Gary V: A victorious struggle over diabetes

I’ll never forget July 18, 2005. I asked myself, "Is this it?" After 28 years of diabetes and 21 of those years with me by his side, Gary was in front of me seemingly lifeless. In my life with Gary Valenciano and our struggle with type 1 juvenile diabetes, I had witnessed countless attacks of all types and I had revived him a number of times, but never did I ever see him in this state. Attacks come in different forms. He could be shaking, delirious, lethargic, crying, unreasonably angry or in a combative mood, breathing but unable to open his eyes … the symptoms vary. I had woken up at 3 a.m. with a jolt. In my heart, I knew an angel woke me up because this was not the first time I had woken up this way (as if someone shook me). I mistakenly fell asleep at 11 p.m. looking at a normal Gary working on my laptop. I was still in my day clothes! I had fallen asleep due to jet lag and I realized that I was in our Marriott Pasadena hotel room the day after the ASAP Kapamilya Caravan at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles. I jumped out of my bed like a lightning bolt and screamed his name, but he would not wake up! I ran to the fridge to get juice, but as I tried to give it to him, I realized one thing. Rule number 1 in hypoglycemia attacks: NEVER GIVE AN UNCONSCIOUS DIABETIC ANY LIQUIDS. He could drown! So I ran to get glucose gel, a first-aid tool that I never leave the country without, and I started pasting the gel inside his mouth while I started to pray. I managed one text message to my sister-in-law Gina and asked her to pass the message to pray for Gary as he was having what we call a "hypo attack." Gary then went into seizures and I continued to pump his body with glucose despite the scary symptoms I was witnessing. (In my confusion, I forgot that I should have just injected him with glucagon or glucagen, the best antidote to a diabetic hypoglycemia attack. I had it in my overnight bag, but because I was in shock, the simplest way for me was to give him glucose.)

What caused this attack, one may ask? Simple. The jet lag, fatigue, and time change got him a bit confused – he made a mistake and took a double dose of insulin. And since the hotel’s room service ended at 10 p.m., he was unable to order food to back up the insulin, which he had injected himself with. So his sugar level was dropping because insulin’s role is to break down the sugar into glucose and deliver the glucose to the body to make it work to give energy to the person. With too much insulin, the body runs out of sugar or glucose and the patient goes into a diabetic coma. A glass of orange juice and/or a sandwich prior to sleeping would have solved this problem. We had snacks and juices in the room, but Gary was just so tired because of the rigid rehearsals we had so he, too, fell asleep with his headphones and his ASAP lyrics on his chest. A simple case of insulin overdose due to skipping a meal dropped Gary’s sugar level to a level where he was going into a coma! (The opposite is hyperglycemia, where one may either overeat, causing sugar levels to reach dangerously high levels, or where one simply has forgotten to take his medication.)

Meanwhile, I managed a call to Vina Pareja, Gary’s road manager, whose room was right next to mine and she ran into the room to help me revive Gary. She helped me prop him up and she was screaming his name and shouting, "Gary… oh, my God … Gary!" countless times. In the meantime, in Manila, I found out later on that my staff was having a Bible study session at the exact same time Gary was having an attack and they all shifted into prayer and intercession while Gary was being revived. I also found out that there was a brownout at Genesis (his company) at that exact time! Talk about power struggles! I guess there was a battle in the heavens and angels were trying to keep Gary alive and the power of the battle was so strong that it even caused a power failure in his company!

When I saw that the situation was so serious, I called 911, and asked for the help of Monch Novales at the Talent Center of ABS-CBN, who was able to call for help. Meanwhile, after two tubes of glucose gel, I felt so helpless that I decided to just go into prayer warfare. I was praying against death and diabetes although in my heart, I knew that Vina was thinking that we had already lost Gary as he was totally stiff and seemed to have stopped breathing. I was calling Jesus’ name to deliver Gary from death and quoting Psalm 23 and Psalm 91. But I realized that we needed to get him out of the oppressive room and so we dragged him through the third floor corridor and brought him to the lobby. The paramedics came and, by the grace of God, Gary was revived. The initial glucose that I pumped into his system saved him and the additional medical support given by the efficient medical team in the United States stabilized him. A trip to the ER ensured his recovery and what happened after that was a lifestyle-changing experience that I want to share with those who can afford to shift their relatives to a different kind of insulin delivery system that has changed Gary’s and my life!

After that scary attack, I received a number of e-mails and text messages asking why Gary wasn’t on the insulin pump yet as this would lessen the risk of a diabetic coma. So after researching on it, we consulted a diabetes specialist in the US, Dr. Steve Baron, and in November, 2005, Gary was introduced to the insulin pump. Today, 10 months later, I can honestly say I have never had a more comfortable life with Gary, and my stress has been reduced significantly. What used to be a life of sleepless nights and stressful regular weekly attacks (mostly minor but nevertheless still very nerve-wracking) has become a close-to-normal way of life for both of us. The insulin pump reduced Gary’s injections from about 90 injections monthly to a mere 10 injections a month and the only downside is that he is attached to it 24/7 and a tube is attached to his body to deliver insulin in a more efficient manner. He has a pager-like gadget that he programs to release insulin only when he wants to eat and when he exercises, unlike before when his life was dictated by the military-like delivery of medication through a combination of injections that peaked at certain hours, forcing him to eat when he wasn’t hungry or making it necessary for me to wake him up at odd hours of the night just to check his sugar levels.

(Log on to www.minimed.com for more info on this gadget.)

Today, Gary lives a more normal life and while it is a more expensive way of taking his medication and monitoring his glucose levels, it certainly is worth it because I can now sleep more soundly and his sugar levels have been more stable, less low and more normal! We had a checkup in the US recently, and the doctor said one word: "Superb!" His numbers now are great, he has no diabetes complications and, in an eye checkup a month ago, the doctor said Gary had zero diabetes complications in his eyes. He also recently installed another gadget on his body, the Real Time transmitter that allows a continuous glucose monitoring system to be utilized in his body. Now, he can check levels without pricking his fingertips, which are full of little holes due to 28 years of daily monitoring. He is the first in the Philippines, I believe, to have this device installed and I do believe that this combination of faith and flesh has really been the key to his victorious struggle over the disease. Faith because prayer is non-negotiable in our life. And flesh because unless one studies the disease and the available tools in the marketplace that can be used to ease the stress, one can’t conquer the disease. It will conquer you. Through all the 22 years of a wonderful marriage I have shared with Gary, I have come to realize that knowledge is, indeed, power and studying the latest technology and available medication, watching one’s diet and engaging in some form of exercise, and reading materials on any disease one may have are the steps to healing. When you cap that with prayer and His Word, how can you lose? Everything is, indeed, possible. Just look at Gary.