2026 RCRR Benefit Raffle: The Merrill Family and their T1D journey!
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I asked Cassidy if she would share a little about their experience and how their young daughter Tesslee was diagnosed as diabetic. Their story is important in so many ways, because not only does it provide our supporters and followers with the background, but it also brings awareness to the signs & symptoms of Type1 Diabetes in children, and reminds us all to trust your instinct when something feels off, and to give ourselves grace. Our way of life often puts us in tough situations, and many times we've had to bear down and work through discomfort, through injury and illness, and we demonstrate this within our families too. Especially with littles who are always changing and their bodies are working to grow stronger, going through different stages and phases. We tell ourselves not to panic, to not make a big deal of things, and let situations work themselves out or run their course. Then there are the times when our gut tells us, "Get Help". Little Tesslee is so blessed to have a loving family, and we're so honored to be able to support them!
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Looking back now, the signs were there, but at the time they felt easy to explain away. She had lost a little weight. She always looked pale, her lips sometimes tinted purple. She was drinking so much constantly asking for a drink and every morning she would wake up in a literal puddle of pee. I just kept thinking it was a phase that would pass.
The night before we went to the ER, she was up almost every hour asking for a drink. Normally she sleeps until around 9, so when 9:30 rolled around the next morning, I didn’t think much of it. She had been awake so much during the night I figured she was just sleeping in a little bit extra.
At 10 o’clock I decided I needed to go check on her.
When I walked into her room, my heart dropped, She was extremely pale, mouth open, eyes half open, lips dry, looking lifeless. I picked her up to wake her. She woke up and because she was soaked, I put her in the bath. That’s when she projectile vomited all over in the tub.
After getting her cleaned up, I tried to convince myself it was just a stomach bug maybe something had finally made its way through our house. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. I kept watching her. She could barely walk. She stumbled when she tried to move. Every instinct in me was screaming that this was more than a bug.
I texted my pediatrician all of her symptoms! His response to me was “Get her seen now! I would probably take her to EIRMC ER they have pediatric er docs there!”
So Immediately I take her in.
On the drive to the ER, I did what every parent does I googled her symptoms. And before we even arrived, I knew. I knew she was diabetic.
When we got there, I told them what I thought. They checked her blood sugar, but their meter couldn’t even read it, it was too high. They brought in another machine, took her blood again, and this time it read 704.
She was in diabetic ketoacidosis. DKA.
Everything after that moved fast and slow at the same time. Fear, disbelief, shock , and mostly guilt all crashed into me at once. How did we get here? How did I miss this? How could my baby be this sick?
We spent the next three days in Idaho Falls. The pediatric floor there was incredible. The nurses, doctors, and staff took amazing care of her and of us. They saved my daughter’s life.
This will unfortunately be something that Tesslee lives with her whole life and will require medications and specialized devices to manage. These things of course add up, along with the initial hospital stay and emergency care, and our healthcare system has major coverage holes. We ask that you consider participating in our raffle or making a donation to help the Merrill family as they handle the new financial burden and life changes.
Thanks again to 7K Quarter Horses , Solo Select Horses, Hesa Dual Bet, and Dr. Jason Moulton for donating towards our grand prize. Additional prizes are being received and we can't wait to share those with you!
The night before we went to the ER, she was up almost every hour asking for a drink. Normally she sleeps until around 9, so when 9:30 rolled around the next morning, I didn’t think much of it. She had been awake so much during the night I figured she was just sleeping in a little bit extra.
At 10 o’clock I decided I needed to go check on her.
When I walked into her room, my heart dropped, She was extremely pale, mouth open, eyes half open, lips dry, looking lifeless. I picked her up to wake her. She woke up and because she was soaked, I put her in the bath. That’s when she projectile vomited all over in the tub.
After getting her cleaned up, I tried to convince myself it was just a stomach bug maybe something had finally made its way through our house. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. I kept watching her. She could barely walk. She stumbled when she tried to move. Every instinct in me was screaming that this was more than a bug.
I texted my pediatrician all of her symptoms! His response to me was “Get her seen now! I would probably take her to EIRMC ER they have pediatric er docs there!”
So Immediately I take her in.
On the drive to the ER, I did what every parent does I googled her symptoms. And before we even arrived, I knew. I knew she was diabetic.
When we got there, I told them what I thought. They checked her blood sugar, but their meter couldn’t even read it, it was too high. They brought in another machine, took her blood again, and this time it read 704.
She was in diabetic ketoacidosis. DKA.
Everything after that moved fast and slow at the same time. Fear, disbelief, shock , and mostly guilt all crashed into me at once. How did we get here? How did I miss this? How could my baby be this sick?
We spent the next three days in Idaho Falls. The pediatric floor there was incredible. The nurses, doctors, and staff took amazing care of her and of us. They saved my daughter’s life.
This will unfortunately be something that Tesslee lives with her whole life and will require medications and specialized devices to manage. These things of course add up, along with the initial hospital stay and emergency care, and our healthcare system has major coverage holes. We ask that you consider participating in our raffle or making a donation to help the Merrill family as they handle the new financial burden and life changes.
Thanks again to 7K Quarter Horses , Solo Select Horses, Hesa Dual Bet, and Dr. Jason Moulton for donating towards our grand prize. Additional prizes are being received and we can't wait to share those with you!
