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Local Family Travels to D.C. to Promote Diabetes Research

Taite and Trevor Hammer were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when they were young

By Justin Franz
Trevor and Taite Hammer of Kalispell recently represented Montana at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Children’s Congress in Washington D.C. from July 13 to 15. Courtesy Photo.

Every 30 seconds someone in the United States is diagnosed with diabetes. There are more than 26 million people with the disease in America and 1.9 million join those ranks every year.

Among them are Taite and Trevor Hammer of Kalispell. The boys, ages 8 and 5, were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when they were young, but with vigilance both live normal lives just like other kids.

Earlier this summer they had the unique honor of representing Montana at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Children’s Congress in Washington, D.C. While there they shared their story and met with Montana’s congressional delegation to encourage them to fund research to find a cure. The congress takes place every two years and was held from July 13-15.

Diabetes is a disorder where the body has trouble regulating its blood-glucose or blood-sugar levels. With Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. Type 2 diabetes is where the body still produces insulin but the body is unable to use it effectively. To keep the disease at bay people with diabetes must take insulin injections, but that is not a long-term cure.

Type 1 Diabetes impacts more than 200,000 youths under the age of 20, including Taite and Trevor. Taite’s parents first realized their son had diabetes when he got sick when he was just 20 months old, Mike Hammer said. The parents first thought it was the flu, but soon Taite began losing weight and they brought him to the hospital. They were shocked to learn that their young son had diabetes.

“We have no family history of diabetes, so it’s a mystery as to why it has impacted our two boys,” Mike said, adding that Trevor was diagnosed when he was 3 years old.

Throughout the day, Taite and Trevor check their blood sugar levels. If they get too low, they could pass out, and if they get too high their blood could become poisonous and begin to impact their organs.

“If I get super low or super high blood sugar levels it gets scary,” Taite said. “If they get low I feel super tired, like I want to go to bed.”

The boys’ parents check their levels every few hours, even at night, via a glucose monitor and they can double-check it with a simple blood test. Mike said he is hopeful that a cure will be found in the future.

“It always worries me that something bad could happen,” Mike said. “But I think there will be a cure in their lifetime.”

For more information, visit www.jdrf.org.