For two young Saskatchewan boys, being diagnosed with diabetes doesn't mean they can't be kids.

12-year-old Ryder and 10-year-old Logan Wilm of Saskatoon have both been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

Andrea Wilm the boy's mother says when you first starting out dealing with diabetes there are a lot of lifestyle changes. As a parent, this included having to explain to her children why she needed to prick their fingers before meals, snacks, activities, and bedtime. In regards to bedtime, Andrea points out that diabetes doesn't sleep. She reflects on the fact that many times her and her husband had to crawl into the boy's room at night with flashlights on their head to poke their fingers to check their glucose levels throughout the night. 

Andrea says one thing she has learned from dealing with diabetes is that most people take day-to-day activities for granted.

"You know for me as a parent, I think a lot of people take just daily life from day to day for granted. Any simple activity like going swimming or having my boys just go for a sleepover. I think that is just such a normal activity for people, but for us that takes a whole lot of planning."

She adds that so much goes into leaving the house and knowing how they will be cared for. 

Ryder was diagnosed at the age of 2 and Logan at the age of 5, so the Wilm family has been dealing with diabetes for 11 years and says the advancements in care that they have seen from then to now are truly remarkable. 

Both boys have started using the Freestyle Libre 2 system which has eliminated the need for finger pokes and Andrea adds that it has lessened a lot of her stress and helped the boys to live a more independent lifestyle. The Freestyle Libre 2 system is also now reimbursed by the Saskatchewan government for those between the ages of 4-17 living with diabetes. 

Freestyle Libre 2 measures a person's glucose levels every minute via a small sensor that they wear on their arms. Andrea says that it's pretty discrete and the boys scan the sensor with their cell phone and reading comes up which is automatically delivered to both Andrea's and the boys' cell phones. Andrea says it has lessened a lot of stress as the boys play a lot of sports like hockey and they can now do a quick scan between shifts when on the bench. The system also has optional glucose alarms which sound on your phone to let you know the minute your glucose level is running high or low. 

Both Ryder and Logan are speaking out about their experience in order to help others as they explain.

"I think it's important to share my experience with others so that kids know they are not alone and diabetes is manageable and you can still be a kid. I think it's important to share my story with others just so that they know what is going on. Especially kids that are in my class at school because it would be so awkward just to see me scanning my phone over my arm if they have no clue what is going on."

"In 2018 almost 100,000 people in Saskatchewan were living with diabetes type 1 and 2 combined and every year that number rises," says Andrea. 

Both Logan and Ryder are very active boys who enjoy hunting, fishing, quadding, playing many sports like lacrosse and baseball as well as playing video games. 

For those people starting out their journey with children who have diabetes, Andrea says it is so important to let your kid be a kid. They might have diabetes but that comes second, being a kid should always come first.