MedicAlert has been there for generations of Canadians over its 65-year history. Sandra’s connection began in 1975 just days after she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Three days before her 15th birthday, Sandra was called to the office at her high school. Her mother was waiting.
“When I saw my mom, I said, ‘What do I have?’ For her to pick me up, it had to be something really major.”
Sandra had been losing weight, constantly thirsty, and going to the bathroom frequently. Her doctor had ordered a blood test, and now her mother was there to take her directly to the emergency department.
“They said I would have gone into a full diabetic coma within a day or two,” Sandra recalls. “If I had not been diagnosed, I would have just collapsed somewhere. Hopefully they would have figured it out—but who knows.”
Within days, Sandra enrolled in MedicAlert.
“I got my bracelet—the stainless steel one. I still have it. It is indestructible,” she says. “Now I have a silver one and I have a gold one. I always have a bracelet on me. I have never not had a bracelet on me.”
Diabetes treatment looked very different in 1975. Sandra remained in hospital for a week while she learned to give herself insulin injections.
“You start injecting an orange to practice and then move to the body.”
Her first question for the specialist was about what her future would look like.
“The first thing I asked was, ‘Can I have children?’ That was foremost in my mind,” she remembers. “He said yes, so that gave me a lot of relief that life would be fairly normal.”
Sandra went on to have two children. She has been married for 44 years and now has six grandchildren.
“My mom says that is one of her proudest things—how well I have managed my diabetes and lived with it,” she says. “Fifty-one years later, I am still here with no major issues.”
Still, no two days with diabetes are the same.
“Since I had the [insulin] pump, things have been much easier. But it’s still difficult. Every day is a challenge,” Sandra says. “I can wake up at the same time, eat the exact same food at the same time every day and my blood sugars will be different. It is a personal struggle.”
Through those changing days, her MedicAlert ID has remained a constant, connecting first responders and healthcare providers to her health record and the 24/7 service if she cannot communicate.
“I have never needed the MedicAlert service, but I always have a bracelet on me. I panic when it is not on me,” Sandra says. “That bracelet is my lifeline.”
That sense of protection now spans another generation. Sandra’s grandson Noah was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at eight years old.
“Of course he got a MedicAlert bracelet right away,” she says.
Now nine, Noah is active and still learning to recognize what is happening in his body. His mother manages his care, supported by Sandra’s five decades of lived experience.
“I am praying for a cure,” Sandra says. “I realize it’s not going to happen in my lifetime, but I do pray that it happens for the next generation.”
Sandra hopes neither she nor Noah will ever need MedicAlert in an emergency.
“Hopefully, we never need MedicAlert services, but it’s just knowing that it’s always there,” she says. “If I can’t speak, someone hopefully can speak for me.”
For Sandra, that reassurance is much like any other form of protection.
“You wouldn’t own a house and not have insurance. You wouldn’t drive a car without insurance,” Sandra says. “Well, MedicAlert is my health insurance, should something go wrong.”
Are you an individual with a chronic medical condition? Learn more about how MedicAlert can provide peace of mind, protection, and support at medicalert.ca/signup or call 1-800-668-1507 today.
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