Apr 26, 2018 By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 4 min read

Even though Upper St. Clair High School graduate Jenny Park is pursuing higher education on the other side of the world, her mother to some degree has peace of mind.

“Four years ago, if you had told me my daughter could go abroad with Type 1 diabetes, I would have said, ‘No way.’ I’d never let her,” Laurie Park said. “But she’s actually a second semester junior now, and she’s studying abroad in New Zealand.”

A public health major at American University in Washington, D.C., Jenny was 16 and a high school junior when she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease. She and her family learned quickly how to manage her condition, and one of the key elements is making sure she never leaves home without her diabetes supplies.

And so Laurie came up with what she hopes will help Jenny and others like her: a door hanger, resembling the familiar “do not disturb” sign, to serve as an ever-present, highly noticeable reminder.

“You can’t even take half a day off from diabetes management without becoming sick and putting yourself in danger,” Laurie said. “You always have to have your bag of diabetes supplies with you.”

The hanger, in fact, features a photo of what her daughter carries with her, including a remote control and backup batteries for her insulin pump, blood-sugar meter and test strips, food scale, urine-testing strips, glucose tablets and a glucagon emergency kit to raise her blood sugar quickly in case she loses consciousness. And of course, insulin.

“In the case of Type 1 diabetes, the body perceives the beta cells in the pancreas as being ‘bad guys,’ foreign substances, and eventually kills them off to the point where they’re not functioning, not producing insulin,” Laurie explained.

Formerly known as juvenile diabetes because of its prevalence in people under 20, Type 1 accounts for about 5 to 10 percent of diabetes cases. It differs significantly from Type 2, which often develops through lifestyle factors.

“Type 1 is an autoimmune illness,” Laurie said. “They say there’s a genetic predisposition and an environmental trigger. They don’t know what causes it. They don’t know how to prevent it. They don’t know how to reverse it.”

The distinction between the two types is not widely understood.

“A girl at school said to Jenny, ‘You got diabetes because you ate a lot of candy,'” Laurie recalled. “Those kinds of blaming misconceptions are completely wrong, and it’s something that Type 1 diabetics try to debunk, all these myths.”

An active volunteer with JDRF, the nonprofit organization once called Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Laurie often talks with other parents about their experiences in managing their children’s conditions.

“Every single person had a story of the one time, or even more than one time, that they didn’t have critical diabetes supplies with them,” she said.

As Jenny prepared to leave for college, Laurie sought a suitably durable, visible reminder but was unable to find one. So she decided to design her own and have it produced by an American company.

“My product eliminates one of what I feel like are a hundred things you have to remember and keep in mind to successfully manage diabetes,” she explained.

Through a business she calls T1DmomStore, Laurie is selling the door hangers, and she hopes they serve their purpose of reminding Type 1 diabetics – and their parents, for the younger ones – about a crucial task.

“Someone said to me, ‘You may save a life,'” she reported. “I don’t know if I’d go that far, but I’m helping.”

For more information, visit dontforgetyourdiabetessupplies.com.