Greater Bay Shore coverage is funded in part by Shoregate, now leasing brand-new premium apartment homes in the heart of Bay Shore. Click here to schedule a tour.
First off, Type 1 diabetes is not contagious.
Of course everybody knows that.
But it didn’t stop the playful teasing from friends at West Islip High School these past few weeks, ever since 15-year-old Michael McElwee was diagnosed.
His girlfriend, Kaleigh McCarthy, 17, also has Type 1 diabetes.
advertisement
“They accused us of sharing insulin needles,” laughed Mike, a sophomore.
One friend quickly labeled the couple the “Diabetic Duo.”
The name stuck.
Now, the newly minted Diabetic Duo has joined forces to raise money for JDRF, formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. JDRF’s ultimate goal is to help find a cure for all diabetes.
Together the couple has already raised $2,450 toward those efforts.
Their target mark is $5,000. They’ve been raising the money online and selling bands at school.
There’s also an evening of fundraising planned for Nov. 14 at Local Burger Co. in downtown Bay Shore, which coincides with World Diabetes Day.
All this since Mike was diagnosed on Sept. 1o.
The teenager had been feeling sick and vomiting for a couple days when he finally headed to the emergency room at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. A nurse there immediately suspected Type 1 diabetes due to the sweetness of his breath.
A blood test confirmed it, and Mike was flown by helicopter to Cohen Children’s Medical Center. It was there the doctors and staffers started to talk to Mike about life with diabetes.
“I said that I know all this stuff, because I’ve been watching [Kaleigh] do it,” he said this week, gesturing to his girlfriend of 13 months at Local Burger.
For her part, Kaleigh, a senior, started crying when she first saw Mike after the diagnosis.
He tried to lighten the mood.
“I told her now I can drink your juice boxes [for diabetics] and you can’t get mad at me,” he said.
The two decided early on they were going to work together to make a difference and serve the diabetic community as best they could.
They’ve already volunteered at two fundraiser walks, and hope to compile a Diabetic Duo team together for future walks. (There are two JDRF walks a year on Long Island.)
In the meantime, they’re already experiencing the advances in technology that fundraising makes possible. Kaleigh is no longer giving herself shots; instead, she uses a Medtronic 670 G insulin pump.
“This pump works in conjunction with a continuous glucose monitor which tells the pump when Kaleigh needs more insulin or insulin should be halted,” reads their JDRF profile page.
“It’s much better for my health; it’s more accurate,” Kaleigh said. “Everybody gets lazy and you don’t feel like doing the math [to determine how much insulin is needed]. This does it for you.”
Since he was recently diagnosed, Mike is still using shots.
He took the news of his new reality well.
“Honestly, I wasn’t really upset, because I knew everything that I had to do from watching Kaleigh, ” he said. “And I knew my life isn’t suddenly horrible. It keeps going perfectly fine. You just have to be a little more careful.”
Photo: West Islip High School students and boyfriend-girlfriend Michael McElwee and Kaleigh McCarthy at Local Burger Co. in Bay Shore in Tuesday. (Credit: Michael White)
