Guest Blogger Rocky Lang--

It was six and a half years ago when my ex-wife called me from a summer trip with our daughters Nikki and Erica.  She told me that Nikki, who was ten at the time, was rushed to the hospital and had been diagnosed with type-one diabetes. My ex is a doctor, calm and cool, but I heard panic in her voice. She insisted I get on a plane immediately and indicated Nikki’s blood sugars were so high that her life was in danger.

Nikki is now 16 and a half and is an amazing person, singer and musician with a bright future. She sang at The Monterey Jazz Festival last year and has a CD out called Time Has Stopped, which is available on Itunes. Through Nikki’s determination to not let her disease stand in the way of her dreams, she inspired me to get deeply involved in creating products and writing books that would empower children living with diabetes.

I am a film producer, writer and director. Never in a million years did I ever think I would be creating lunch boxes, backpacks, and purses that were specially designed for kids with diabetes. I wanted them to have functional and cool accessories that didn’t have a medical look to them. The Courage Bag is one such item named for the courage I see in my daughter. Then, the other shoe dropped, and my ex-wife Jeannie had a daughter with her new husband named Lara. Lara was diagnosed with diabetes at 18 months old. To see a toddler need to have shots and finger pokes multiple times a day is heart breaking. The psycho-social toll is huge because a child doesn't understand why her mother and father are hurting her with shots and needles.

I am not a clinician, I am not a researcher, and I don’t have millions of dollars, so I wrote a children’s book for Lara called LARA TAKES CHARGE. It is an empowering simple book that lets kids know that they are as normal and as capable as anyone else as long as they manage their blood sugars. I am happy to say that book is in the hands over of 15,000 families, hospitals and libraries.

Recently the American Diabetes Association approached me. They wanted to honor me as a “Father of the Year." At first I declined because there are many other fathers much more deserving than I am and I’ve never been an award oriented guy anyway. I do what I do because I love my kids and want to help other families as well. After repeated attempts by the ADA, which I find to have a wonderful bunch of people working for them and to be a worthwhile organization, I accepted the honor. I did so in the hopes that I can inspire other fathers to get engaged in their children’s lives and to see that even with diabetes and other chronic diseases, the beacon of hope remains bright as long as we empower our children to be strong and pursue their dreams.

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