During a State House visit, diabetic Lynn girl advocates for laws that help afflicted

LYNN – Camryn Holt is only six years old, but the Lynn girl is already learning the ways of politics in an effort to promote awareness of childhood diabetes and pass laws that help make life easier for those afflicted.Diagnosed with diabetes at age 2, Holt must each day endure four insulin injections – two before school, another during lunch, and a fourth after dinner. Her parents, Jim and Stacey Holt of 14 Briar Hill Drive, administer most of the shots. Dorine Bramsfield, school nurse at Sisson Elementary, handles the lunchtime injection and monitors the first-grader’s glucose levels during the school day.”Cam doesn’t complain or fuss about testing her blood sugar or receiving insulin shots,” said Stacey Holt, an abuse and neglect investigator for the state Department of Mental Retardation. “She understands that her illness could cause dramatic changes in her overall health, including blindness and kidney failure. Luckily, she has never been hospitalized for anything, including her diabetes.”In addition to the shots and daily glucose tests, food intake must be restricted. “She never eats anything without letting someone know first. Carb counting and attention to portion size are also a big part of living with Type I diabetes,” Stacey Holt explained. “Imagine a child asking before she puts anything in her mouth?”To help raise awareness of her plight and the difficulties faced by all diabetics, young and old, Camryn Holt attended a rally at the State House last week by the American Diabetes Association. The rally was held on Diabetes Day and attracted many adults and a gaggle of children who suffer from the disease.”She went there as an advocate,” said Stacey Holt. “To say that I’m proud of my little girl is an understatement.”While at the State House, the girl met briefly with Secretary of Health and Human Services JudyAnn Bigby and state Sen. Thomas McGee of Lynn, sponsor of Bill 249 – An Act Relative to Evaluating and Enhancing Quality Physical Education.According to McGee, schools must serve healthy foods and beverages, and provide adequate physical education programs to counter increases in obesity among youth. Unfortunately, children who are overweight tend to remain that way as adults, putting them at substantially higher risk for Type II diabetes as they age.The bill, if enacted into law, would evaluate current physical education standards, practices and instructions in all grades. Further, a full-time physical education coordinator would be established in the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Schools, and physical education would be taught by licensed and certified teachers, using coursework that adheres to the standards of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education.Peabody residents Megan Foisy, 10, and Markie Foisy, 7, were also at the rally, where Diabetes Advocates sought support to retain $350,000 in state funding for the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program, to allocate $25 million in life science research funding, and push for nutritional standards for snacks and beverages available in the state’s schools.”We’re trying to teach Cam to make healthy choices at home,” said Stacey Holt. “I want my child to live as normal a life as possible, but because of her medical condition, we can’t just send her out to a friend’s house for the afternoon. When she goes to school, she has to carry a special bag with her diabetes supplies. We wanted Cam to attend the Ingalls School, but there’s no full-time nurse available to give her the shot, so after many discussions with the school administration we sent her to Sisson where Dorine Bramsfield has become my daughter’s great friend. Dorine is a hero.”The Holts have another daughter, Paige, who’s nearly 2 and shows no signs of diabetes, which many researchers believe is hereditary. Stacey Holt’s brother is diabetic.Whether diabetes proves hereditary or an auto immune disease matters less to the Holts than the prospect of stem cell research, which may o