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MANSFIELD: Students will walk for diabetes awareness

Approximately 220 students attended the morning assembly at John Hydock Elementary School on April 7.

by Amy Batista, Special Writer
MANSFIELD — Students preparing to raise awareness for diabetes and support a fellow student, kicked off their efforts with an assembly earlier this month.
   ”This is a chance for all of you guys to help kids with diabetes, and I know you are going to do a great job with the fundraiser we are going to have in the next couple of weeks,” said Ashley Trasser, a senior development coordinator with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
   Approximately 220 students attended the morning assembly at John Hydock Elementary School on April 7.
   The students will participate in a walk on April 17.
   ”I am so excited that you are going to be taking part in our kids walk,” Ms. Trasser said. “You are going to have the chance to help families who are living with diabetes.”
   If students raise a $1,000 they will earn a banner for display in the school. Last time the school participated in the walk, they earned well over a $1,000, Ms. Trasser said.
   ”We’ve done this in the past and it was a great event,” said Principal Joseph Mersinger, noting the students are “excited” about the walk.
   ”This year we are doing it by grade level,” he said, adding the each grade level will walk for about 20 minutes instead of the whole school walking at the same time.
   Landon Mack, a second grader at the school, will have the option of leading each grade during the walk.
   ”I think it’s good for him to take the lead on things like that,” Mr. Mersinger said.
   Landon, 8, has Type 1 diabetes and was in attendance at the assembly to give a firsthand account of what it is like to live with diabetes and to answer questions.
   His mom Diane, dad Chris and sister Hailey, 6, were present to support him wearing baseball shirts that said ‘Landon’s Legion.’
   Ms. Tasser asked Landon to join her to speak to his classmates for a few minutes on what it is like for him living with diabetes.
   He was diagnosed when he was three years old, and his anniversary is coming up in April.
   Prior to the diagnosis, Landon’s mom began to notice some changes in her son over the course of a week and a half and decided it was time to have Landon checked by his pediatrician.
   ”He was drinking an excessive amount and using the bathroom within five minutes,” she said. “He is also very active and one day he was just completely lethargic.”
   In addition, she noticed some weight loss.
   He was immediately sent to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where he was hospitalized for the next four days and tested.
   ”There they stabilized his blood sugars and made sure he was doing ok,” she said, adding that he husband and her attended a whole bunch of classes to learn about diabetes and what to do from measure the correct amount of food and doses of insulin.
   People who have diabetes need to test their blood sugar level throughout the day to keep it under control and have to receive shots of insulin everyday or who some choice to wear an insulin pump like Landon which he showed to the students.
   Insulin will turn the food into energy, Ms. Trasser said.
   Ms. Mack noted that Landon received his insulin pump four years ago.
   He is now better able to tell his parents when he is experiencing his highs and lows.
   ”He’s getting better at that with time,” said Mr. Mack.
   ”With the lows he can tell,” Ms. Mack said. “With the highs, unless it’s an extreme high and you can kind of see it in his face, circle under his eyes.”
   Landon continues to play sports, soccer and baseball, despite his diabetes.
   Christine Flasser, school nurse, who has been working with the Mack family for the past three years, is helping to organize the walk.
   ”They are just a wonderful family to work with,” said Ms. Flasser. “It has been my pleasure to get to know them and work with Landon.”
   ”Ms. Flasser is just amazing,” Mr. Mack said. “She’s gotten to the point where we don’t always do what the pump says and she knows what to do.”
   Ms. Flasser noted that he is a great ambassador for the program and is always showing and telling the other students what he is doing.
   Similar to the student’s support of their classmate, Ms. Trasser said she became involved after her brother Eric was also diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
   Ms. Trasser said she thought it was really important to help children who were living diabetes after watching her brother battle with it every single day.
   The students were shown a video of several students who had diabetes but were “just like them.”
   ”They are going to talk about what they have to go through every day just to stay healthy,” she said.