Reflections on the Death of My Son: Three Years Later

It's been 3 years and 3 days since Jr. died. When people ask me how he died, they instantly assume he was the victim of some kind of street violence. I guess that's a fair assessment in this day and age. But no, that wasn't the case. You see Warren Jr. had Type 1 Diabetes, commonly known as Juvenile Diabetes. He was diagnosed at 9 months, and as a new mother and bride, my hands were full.

It was really scary the night my then husband and I rushed our baby boy to the emergency room. We were new at parenting, and didn't have a clue why our normally active, playful and happy 9 month old son wasn't feeling well. He was listless, urinating frequently and sleeping a lot. Neither my mother nor mother in law had any mother wit to offer, they were clueless as well.

So at 3am we sought help at Children's Hospital in Detroit. Just 24 hours ago we had gone to another hospital seeking medical resolution, only to find out later that they had misdiagnosed our son as asthmatic.

Instead of being made to wait with the masses, the triage nurse escorted us quickly to an examination room. There seemed to be rows and rows of sick children that night. We had no idea what was going on, we were just relieved that he was going to be tended to soon and this nightmare would be over.

Unfortunately, the ER doctors were perplexed. They were running tests and taking blood samples simultaneously in the hopes of figuring out this medical mystery. I desperately tried not to show I was a bundle of nerves because miraculously my baby boy was still awake. His eyes held the promise of him mommy staying with him while strangers fussed over his unknown illness.

Just as one doctor was leaving to go study Jr.'s charts, a doctor with his briefcase in hand, and jacket on was strolling through the ER and coming towards the bed Jr. way laying in. He looked at me and smiled as he continued on his way. As he turned the corner of the aisle where my son was lying, he spoke words to me that I will never forget.

He said, "I smell sugar. This baby is in ketoacidosis."