another quarter of college and has registered for his final quarter before his mission. He is doing great! Thanks for asking...

Amazing news for Spencer who suffers from type 1 Diabetes!

Human trials to begin on 'diabetes cure' after terminally ill mice are returned to health
By NOEL YOUNG - More by this author


Breakthrough: Mice have similar blood to humans, meaning test results are promising

Email newsletter Most diabetes sufferers could be cured within four years if a revolutionary treatment involving the BCG vaccine works, scientists said yesterday.


A human clinical trial with hopes of finding a cure for type 1 diabetes is to start at a leading American research hospital using BCG, universally given for many years in Britain to prevent tuberculosis.

If all goes well in later trials, the treatment could be approved for ordinary patients in four years.

Volunteer patients are now being enrolled for the trial at at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

The aim is to find out whether promising results obtained by Dr Denise Faustman in mouse studies can be applied to human diabetes.

Her studies have shown that mice with a form of diabetes closely resembling type 1 diabetes in humans can be cured. “Hundreds of mice were involved in a number of experiments over a period of years," said Dr Faustman.

"All were suffering from type 1 diabetes with only about two weeks to live."

“They started improving within days after the first injection of BCG was given, and were eventually free of diabetes."

The vaccine destroyed abnormal white blood cells obstructing the production of insulin, which is needed to prevent diabetes, she said.

The first step in the human study is to determine whether the same strategy using BCG vaccination can be used to modify the abnormal autoimmune cells present in type 1 diabetes, sometimes called “juvenile-onset” diabetes.

“We are pleased to be starting human clinical trials,” said Dr Faustman.

“We are making the step from curing diabetes in mice to determining whether it will work in men and women with diabetes.”

Mouse blood is very similar to human blood and a clue as to whether the vaccine programme is working could be available within months of the start of the trial.

“One of the beautie of this is that BCG is a drug that has been tried and tested for 80 years, “ said Dr Faustman.

“There is no multi- million-dollar drug approval pipeline. It is a generic drug and will be cheap to administer if it works for humans.”

Type 1 diabetes usually starts during childhood or adolescence when a person's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.

Complications can include kidney failure, blindness, amputations, heart disease, and strokes. The risk of complications is closely linked to the elevated blood sugar levels.

Maintaining near-normal sugar levels requires life-long demands on the patient, including frequent blood sugar monitoring and at least three daily injections of insulin or use of an insulin pump, along with restrictive diets.

Dr Faustman, a diabetes researcher for 15 years, realised that reversing Type 1 diabetes would require a drug that killed the bad white blood cells.

Going over years of records, she identified BCG, one of whose side effects in combatting TB is that it does just that.

Type two diabetes, which is an adult-onset illness often linked to obesity, is a different disease and not likely to be affected by the American trial.