Customer Stories

"The OmniPod has completely changed Noah's life. It's been the most sense of normalcy he's had since he was diagnosed."

 

When Noah was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, his parents worried that his active lifestyle would not be quite the same. With the OmniPod, he’s able to wear it swimming without disconnecting and can play all his favorite sports without having to worry about getting caught up in tubing. He also loves that many people don’t even realize he’s wearing it. Noah, who has been dubbed "The Diabetes Dude," now helps to raise awareness for diabetes through his "Flamingo Flock Diabetes Awareness Campaign."

 

 

In 2007, Noah was just like any other 6-year-old boy. He was very active in school and sports, playing soccer, baseball, basketball and karate. Over time we began to notice that he would become extremely tired when he got home from school every day. He’d need to take long naps right after school and right after activities. There were days when Noah would complain of chest pains, many times while just sitting on the couch.

The symptoms would come and go, and because of that, we didn’t get many answers from doctors. They originally thought Noah had exercise-induced asthma, but it was soon discovered that his body was destroying the cells in his pancreas that make insulin. After going into kidney failure in the fall of 2007, Noah was rushed to Children’s Hospital Boston and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

When he was first diagnosed, life changed for all of us. Our daily routine began including frequent blood sugar monitoring and six shots a day. We were all concerned that Noah’s active lifestyle would not be quite the same, but were focused on getting his diabetes under control. We talked with him about insulin pumps, but he wasn’t interested, because he didn’t like all the tubing and how clunky and noticeable it would be to wear one.

When Noah learned about the OmniPod System at a diabetes expo, he was so excited because it was so easy to use; it meant he could spend more time doing the activities he enjoys and less time getting shots.

The OmniPod has completely changed Noah's life. It's been the most sense of normalcy he's had since he was diagnosed. He's been able to wear the OmniPod swimming all summer long without having to worry about getting it wet; he's been able to play sports like soccer and baseball without having to worry about getting caught up in tubing; and many people don't even realize he’s wearing a pump, because it's so small that you can barely see it through his clothes.

As parents, the OmniPod has also made our lives much easier. We no longer have to "schedule" Noah’s meals and snacks. He can eat when he wants; he can attend parties or sleepovers, because we don't have to worry about whether or not someone will be there who knows how to administer shots; and he has the freedom to do so much more in life.

With his diabetes under better control, Noah, now 9 years old, started talking about his diabetes publicly and quickly became known as "The Diabetes Dude." After we saw how much it helped him to talk about his diabetes, we came up with an idea to help build diabetes awareness—and from there, Noah’s “Flamingo Flock Diabetes Awareness Campaign” was born.

The Campaign started out by taking blue plastic flamingos, all given a name starting with “D” to represent diabetes, and “flocking” people’s lawns with them. Each flamingo has a note attached describing Noah’s Campaign and asking people to get out and take a picture of themselves doing something fun and active with the flamingo, and in turn, “flock” someone else. Noah has even been able to “flock” some famous friends in the diabetes community—Team Type 1, a squad of cyclists with type 1 diabetes; Olympic cross-country skier, Kris Freeman; and rock star, Bret Michaels!

Noah’s been so excited that people all over the country have been asking for flamingos and sending us hundreds of pictures of them that we decided to create a website for a place to keep and share them all. We put each and every picture up on his website and use a map to track where all of the flamingos have been. Noah’s goal is to get pictures of the flamingos in all 50 states. To help Noah’s cause, please visit his website: www.thediabetesdude.com.