I congratulate you on your many accomplishments! You were remarkably gracious and courteous in your response to several of the previous comments–I am not sure I could be mature. I have two children, ages 5 and 3, with type 1 diabetes. You are an inspiring family! Thank you.

Thank you, LSH for your comments! Way to go!

Regarding the comment from m who said: “Similar facial features as an explanation for why some family members got diabetes and others didn’t? That’s a bit of a stretch; some might say even crossing into the realm of superstition.”

Our comments went on to say that we discarded that theory after Sam, who doesn’t look much like the first two, was diagnosed. We agree that theory was a stretch and not valid. But as parents, you grasp at a number of theories as to why something like this is happening to you.

pking said: “Upon learning that her second child had type 1 diabetes: “An overwhelming sense of peace came over me as I hung up the phone. I felt that we were going to be part of the cure. The scientists will surely be able to learn something from our family.”

Wow, I imagine I would have a considerably different reaction. I guess I’ll leave it at that.”

Our answer was incomplete. After Sarah’s diagnosis there was anger, tears, fear, frustration, etc. Even though Patrick had been diagnosed a year and a half earlier we never imagined another child would be diagnosed. But she was, and it was devastating. But Ellen also realized that we had to get more involved and needed to be a part of the cure. Something was going very wrong in our family and we hoped the scientists could learn from us. Like the thousands of other type 1 parents who give so much to the fight, we had to soldier on.

One comment questioned why we continued to have kids after we had multiple children diagnosed. Our sixth child was born before our first was even diagnosed. Six months after our seventh child was born, our second child was diagnosed. So, only one child was born after our second child was diagnosed. We did bank cord blood for our seventh and eighth children in hopes that it may someday help the others. And I assume the vast majority of type 1s would agree with m’s comment above: “I would think that given the choice, any of us would rather choose to be born with diabetes than to not be born at all.”

Regarding Lauren K’s comment: “I hope that, in the future, people will be responsible enough to get themselves genetically tested before having a zillion children. I am a type 1 with a type 1 sibling and there is no way I would have a genetic child. I will adopt when the time comes. The world is horribly overpopulated to begin with, and considering my type 1-riddled genepool, I would not consider biological parenthood. In my view it’s simply irresponsible and inconsiderate of others.”

First, I’m very sorry that you and your sibling have type 1 – we know how tough that is. But there are a number of type 1s who have kids who never get type 1 – in fact, the majority don’t get it. Obviously, we have different views on child-bearing. We view every one of our eight kids as gifts from God and we are very happy with the decisions we made. We are responsible for our children and, like all parents, want nothing but the best for them. And we want them to be healthy, which is why we will continue fighting for them, for you, your sister and the thousands of other type 1s.

Dave and Ellen Gould

Wow, I imagine I would have a considerably different reaction. I guess I’ll leave it at that.

I’m not judging, but I’m surprised that they continued to have children after more than one of their kids had been diagnosed with type 1. I have to imagine that I would *stop having children* if one or, especially, two of my kids turned out to be diabetic. As a type 1 diabetic I’ve done a lot of thinking about weather I *should* even have children – passing along the disease and likely inflicting it on a future generation. It’s certainly not an easy decision…