Rocker Bret Michaels survived another week on The Celebrity Apprentice, but the Poison frontman found out his 9-year-old daughter may have diabetes. Michaels, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of six, is competing in the show to raise money for the American Diabetes Association, and the group’s summer camps for kids with the disease.
During the episode that aired Sunday night, the men’s team prevailed in a challenge involving Right Guard deodorant. It is only the second time this season that the men have won. Michaels won $100,000 for his charity in the first episode as the men’s team’s project manager.
During Sunday’s episode, Michaels said his daughter exhibited many of the symptoms of diabetes, such as dire thirst and frequent urination. However, the final test results would not be back for some time so it is not known whether the girl has diabetes.
However, Michaels, who has been a great ambassador for diabetes throughout the show, did dramatically overstate the risks of passing on diabetes to one’s children. While the exact cause of Type 1 diabetes is not knows, it is generally believed to have a genetic component. Michaels incorrectly said the chances were 1 in 2 of passing along Type 1 to his kids.
For men with Type 1, the actual chance of having a child with Type 1 diabetes is about 1 in 17, or about 5.9%. For women with Type 1 giving birth prior to their 25th birthday, the chances are about 1 in 25, or about 4%. However, those giving birth after 25 have odds of about 1 in 100, or 1%. For more info on the the topic, please see the following Diabetes News Hound articles:
When to Worry About Your Kids Getting Diabetes Too
How Likely Are You to Pass on Diabetes to Your Kids?
Expert: Why Diabetes Caused Me to Adopt
To receive free news updates from Diabetes News Hound delivered straight to your Inbox, sign up here.
If you already receive the free Alerts, spread the word by telling a friend to sign up here.
What test results could possibly take so long to minimally rule out diabetes?
Regular blood sugar?
A1C?
C-Peptide?
With the exception of the C-Peptide (which I never had done), I can’t think of what would take more than an hour or two IF waiting for a lab.
Was this drama created for the sake of ratings?
My 21 year old cousin was diagnosed last week. She went in for food poisoning. They were on their toes and she was diagnosed without the DKA that most of us went through (diagnosed as kids).
It did not take them “some time” to diagnose her. Her blood sugar was 240. She’s thin. She’s 21. She was born a 2 pound 1 ounce preemie (thus possible autoimmune problems anyway). Not rocket science – early stage type 1.
True the H1C is only done to measure if the patient has be adequately controlling their diet during the last month. That is a lab test and I mean its not done in an Er situation. The child was probably not in an ER situation she was probably just being on a routine doctor trip. Usually those lab test will take 1-2 weeks so maybe it wasn’t a emergency and the show of course blew it up to be something dramatic.
I was wondering about these tests too. I didn’t have any tests done, they just diagnosed me based on my symptoms and high blood sugar.