Dear Quilting  Dee,

You guys are wonderful!  We received the quilt today, and it is absolutely beautiful.  Emily is on "cloud nine!"  She is now in bed asleep...with her quilt.  Thanks for doing what you do to make these diabetic kids feel special.

Sincerely,
RC, Paducah, KY

Read Emily's Story

Emily experienced the normal symptoms when she was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 6 1/2.  We were all devastated, but Emily was a real trooper.  She even gave herself her very first insulin injection!  

She has tried to make us feel better about her diagnosis by telling me, "It's o.k. mom," when I started giving her insulin injections.  It seemed that she was more worried about us than herself!

Emily was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when she was 6-1/2 years old on January 17, 2004.  Even at such a young age she accepted her situation with remarkable courage and strength.  Emily loves her pets (she has cats, dogs, and ducks) and her quilt from us!

Purple Floral steps was made by Elizabeth and her mom, Lahle, founder of Islets of Hope and volunteer CEO for IPump.org, Inc.  The quilt was shipped to Emily 10/10/2006.

Danielle was two and a half years old when she was diagnosed (about 5 months ago).  We first noticed that her appetite wasn't as big as it usually is, and she started to drink milk and water like crazy.  

We overlooked the warning signs, because it just happened that there was a summer heat wave at the time, which explained her not wanting to eat much and her need to have lots of fluids (it was so hot out we all were uncomfortable).  

I took her to the doctor when we noticed we could see her ribs through her skin.  We almost waited an extra day, because the doctor's office was almost closed--he sent us for a test right away, and we were woken up in the middle of the night by the lab telling us to get her to the Children's Hospital ASAP.  She had just started going into ketotic acidosis, and the doctor told us that if we had waited an extra day or two, she would have been unconscious.  

The team at the Children's Hospital has been very helpful since, and we are still adjusting her insulin levels all the time because she is still in her "honeymoon" period, and her few remaining insulin producing cells work sometimes but we never know when.

C.H., Danielle's Mom, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Danielle's mom wrote:  We live in Canada.  My daughter would love a quilt.  It's been hard for her to understand what diabetes is, and that other people do have it (even though nobody else in the family has to get needles).  Thank you very much!

Danielle was the very first child we shipped a quilt to in Canada.  IPump.org's financial programs are unfortunately only currently available to U.S. citizens, however, we simply could not resist sending this sweet Canadian neighbor a warm and toasty quilt.  (And we'd love it if you could send us some snow in return -- of course, IPump is located in sunny SoCal so that might be a tall order!)

The quilt was made by Elizabeth and her mom, Lahle and shipped 11/28/2006.

This quilt top has been requested to be completed for a little boy named Graham.  He is four years old and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on August 21, 2006.  He lives in Alexandria, VA.