Episode 136 - Screening our children for type 1 diabetes with Rhodes and Alana Ritenour
What is screeening for type 1 diabetes? Who should be screened? Is it right for my family?
In this episode, attorneys turned authors Rhodes and Alana Ritenour discuss the potential benefits of screening and their decision to screen their own children.
Rhodes and Alana are no ordinary couple - they’re also the characters of their own book series, The Adventures of Rhodes and Alana. The series is based in part on Rhodes’ experiences of living with type 1 diabetes since he was diagnosed in 1983 at the age of 5.
One page at a time 8-year-old Rhodes and his best friend Alana turn the challenges of type 1 diabetes into intrepid adventures, normalising conversations about the things that make us unique.
Back to real world Rhodes and Alana, and alongside their positions on multiple advisory boards, founding their own Diabetes Support Group and educating their local community in Richmond, Virginia, the pair are advocates for type 1 diabetes screening - a relatively new autoantibody test that can determine if you will develop type 1 diabetes, giving families a chance to prepare for the transition to life with type 1 in the household.
In this energising and hopeful episode, the pair also chat about becoming authors, how diabetes impacts their partnership as a couple and as parents, giving back to the community and their hopes for the future of type 1 diabetes.
CONNECT WITH RHODES AND ALANA
Visit The Diabetes Support Group website.
Follow The Diabetes Support Group on Instagram.
More about The Adventures of Rhodes and Alana book series.