“My wife had diabetes, and she liked to eat sweets. I would tell her, ‘Baby, please stay away from that.’ She would say to me, ‘Are you a doctor?’ I would say, ‘No, I’m not a doctor. But I watch TV. I see things. It’s not good for you.’ She had to get shots, in the morning and at night. She had to take pills. Her blood pressure was going lower. It was not a good sign. So she had to go into the hospital. She stayed six months. After that, she lost so much weight. I couldn’t believe it. I cried. I waited until her eyes were closed. I didn’t want her seeing me like that. Then she went into a nursing home. I stayed with her all the time. She started getting more and more medicine, and I guess it was all too much. Her kidneys, her heart, they just couldn’t take it. They tried to drive her to a hospital across from NASA. I was in the ambulance with her. But before they got there, she passed away. 

“We were married 40 years. I’m not going lie. It’s hard. A lot of times I wake up at night and start thinking about her. When I do that, it’s hard to go back to sleep. It’s hard when I’m walking around the house and see her picture on the wall. We were together for a long time. I really miss her.

“I’m not perfect. Sometimes I argued with my wife. Oh, did she love to spend money, especially on clothes, expensive dresses. And you would not believe how many purses she had; shoes, too. She had two closets, just for all her things. She probably had 10 or 15 credit cards. I would tell her, ‘Baby, they will eat your lunch.’ But she just loved to go shopping. Near the end, she told me, ‘When I pass away, I want you to give all my clothes and shoes and purses and jewelry to charity.’ So that’s what I did. My wife, she was a good woman. She had a good heart.”

— Jimmy Saciri

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“My mom had diabetes with all the complications. But she just kept going. She kept working as long as she could. She was in and out of the hospital, and we always knew she would come right out until the day that it didn’t happen. That was two years ago on the 29th of this month. It was definitely hard for us all. She was only 59.

“I could talk about her for hours. My mom was a social worker, case worker, for about 35 years. She loved what she did. She loved helping people, finding resources for them after their stay at the hospital, things like that. I saw how dedicated she was and how passionate she was about her job, and it motivated me. I thought, wow, I kind of want to do something like this.

“I’ll be graduating in May with a degree in nutrition (from the University of Texas). I’m leaning toward seeing what I can do with my degree in terms of policy and government. I’m interested in the politics of health care. Ideally, I’d like to work for the Department of Health and Human Services, seeing how I can help out in whatever community I’ll be living in. Like making sure our low-income, minority people have access to fresh foods, health care and other kinds of services they need. I just know that I want to be helping people, like my mom did all those years.”

— Cynthia Pizana

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In front of Sterling Municipal Library, she walked over to a young man and gave him food from one of her grocery bags.

“I’ve had that giving spirit ever since I was a little girl growing up in Mississippi. Since I was about 5 years old, I’ve always wanted to help people. My mother and father would say that it’s best to help out others when they’re in need, and then the good will return to you.”

Have you ever been the one in need?
“Oh, yes, I know how that situation can be. I’ve been through that a lot because of health issues that have kept me from working. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the hospital for diabetes and different things. So I don’t have much, but if I see people standing with signs saying they need to feed their family or something like that, I’ll talk to them and give them what I have. It might not be but $2 or $3, but I do what I can.

“Overall, I’ve been blessed and I have a good outlook on life. I try to stay positive and do things to improve myself and to help others as much as possible.”

— Angel Hodges

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“I used to weigh about 380 pounds. It was slightly in the genes, I guess, but it was more just living a sedentary life, being lazy and not keeping up with myself.

“I grew up playing sports. When I was in high school, I was an offensive lineman on the football team. I was a big guy, but I wasn’t 380 big, you know?

“Diabetes runs in my family, and my older brother had just been diagnosed with Type II diabetes. So I thought, I know if I lose belly fat that would help to reduce my risk of getting diabetes. That was probably my big impetus for starting to lose the weight. Right now I’m 250, but I’d like to get down to 230.”

How big of a problem is obesity these days?
“My parents are from Trinidad, and my sister and her son still live there. When they came to visit last August, about 9-10 family members went to eat at a Cajun restaurant in Houston. My 13-year-old nephew turned to me and said, ‘Uncle, one thing that I’ve noticed about Americans is that everybody’s fat.’ I looked around and I was like, he’s right, we have a lot of overweight people.

“It is an issue, but I think a lot of people are trying to make that change. That’s why you see so many working out and paying more attention to what they put in their bodies these days. Just like me, they’re trying for that healthier lifestyle.”

— Robert Wells

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“He is diabetic and has to get shots every day. If I don’t do it, his legs start to get very shaky. He also has new eyes. He had surgery because of cataracts. But he is doing OK now. He is living a good life.

“We are people who love animals, but some people call me stupid for spending $3,000 to $4,000 on him. But I have to, you know? I love him. I cry for him sometimes because I tell him, you are better than a real person.”

— Carmen Lopez

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The post Owner shows his love for diabetic dog appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to become a doctor. I’ve always been interested in helping people.

“We used to live in Matamoros, Mexico, and most of my family there studied to be teachers. They thought I was going to be a teacher, too, until I said no. Or they wanted me to be a beautician. I was like, ‘Uh, no.’

“A lot of people in my family have been sick, mostly with diabetes but also some heart problems. It actually hit me hardest when I was 15. My grandpa passed away that year. He had diabetes and had most of his toes cut off. I really set my mind then on becoming a doctor with a goal of finding a way to make sure that nobody else would have to go through something like that. That’s what’s motivating me.”

The post Grandfather’s diabetes battle leads to career goal appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I served in Vietnam in ’69 and ’70, in the 101st Airborne artillery unit. It was an experience. Then the company I worked for put me on medical disability retirement.

“The VA says my problems come from Agent Orange, but I don’t know. I’ve got diabetes and that diabetic neuropathy, nerve deterioration. My eyesight isn’t real good, either, because I’m seeing double right now. I can look out here and see two of every vehicle.

“I’m just doing the best I can. I’ve got an appointment at the VA where they’re going to do an MRI and everything on my head to see what’s wrong. Ain’t going to find nothing up there, though.”

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“About 10 years ago, I contracted the West Nile virus and was in a coma for 10 days. It didn’t help that I was diabetic; my blood sugar was over 1,000.

“Obviously I survived it but the doctor said some things will never be the same, and he was right. I remember waking up, and my daughter brought me home from the hospital that day. I’d been in the dark for so long, all the reds, greens and blues seemed so vibrant. I wish I’d had the ability to paint. I would have painted those scenes that were so bright and clear.”

What are your thoughts on the Ebola virus?
“It’s scary. Especially when you think about having some of the most brilliant people on Earth working on things, and they can’t solve the problem or don’t even really have a good grasp on it.”

The post That time he survived the West Nile virus appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I’ve been through a lot. My mom died in 2004 when I was 6. She was on drugs and was diabetic, and she passed because of the drugs. She was only 31.

“My dad was never there. Well, he was there, but he doesn’t treat his kids like they’re his kids.

“Basically, I grew up on my own, being my own mother and father figure, if that’s what you want to call it. I stayed with my aunt and then my grandfather for a while.

“More recently, my baby’s father and his family have really been there for me. Now I’m just trying to keep him happy and make sure we’re both happy for our kids. I also want to make sure we take care of ourselves like we’re supposed to.”

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The post Through rough times, she learned about parenthood appeared first on The Baytown Project.