Heroes don't always wear capes

It’s 3am, the middle of the night,

It’s time to make sure she is alright,

She gets out of bed,

No words are said,

She tiptoes to the end of the hall,

Trying to make no sound at all,

She looks around the door to have a peep,

There she lay, fast asleep,

So unaware,

It’s not fair,

She enters the room,

Her bed illuminated by the glimmer of the moon,

She strokes her hair,

Checks for a heartbeat she prays is still there,

Relief,

Her fingers are exposed to the sharp object,

An act every mother would reject,

But she has to do it.

Five seconds feels like forever,

Glucose tablets…fast,

Take these,

Glass of water please,

Once again she closes her eyes,

She prays for her blood sugar to rise,

She’ll check again in half an hour,

The reality of a disease so “sweet” yet so sour,

I don’t want this tonight, mum,

Not any night, my fingers are numb,

I wish it went away,

So do I, but you are brave,

And your life is mine to save


I wrote a poem the other night. It's about diabetes. But it is not about being the type one diabetic. It is about being a parent of one. Obviously I am not a parent of a type one diabetic and not even a parent for that matter. However, my parents are my rock and I do not know what I would do with out them. I am so grateful for everything that they do for me and I realise the parents of type one diabetics also go through a lot, as well as the child. It is imaginably very tough to be the parent of a type one and while I probably do not understand it entirely I have some idea; in the same way that my parents do not entirely understand the toll type one diabetes has on me but they know enough. After all I mean, you never truly understand what another person is going through unless you are in their position. The worry, the sleepless nights, the stress, the days off work, the trips to A&E etc. are all part of the toll type one takes on the parents of a type one diabetic. I take my hat off to the parents that have to deal with it and it is always important to remember that our parents do so much for us and there is always a lot of focus on the actual diabetic being strong, but I feel that the parents are equally as strong. My parents say that they are proud of me for dealing with it and I am immensely proud of them too. I wrote the poem to give the parents acknowledgement and I tried to put myself in the shoes of a parent with a type one child and it was hard because in writing the poem I felt I had so many emotions to try to convey. So, this one is for my parents and all of the other parents of kids with type one, because you are all heroes. 

-Ellie