TOPSHAM  — When Mt. Ararat High School student/athlete Lily Schenk wraps up her high school field hockey career at the end of this season, she’ll be able to look back and reflect on the hard work and care she put in to maintain her type 1 diabetes, while succeeding on the field, all along while sending a message to anyone that deals with health problems.

“Don’t be afraid to try something. … Don’t be afraid and always let people know, even if they say you can’t do this or you can’t do that, you can,” the 18-year old senior goalie said.

Her words carry weight as she was diagnosed with diabetes in Sept. 2015 while in the eighth grade. 

Type 1 diabetes, also sometimes known as juvenile diabetes, is an autoimmune disease that occurs when a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin, the hormone that controls blood-sugar levels. T1D develops when the insulin-producing pancreatic beta cells are mistakenly destroyed by the body’s immune system. The cause of this attack is still being researched.   

T1D is a 24/7 disease that requires constant management. People with T1D continuously and carefully balance insulin intake with eating, exercise and other activities. They also measure blood-sugar levels through finger pricks or by wearing a continuous glucose monitor.

Lily adheres to a strict regimen of awareness of what she eats and the levels of her blood sugar by keeping track of them, using some of the recent technology now available, like a Dexcom G6 glucose monitor that is synced up to her Omnipod pump that delivers the necessary insulin dosage.

“I check my levels 5-10 times a day,” Lily said. “I check when I eat, about to drive, when I feel funny and when I go to bed.”

Even with a strict regimen, people with T1D may still experience dangerously high or low blood-glucose levels that can,

in extreme cases, be life threatening. Most people with T1D becomes actively involved in managing his or her disease, but also rely on the people around them, and this started on day one after she first found out she had T1D.

“After a surgery (for an unrelated issue) at Mid Coast Hospital, I went home and wasn’t feeling well. The next day I went back for my post-surgery appointment and they said to watch what I eat. After the appointment I went home and fell unconscious and unresponsive, going back to the ER,” said Lily, who didn’t know anyone else with diabetes before this. “From that point on, everyone in my life was involved with my illness.”

Although she did not play field hockey her final year of middle school due to the surgery, she began the process of educating the people around her once she returned to school. Her closest friends learned how to check her blood sugar, what were her signs if she was low or high, and who to call in an emergency as everyone knew of her medical bracelet and IDs.

Once she entered high school, Lily received support from the get-go, including her field hockey coach and school counselor Krista Chase.

“I knew about Lily through her middle school coach,” Chase said. “I made sure she knew that she should play field hockey and we would take care of her and we’ll figure it out.”

Lily, who also plays goalie for the high school girls ice hockey team, explains her communication with her coaches.

“I meet with my coaches and tell them about my condition and what to look for. I’ve also spoke with Kate (Anagnostis) our athletic trainer, and I have flags and tags on all of my important pouches,” she said. “I also have my own emergency kit that I keep on me at all times. I have gummies, juice and glucagon in there.”

The rise and fall of blood sugar levels are nowhere near a perfect science, but Lily understands that she is her best asset and has learned to recognize the signs her body gives her.

“When I was first diagnosed, I didn’t realize exercising could affect my levels depending on what I was doing,” Lily said. “I have learned over the years of my signs and at this age, something like ice hockey will be worse on me than field hockey, which sometimes makes me higher.”

Thankfully, Lily has quick relief for her highs and lows, and her teammates know her condition.

“My other goalies can tell when I’m acting off,” Lily explains. “They see me either acting like I’m lightheaded, shaking or talking in circles.”

To go with her pump and sensor, Lily also wears a watch while playing that is connected to her equipment, giving her signals when she’s heading one way or another with her blood sugar levels.

“I always tell the officials that she is wearing a watch for medical reasons, and no one has ever questioned it,” Chase said. “The team has developed an empathy for her situation as she has so much to think about and resolve that other athletes don’t because they are not facing Lily’s medical challenges.”

Chase not only sees the impact Lily has had on the team, but also how it’s influenced her as a coach.

“It’s been helpful that I am her school counselor and guidance. We have this dual relationship that, in this case, is beneficial to figuring out all of the quirks of Lily Schenk and all of the complexities of her world,” Chase, who had never coached anyone with diabetes before, said. “And it’s been pretty effortless because of this. Because she is so good at what she does with it, it makes me as a coach not to have to know as much. We’ve had good line of communication, and I think I am a better coach for coaching someone with health challenges.”

Lily, who has attended Camp Adventure the last four years, a two-week camp in Mapleton, Maine, for youth living with T1D, has met others with the same illness, whether it was in at camp or in school.

“I met someone my first year at camp, as well as my classmate Bella (West) at the end of my eighth-grade year,” Lily said. “I took her to camp with me the next year and we’ve been really good friends since. She’s been playing sports with diabetes a lot longer than me since she was diagnosed at a younger age. She’s a great person to talk to about it.”

She has also crossed paths with other student/athletes on the fields.

“I spoke with a girl earlier this season while shaking hands after a field hockey game after I noticed her glucose monitor on her arm. We talked afterwards and she told me that both of her parents are type 1,” she said.

After graduating next spring, Lily plans to attend Southern Maine Community College for nursing in the fall.

“After a year or two at SMCC, I plan to transfer to the University of Southern Maine. My end goal is to become a registered nurse and work in endocrinology and be a diabetes educator,” Lily said.

While she wants to pay it forward with her career choices, she also points out how supportive her family has been through this life-changing event.

“My family has always been supportive. Both my brother and my father are EMTs, we have a running joke that if I go low or high, either of them will stab me,” Lily, who lives in Topsham, said with a smile.

She also feels inspired by those who are in her corner.

“My teammates and littles that I work with, whomever comes out to support me, that is what pushes me. I’m doing my Capstone Project on it,” she said about what inspires her.

The “Capstone” at Mt. Ararat High School is a year-long assignment that each senior sets out to develop an individual project demonstrating that he or she has the skills to be a self-directed and lifelong learner.

For example, Lily will keep track of her weight, A1C (three-month average of blood sugar level) and other factoring tools to bring her to the low-end ranges.

Whether she fully realizes it or not, she inspires many others herself.

“It inspires all of us to take care of ourselves and take care of one another,” Chase said. “It reminds us that other kids have things going on in their world, and that we all need to cut each other some slack.”

Chase remembers a time in practice where she had to remind herself about Lily.   

“One time, I arrived at practice and saw Lily wasn’t running with the rest of the team. I was angry with her and asked why she wasn’t running and walked away,” Chase said. “Later she told me she felt low and that was why she wasn’t running. I felt so bad that I didn’t even think about it. Quite frankly it’s easy to do because she manages it so well.”

Lily points out some of the harder parts of having T1D are mainly asking herself questions that no one knows the answers to while feeling alone.

“Some of the hardest parts about having T1D is feeling like no one understands what’s going on,” Lily explains. “I ask myself, ‘why is this happening? What did I do wrong? Did I do anything wrong?’ It just feels like I’m alone sometimes when I don’t have anyone right close that can relate.”

Maybe someone isn’t as physically close as she would like, but there are plenty of people around her that care for her and will miss her once she moves on.

“Last year she received my ‘Coaches Award,”’ said Chase. “She’s always the first one at practice and always asks, ‘how was your day coach?’ She’s always the last one to leave and her final questions is, ‘what else can I do coach to help other players?’

“She peppers me with questions all of the time, she knows it annoys me sometimes, but I also love it. Her questions help me. They help me manage my life, and I’m going to miss that.”

Chase also points out that she has seen the advantages and the opportunity Lily has taken by the horns and has embraced.

“She’s really proud of the situation she’s in,” Chase said. “Of course, she wishes she doesn’t have this, but she views it as a blessing because it has forced her to be more outgoing and be more up front. She embraces a life circumstance and takes charge of it, and that’s a part of her that is glad she does, she’s proud.”

For the aspiring nurse, she just wants kids to learn from her, realize it’s OK to have an illness and still do whatever you want.

“I know there are kids out there — whether it be diabetes or some other illness — who are afraid to try something because they are afraid to. I want them to know ‘hey, even though this is happening, I can still try it,’” adds Lily.

Lily and her No. 4 Eagles host No. 5 Messalonskee today for a Class A North field hockey quarterfinal at Mt. Ararat Middle School, slated for 3 p.m.

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