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The McCauleys, Bobby and Denise, thought they would not have a child, but Anthony was born on Sept. 12, 2008. Anthony McCauley was diagnosed with Type I diabetes and the family is learning to adjust to his condition.
Denise and Bobby McCauley never thought they would have a child when they got married in 2007.
Doctors told Denise McCauley she would not be able to conceive since she suffers from seizures.
On Sept. 12, 2008 they had a son, Anthony McCauley.
He had a normal childhood, despite being born six weeks prematurely with underdeveloped lungs.
His mother said she was never diagnosed with gestational diabetes, but his birth weight made her think it may have been missed because diabetes runs in both families.
At the age of five, Anthony McCauley was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. His body produces no insulin at all.
“I got a tattoo to represent his diabetes,” Denise McCauley said as she held out her left wrist showing a tattoo of a ribbon with the date when he was diagnosed.
The date was June 10, 2014 and his parents said he spent three days in the hospital. They took him to the doctor because they noticed he was using the restroom frequently and was losing weight.
Since that time, the family’s lives changed. He recently began suffering with unexplainable seizures, which the doctor said he might outgrow.
Anthony McCauley, now seven, has to take between four and eight insulin injections a day. He takes two types of insulin — one for the day and the other for the overnight hours — and also takes seizure medication.
“Sometimes I wake up and it’s high,” Anthony McCauley said of his blood sugar level.
His parents said that at one time he was on an insulin pump, but it wasn’t working correctly and he changed to injections.
“We can do everything one day and his blood sugar will be great and the next day, do everything the same way as the day before and we have crazy numbers,” Denise McCauley said. “It’s just a different day everyday.”
He wears a diabetes medical bracelet at all times, which is especially important when he is at school.
“It gets low (blood sugar) if I play around a lot,” Anthony McCauley said. “Then I get a snack.”
His favorite food is pizza, but his parents said he is a picky eater. The doctor advised them to let him eat whatever he wants and then administer the insulin.
His parents said they see food as numbers because they have to count carbs in order to know how much insulin to give him.
“It makes it difficult when we go out to eat,” Bobby McCauley said. “Like McDonald’s, we have to go online to see the nutritional facts.”
They said they also use the calorie counter phone application Fat Secrets.
Anthony McCauley went to his first diabetes camp this summer and received a certificate for administering a total of 14 insulin injections on himself.
“It was good, but I don’t want to go back,” he said.
Once every three months, the McCauleys travel to Lubbock and Fort Worth to see his doctors.
“I feel it gets hard at times,” Denise McCauley said. “I feel we have managed pretty well to take care of him.”