Mike and Mikey – Father and Son Views on T1D

Parent Perspective

As a parent, you learn that the T1D community is strong, wide reaching and ever growing. The members are everywhere and always willing to help. Finding your circle of support not only helps you, but it helps you let your child LIVE their life, while dealing everyday with the disease that never rests. Our community was formed months before Mikey’s diagnosis, when we started playing Wiffle Ball at SLAMT1D events to raise funds for those with the disease, that soon would impact us all, especially Mikey.

October 7, 2013….”Mikey has Type 1 Diabetes”

As a parent, it is difficult to look back at the days and months leading up to this diagnosis and realize all the signs that were missed. The weight loss, the headaches, the stomach pains, the cuts that seemed to take forever to heal,  the unexplainable anxious feeling that Mikey had been feeling. 

As a parent, my mind immediately wondered…What would the rest of his eighth grade year look like? What would this mean for his sports? What would this mean for the rest of his life?

Within days of the diagnosis, a 13 year old boy, turned into a mature, responsible young man. Daily life would change, but goals and LIVING would not. Over the next five years, countless pod changes, blood glucose tests, and eventual CGM attempts later…life went forward.

As a parent, the constant worry, like T1D, does not go away. But you learn to marvel at the strength and power that your loved one living with T1D exhibits on a daily basis. High School brought more exciting days than scary ones, achievements, awards, sports victories, honor rolls, and scholarships would all be a part of the story.

Educating others through fundraising for organizations such as SLAMT1D has provided an outlet to channel frustration toward a greater good.

November 8, 2017….”Mikey is accepted to the University of Tampa”

As a parent, when your son is accepted to their number one choice it should be a time to celebrate…as a parent of a son who battles T1D…the acceptance brings with it the realization that the time has truly come to turn the day-to-day care and night-to-night care over from the combined efforts of parents and son, to the son only. 

The lessons, as a parent,  I have learned since 2013 are empower your child who lives with T1D, give them the support and space they need to grow. Trust their judgement, after all it is their body. But also never stop being there to remind them that you are willing to go to the end of the earth to assist them.

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My name is Mikey Pascento, I’m an 18 year old college student and a Type One Diabetic. I was diagnosed with T1D as a 13 years old, when I was first diagnosed I never could have imagined moving 1000 miles away from home to go to college. Now I have just finished my first year at the University of Tampa. 

Managing T1D at college is different, you’re on your own. When you are at home mom or dad are always there to help, whether that be to remind you to test and bolus, help you count carbs, check your BG in the middle of the night or help manage a low, mom or dad was always there. 

When you are at college, all of those things fall to you, you are responsible for every aspect of T1D. It’s nice because you have freedom and you don’t constantly get bugged to check your BG or get told how to manage a low. Yet there are some days you miss it because those reminders made life a little bit easier. I always knew my family was just a phone call away if I needed anything, but I also knew it was best to educate those around me.

I taught my roommate and my friends the basic things about T1D incase anything were to happen to me. My first year at college was the best of my life, once you get through the first week of nerves about dealing with T1D alone, you realize that it’s just like managing at home because you know what to do. 

My first year was filled with tons of memories. I wouldn’t change the way any of it went, you just need to stay on top of T1D, like you would if you were at home.