Skip to main content

A Life-Changing Diagnosis

When he was in seventh grade, Emmet O. '21 loved life at Saint David's School and with his friends. He was active in sports, on the school paper, and served on student council. Then, after experiencing symptoms, he learned he had Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), which he describes as a life-changing diagnosis. Last Thursday, Emmet, a senior at Regis High School, who will be attending The University of Pennsylvania in the fall, inspired our seventh and eighth graders with a Chapel talk about his response to the diagnosis. Rather than allowing it to discourage him, he was determined to control his condition independently, to raise awareness about the disease, and to help provide a support system for other young people diagnosed with T1D. 

Emmet became an active volunteer for a variety of diabetes organizations. He also wrote an adventure story, Drew Discovers Diabetes, about a dinosaur who is diagnosed with T1D and learns to manage it. Published last year, the book was written to inspire young people living with T1D and their loved ones, and to empower them to take control of their health and well-being. Proceeds from the book's sales are being donated to The Diabetes Research Institute in support of their work to find a cure.


In closing his Chapel talk, Emmet reflected on being back at his alma mater: "Now that it's been over a year since I published the book and I'm back on 89th Street I realized the Saint David's lessons all along that brought me here," he said. " The call to be men for others, the courage to stand up for what is right, and the joy of learning, all of these took root at Saint David's. It was here that I learned leadership begins with service and that we are called to act with both intellect and heart."

When a young person tells our boys how he is overcoming obstacles and adversity by doing good for others, the impact is deeper and more indelible than if the same message is delivered by someone older. The boys hearing Emmet's message on Thursday could imagine what it might mean for them to have to deal with a similar issue at a young age; how they might turn a challenge into an opportunity. Thank you, Emmet, for sharing your experience with our community.



Emmet is one of five Saint David's alumni who are also graduating from Regis High School this year and currently serving as interns at Saint David's.


www.saintdavids.org

Popular posts from this blog

"The Wisdom Within" - Building Student Motivation Through Choice

In the third entry of our Teaching Boys Initiative quarterly blog series, Master Teacher Jim Barbieri explores how providing boys with agency to choose builds motivation and enhances learning. BUILDING STUDENT MOTIVATION THROUGH CHOICE By the time I was eight years old, I had become completely absorbed in all things baseball. Living in New York was perfect for a baseball fan; although I was a Mets fan thanks to my idol, Tom Seaver, I was also interested in learning about all the amazing Yankees stars of yore. How could I call myself a baseball fan if I didn’t know the history and records of stars like Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, and Yogi Berra? I loved collecting baseball cards and reading the career statistics of each player on the back. Looking through my collection one day, I discovered that I shared a birthday with the legendary Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente. At eight years old, I was crushed to hear the news that he had died tragically in a plane crash while trying to ...
Read more

"The Wisdom Within" - Bringing Sound to Space

In the second entry of our Teaching Boys Initiative's quarterly blog series, "The Wisdom Within," Saint David's reflective practitioner and Master Teacher Cathy O'Neill explores the pedagogical power of play in the education of young boys. BRINGING SOUND TO SPACE It began with a mound of mangled metal and the vapor of a vision gleaned from recent comments and random fact-dropping by the Pre-K boys. Unsure of what exactly I was looking for, but fueled by the idea of a makeshift rocket to dovetail with our upcoming space unit, I gingerly picked through the scrap pile until my hands grazed an old VW control panel devoid of its dashboard. Eureka! An array of knobs, dials, and buttons - while in reality, dead as doornails - in the right small hands, would become the epicenter of our NASA-inspired dramatic play corner. With a couple of lawn chairs and some old CB radio microphones to round out the set, engines would be ignited by the power of imagination. All systems go...
Read more

"The Wisdom Within" - The Superpower of Performance

In the following entry of our Teaching Boys Initiative blog series, Saint David's Director of Music and Master Teacher Jeffrey Moore explores how participating in performances and productions build transformative competencies, transmit values, and inspire boys to excel. Jose Antonio Abreu, one of the leading educators in classical music and the founder of El Sistema said this: “Music has to be recognized as an agent of social development in the highest sense, because it transmits the highest values  — solidarity, harmony, mutual compassion. And it can unite an entire community and express sublime feelings.”¹ At Saint David’s School, performance begins in the very first years. Each class, from Pre-K through Eighth Grade, presents their work to an audience of peers and parents, whether it is a story, a skit, a play, a lecture, or a musical presentation. But the increasing complexity and demands on our boys to push themselves to another level is the key to their development and succes...
Read more