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A devastated American mom has taken to social media to warn parents about type 1 diabetes after her two-year-old daughter’s sudden death.
In March 2018, Sierra Greenlee from Kansas, US, picked up her daughter Arya after she’d spent a week at her dad’s house, Daily Mail reports.
“I was excited to hear about her week and I was dreaming of the late morning breakfast and playtime we would have when we woke up,” Sierra writes in a recent Facebook post.
As the babysitter brought the toddler, who was “knocked out” because she had a tiring day, to her car, the mom jokingly asked the nanny if Arya was “still breathing”.
“Until I put my hand on her little chest and I felt no movement.
“At that moment I completely freaked out. I couldn’t finish a thought. I knew I needed to get her back inside and start CPR.
“I was so mad and terrified. I was yelling at everyone who got in my way or tried to say something,” she wrote.
After performing CPR on the little one for a few minutes, paramedics arrived and took over, rushing her to the hospital.
“As we drove to the hospital the worst thoughts flooded into my head. I thought of the fact that the last time I had seen my baby awake she was begging me not to go to work and I went anyway.
“I was thinking about what it would mean for me if she was gone. I thought of what it would be like to plan my child funeral and all the things I would miss out on.
“I prayed to God that if only he would spare my baby I would do whatever he wanted,” Sierra writes.
At the hospital, nurses told Sierra to sit in the waiting room. A few minutes later, doctors gave her the devastating news.
“I was there for maybe 10 minutes before a doctor came in say down beside me and said the words that would forever change my world. He said, ‘We did everything we could but unfortunately we were unable to revive her and she did not survive.’
“That one little sentence devastated my entire being. Everything I was, was in that little girl.
“She was my absolute pride and joy. If you asked me how I was doing it would usually go something like, ‘I’m good, my daughter . . .’
“But in that moment I couldn’t feel anything; it was like my heart had stopped too,” she writes.
About half-an-hour after the devastating news, doctors told Sierra that tests had revealed Arya had had undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.
“For those of you who don’t know, an average person’s blood sugar shouldn’t be above 100 and my child’s was five times the healthy amount.
“At 300-400 you start to go comatose. My baby had slipped into a coma and her little body was unable to fight its way out, and it gave out.
“There were no signs leading up to this; it was unexpected. Diabetes doesn’t run in either of our families and so we had no idea,” Sierra writes.
Sierra ends her post by urging parents to get their kids checked, Mirror News reports.
“So I beg you to ask your child’s doctor to test for it,” Sierra says.
“I beg you to become aware of the signs and symptoms of childhood diabetes. I beg you to share this post and story with everyone because no parent should ever have to hear the words, ‘I’m sorry but unfortunately she didn’t survive’.”
*Grab a copy of YOU’s diabetes magazine, out now, for more tips and information on the disease.
Sources: Daily Mail, Facebook, Mirror News
