'Dr.' Casey's feel-good plan: helping others

Casey Harcarik of Columbiana is dressing up as a doctor this Halloween. It is a costume he knows very well.
But as Casey goes from door to door Sunday evening, he won't be filling his goodie bag with candy. This fourth-grader is trick-or-treating for canned goods and nonperishable food items to be donated to a local service agency and given to needy children and families.
What would prompt a 10-year-old to pass up all that candy?
Diabetes.
In 2002, Casey was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
"We didn't put a couple of things together before he was diagnosed," Casey's mother, Sherry, said. "He was drinking more water at soccer and going to the bathroom more. We ride bike trails. Casey is always the leader of the pack. He lagged way behind the one day."
Sherry remembers vividly the day she decided to take her son to the doctor. "Casey is a happy-go-lucky kid. He woke up one morning and said, 'I'm not going to school today, and you're not going to make me.'"
At the doctor's office, his blood sugar level didn't even register because it was so high. Casey went straight to the hospital and stayed there for five days.
Finding outthe diagnosis
"When the doctor told us, we just cried," Sherry said, remembering when she and her husband, George, learned of their son's diagnosis. Casey's uncle had died of diabetes just a few years earlier.
Since that time, Casey has received five shots of insulin every day -- more on some days.
Looking at this charming, good-looking young man who has a smile as bright as the sun, I tried to imagine what it would be like to have five shots a day.
"Do you ever get mad?" I asked him.
"A lot," he replied without hesitation but still with his ever-present smile.
The thing that makes Casey the maddest is the testing. Not only does this child receive five shots everyday, he must draw blood four or more times a day to test his sugar level.
"The fingers hurt the most," Casey said. He prefers his forearms.
"I had Mom always poke me, but then I started doing it myself," he explained.
Sometimes, Casey is just plain tired of being poked.
"It's a struggle," Sherry said. "There is no break from it."
Once, when Casey was tired of all the testing and the shots, his father said to him, "I would take all the shots for you if I could."
Casey knew he meant it.
"I'll be having fun, and I have to stop and do a blood test," he said.
Handling itat school
Two or three times a week, Casey can feel himself going low during class at school. His classmates know about his diabetes and one of them will walk with him to the nurse's station to be tested.
Casey has gotten to know the school nurse pretty well. In fact, last year, the night of Halloween, he went home from school with her and passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters who came to her house.
He had gone trick-or-treating the year before.
They ended up giving most of the candy away. "We froze some to add to his meal plan," Sherry said. "We threw most of that away anyway."
This year, Casey is going to be back on the streets knocking on doors just like all of the trick-or-treaters.
The difference is, when "the doctor" rings the doorbell, he will have a special trick.
"Sugar Free For Halloween" is the name of Casey's food drive. He will be wearing a button created by The Way Station to show his participation.
All of Casey's treats will go to needy families served by The Way Station.
Without a doubt, Casey has come up with the sweetest Halloween treat of all!
gwhite@vindy.com
XIf you would like to join Casey's "Sugar Free For Halloween" food drive, call The Way Station at (330) 482-5072.