The Clarification

Years ago I had a student named Hunter who asked to get a drink of water two or three times everyday. When he wasn't asking to get water, he was asking if he could go to the bathroom. I thought he was just avoiding P.E., but I later found out that he was doing the same thing in the classroom.

The boy went to the doctor. The doctor determined that he had Type 1 Diabetes. Diabetes is a disease of the immune system in which cells that produce a hormone called insulin, die. Without insulin the human body is unable to turn sugar into energy. Two of the most common symptoms of untreated diabetes are dry mouth along with unquenchable thirst and a constant need to use the bathroom. Diabetes is not contagious, has no known cause and, while treatable, no known cure.

Anyway, a few months later, another student, Ashley, also developed diabetes.

Whenever something unusual happens kids will race out to P.E. and try to be the first one to tell me what happened. If kids can't be the first, they'll either repeat what has already been said, or add details.

On the day the kids in Ashley's class learned of her diagnosis, the first group came running out to class shouting: "Mr. T, Ashley has diabetes!"

"Yeah," said a member of the second group, "She got it from Hunter."

"No," I said, "diabetes isn't contagious."

"Right," nodded another student, wisely, "she got it from drinking too much water...."