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Home  / News & Publications /  Michigan Catholic News / 2010 /  Adolescent advocate

by Jared Field of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 29, 2010

MONROE — Just a week before being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Kiera Malone, then just 2 years old, was imbibing like any other toddler, sucking on rock candy and totally oblivious to her condition.

In the more than 10 years since the life-altering diagnosis, Kiera, 13, isn’t oblivious to much of anything anymore.

The disease has forced her to mature much quicker than her peers in order to take care of herself and, as it turns out, others.

Kiera, the first person in her family to be stricken with the disease, is a tireless advocate for juvenile diabetes research. She raises money and awareness for the disease that she believes isn’t as well known as it should be.

“I think there should be a lot more scientists looking into it … they should focus on this,” said Kiera, now a seventh-grader at St. Michael School in Monroe.

As a young child, Kiera says she remembers seeing all kinds of banners in support of cancer research.

“There was nothing about diabetes at all,” she recalls. “Nobody seemed to know what it was, and I was angry with that.”

Kiera, as it turned out, was angry enough to do something about it.

In 2005, she became a youth ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) and has received numerous Golden Sneaker awards for raising $1,000 or more for the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes. Her team, now nine years old, is called Kiera’s Cure Walkers and has raised $15,000 through the annual event.

When Kiera was first diagnosed at the University of Michigan Medical Center , her mother didn’t quite know where to go.

“I was devastated and I didn’t know what to do,” said Kim Malone. “But, they told me that one thing I could do was to get involved. They suggest JDRF and told us about the walks and we’ve been doing it every year.”

Kiera says that since she lives with the disease, she has an unusual opportunity to help others and to be an example of someone who’s not mastered by anything.

“I don’t feel sorry for myself,” she said. “I just take things more seriously. I’m not carefree like a lot of people are.”

This past summer, Kiera had the honor of meeting President Barack Obama in Washington D.C., along with more than 100 students from across the country living with the disease. They descended on the nation’s capital to speak to Congress about the need to renew the Special Statutory Funding Program for Type 1 Diabetes.

“It was a lot of fun in Washington D.C.; I met a lot of people who know exactly what I’m going through,” said Kiera, one of only five Michigan students at the meeting.

It was an opportunity for the young advocate to not only make new friends, but to lobby a bit for her cause. Before making the trip, she spent hours putting together a scrapbook of her life with the disease to give to Michigan’s D.C. lawmakers.

This fall, Kiera gave a speech to executives from Comerica Bank in Detroit imploring them to help her raise funds and awareness for the disease through the Walk to Cure Diabetes event.

She was emphatic that she wasn’t going away any time soon, that advocacy won’t be a passing interest. She told them that the disease interferes with the active lifestyle of a 13-year-old, but that she remains defiant.

“I will not allow (diabetes) to take over,” she told them. “Silver lining” Kim Malone says she has been blown away by her daughter’s strength, perseverance and positive attitude.

“You always look for a silver lining in things,” she said. “Just for her to embrace her disease … I’m so proud of her for being a spokesperson and wanting to fight for legislation and get in front of people to talk about her experiences. I think it’s incredible.”

Malone says that her daughter has had a couple close calls over the past decade, but that Kiera keeps tabs on her condition like a miniature tactician.

There are, after all, so many things that most of us take for granted that, for Kiera, don’t come easy. She has to be careful to never over-exert herself while playing with her friends; she has to constantly monitor her diet and, perhaps most taxing, constantly tell others why she’s different.

“Traveling is a pain,” Kiera admitted. “You have to show the security guards your insulin pump, disconnect it, show them the syringes that you have, all your other things, and explain everything that’s going on.”

Being diabetic is also hard for a young lady who thrives on athletics. Kiera is an avid dancer and volleyball player and says she’s constantly being doted over.

“I don’t like it when people fuss around me,” she said. “They fuss too much.

“Especially my grandparents,” she added with a smile.

Travis Smilowski, a math and science teacher at St. Michael, says Kiera thrives on being challenged.

“She actually looks forward to it,” Smilowski said. “I love having Kiera as a student, especially when I ask a question to the class looking for an answer and they don’t respond, I can always count on Kiera for the answer.

“She is one person that will go above and beyond in every aspect of her life.”

“He will watch over her”
Kim remembers when her daughter was just a little girl saying her prayers before bedtime.

“Toward the end she prayed that God would take diabetes away from her,” Kim recalled. “When I asked her why she said that, she said it was because the finger pokes hurt. She didn’t think about anything else because she was so little.”

Mother and daughter call on their faith in God to comfort them from fear. Kim says that she offers her daughter up to God when she’s traveling for work and unable to care for her.

“What she has is life–threatening,” she said. “We just have to put our faith in God, that He will watch over her and take care of her for us when we’re not taking care of her.

“One bout of extreme low sugar and she’s gone.”

Kiera says she leans on her faith for strength and trusts that God will take care of her and all those like her who live with the disease.

“My faith is comforting. I know I’m not alone,” said Kiera, who still pokes her finger at least 10 times per day to check her blood sugar level.

Kiera’s father, Jeff, says that it can be scary at times to let his daughter grow up, but that she’s a very capable young woman.

“She’s matured; she knows what to do and what not to do on her own,” he said. “That’s a big step and she’s doing a good job at it.

“I know parents often don’t want their kids to do everything on their own at such a young age, but she’s good at it; she hangs in there.”

For Kiera, it’s everything she can do to just live a normal life. She doesn’t worry about the worst that could happen – only the best.