Published: February 5, 2011
TAMPA – Konner Brewer has nearly equaled the number of times she’s broken a bone as years she’s been on this Earth. The 14-year-old has broken 11 bones from participating in everything from snowboarding to rock climbing.
“I think I have the record at school for most broken bones,” the Academy of the Holy Names eighth grader says proudly. “There was a girl with seven, but I beat her. The doctors all know me. They say, ‘back again?’ “
Her doctor visits increased three years ago, but it had nothing to do with broken bones.
The bundle of energy, with a braces-filled mouth almost always curved up in a smile suddenly felt weak and frail. a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis would jar the Brewer family and thrust them into the unknown world of blood sugar checks and insulin injections.
According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, about 26 million Americans have diabetes. About 10 percent of those have Konner’s kind — Type 1, which develops when the body’s immune system destroys pancreatic cells that make the hormone insulin that regulates blood glucose.
Konner, who hasn’t met a sport she didn’t like, takes comfort in the fact Type 1 diabetes hasn’t slowed down some famous athletes, such as quarterback Jay Cutler, Olympic gold medal swimmer Gary Hall Jr. and NBA player Chris Dudley.
Konner has always been a water drinker. But her mom thought the gallon-a-day habit she developed three years ago was a bit much.
“I called the doctor about three times over the course of three months and they kept saying, ‘she’s fine,’ ” Karla Brewer said. “They kept saying that it’s Florida and she’s athletic, so I let it go.”
The mood swings, though, were atypical of Konner’s happy-go-lucky personality.
“I’d be happy, then I’d get sad, then I’d be crying,” she said. “I didn’t know why.”
Later, she would discover the excessive water drinking and mood swings are classic diabetes symptoms. And those symptoms would culminate in finally getting properly diagnosed after a family trip to New York for Konner’s younger brother’s birthday.
“By the end of the trip, she got so lethargic, her father had to carry her,” her mom said.
They returned home on a Sunday and Konner’s uncle, Kevin, a firefighter, suggested a blood test at his station. The result prompted an immediate trip to the emergency room.
“It was around 900,” Karla Brewer said. “They didn’t know how she wasn’t in a diabetic coma.”
Konner spent five days at Tampa General, a couple of blocks from her Davis Islands home. Anger, worry, helplessness all set in, with everyone but Konner.
Within hours of arriving home after her hospital stay, Konner was wakeboarding at a nearby lake.
“I was calling her doctor and telling him she’s still frail,” Karla Brewer said. “He told me to leave her alone, that she had the best attitude. he wished everyone could have her attitude. She’s like, it’s there, let’s deal with it and move on.”
Konner’s daily routine involves several blood checks. she wakes up and before breakfast, checks her blood sugar, then in an hour or two she checks it again. she checks it again before and after lunch and before and after dinner.
During her various sporting events, Konner checks before and halfway through games or practices to make sure it’s OK.
“If my blood sugar is too low, I’ll have to sit out for a while and eat something and wait for it to come back up,” she said. “But once it’s up, I go back in.”
Konner’s attitude toward her ailment has helped set the tone for the family. she doesn’t wallow in self pity.
“As soon as I heard I could participate in all my sports, I was good,” Konner said.
“I’m the wreck,” her mother said.
Karla Brewer didn’t want to hover, and she didn’t have to. she educated all of Konner’s teachers, handing out diabetes brochures, but has not once come to the school to check her daughter’s blood.
“From the moment she went back to school after the diagnosis, she checks her blood in class,” Karla Brewer said. “She does it all on her own.”
Her teammates chip in when needed. at the state swimming meet in November, Konner enlisted the help of other Jaguars swimmers.
Wanting to be more “aerodynamic” in the water and not risk anything slowing her down, Konner removed her insulin pump, an injection device that delivers necessary doses through a tube attached to a needle in her skin, and went back to shot injections.
“My friends would take shifts and they would help give me my shot,” Konner said.
As the youngest athlete in the pool at the Class 2A state swimming meet in November, Konner swam the third leg of the gold medal-winning 200-freestyle relay team.
Swimming was going to be just another notch on her sports belt, but a funny thing happened on the way to trying out a new activity. Konner found she was really good at it.
“I was at the school for soccer during the summer and it was really hot outside, so I thought next time I’ll bring a bathing suit and cool off and jump in the pool,” Konner said. “That’s when coach saw me.”
Two years later, Konner stood atop a podium at the state swimming championships with a gold medal around her neck.
“The medal ceremony was so exciting,” Konner said. “They finally had to tell us to get off the podium because we were up there for so long.”
* * * * *There is one activity Konner desperately wants to try but her doctor told her no.
“I want to scuba dive, but my doctor said I can’t check my blood sugar under the water,” she said. “I have to wait until I’m older and have somebody that can go with me that knows what they’re doing. That’s the one thing I have to wait on. Other than that …”
She’s game for anything. It’s that attitude Konner wants to share with others diagnosed with the same disease, especially kids her age.
“They can do anything,” Konner said. “Diabetes doesn’t have to stop them. They just need to manage it and check their blood sugar while they’re doing the activity. It’s fine.”
In addition to swimming and playing on the middle school soccer team at Academy of the Holy Names, Konner’s going to give softball and track a try this spring.
Konner’s a typical teenager who happens to suffer from an atypical affliction. she and her best friend Maddy Babin do the usual teenager activities, like going to the movies and hanging out at the mall.
Babin didn’t know much about diabetes before, but she’s full of knowledge now.
“It was kind of scary watching it at first, like I couldn’t imagine having to go through that,” Babin said. “But she’s so good about it. It’s not a big deal for her. she hasn’t slowed down at all, but knowing Konner, I’m not very surprised.
“Nothing’s going to slow her down. It hasn’t yet and I don’t think anything ever will.”
A couple of years ago, Konner participated in the school talent show. Sporting a cast on her broken ankle (No. 11), she hopped on her favorite pogo stick while catching a baseball a friend tossed to her.
She received a standing ovation.
“Konner’s just that kind of individual, she’ll try anything,” Karla Brewer said. “As a parent, there’s certain things I’ve instilled in her, but that’s something that some kids are born with and she’s got it. I’m looking forward to seeing what she does with the rest of her life because it’s going to be amazing.”