“They would not tell me what was the matter with me for six days,” she said. “They weren’t going to tell me because they thought it was too traumatic. I thought I was dying.” She was not dying. Not by a longshot. But her life did change.

 

Weber has lived with diabetes for almost 40 years. Since her diagnosis, she has gotten married to her husband Barry, made her home on a farm, raised three children (John, Josh and Micaela) and taught countless other children in school. Along the way, she has learned to cope with the hypoglycemia that accompanies her diabetes.

 

Until almost 20 years ago, Weber’s hypoglycemia used to manifest as a series of seizures, often grand mal seizures. They arrived without warning, usually early in the morning while she was still in bed. She was never aware of having them; she would wake up and find her worried husband staring down at her.

 

But once she got an insulin pump, her situation improved. And it improved again, thanks to the staff at Vanderbilt’s Diabetes Center, when she got a new special sensor for the pump. The sensor gives her time to adjust any problems that might be occurring. Although she can still fall into unconsciousness if her blood sugar bottoms out, she no longer has the unannounced grand mal seizures. She calls it “the answer to my prayers.”

 

“The most fabulous thing on earth for me,” Weber said. “I get warned before I am going to crash. I never did before, and now I do. I am tons better. Tons.”

 

“You no longer have to watch the clock,” she added. “You can be a real person.” And she gives credit to Vanderbilt for giving her that chance.

 

Her first appointment at Vanderbilt was Jan. 22, 2007. She had to make the drive from her home in Wataga, Illinois, by herself, so a family member called her on her cell phone every 15 minutes. For ten hours. But it was worth every minute of the drive. She knew from the very first appointment that she was in good hands.

 

“I felt, I’m going to be okay now. I’m going to be better,” she said. And she is. She received the new sensor in August 2007 and was delighted with its success. It helped her avoid hypoglycemic episodes. So every three months, she makes the same long drive. “It’s well worth it,” she said firmly. “I can’t even begin to tell you how well worth it it is.” She appreciates the fact that she has the new sensor for her pump, but even more so, she appreciates the way the Vanderbilt staff treat her. She has never had a phone call or email message go unreturned.

 

“They think about me as a person when they are taking care of me,” she said. And now when Weber stands in front of her eighth grade classroom, she feels more confident. She wears the sensor on her leg and puts tape over it, so it won’t get pulled off. She programs her pump to use the sensor. And then she gets a warning—a beeping-- if she needs to press the button on the pump.

 

Her students are aware of it and know what to expect. “I am extremely fortunate with that,” she said. “They understand that it’s something serious. Now that I have the beeping, they really get it.” And if the reading gets too low, she can take some liquid glucose to get back on track quickly. Then, Bridget Weber does what she’s done almost every day for 24 years. She concentrates not on her health—but on helping her young students learn.