SAN ANTONIO – Steele High School student Lexi Banks is balancing a vibrant school life with managing Type 1 diabetes, all with the help of advanced medical technology and a supportive community.
“I think school is just so fun. It’s a family. It’s a community,” the energetic sophomore said.
Banks fills her life with activities that bring her joy. She’s on varsity dance this year, and last year she was class president.
But underlying all of her activities is a constant battle for her health.
At six years old she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease where the pancreas doesn’t make insulin. It’s different than Type 2 diabetes.
Type 1 is often diagnosed in children and it has no cure.
“I had all the signs. I was a textbook diabetic for symptoms, but we didn’t know anything about it,” Banks said.
The main symptoms include:
- Extreme thirst
- Frequent urination
- Lethargic
- Excessively hungry yet losing weight
- Blurred vision
- Fruity taste in the mouth
When Banks went to the doctor, she was hospitalized and she immediately started her treatment plan, which by now seems seamless.
If Banks doesn’t keep her blood sugar in check, it can be deadly, but newer technology has changed the game.
“This is my tandem pump. It controls my insulin intake. It also connects to my Dexcom G7 and my Dexcom G6,” Banks said, showing the pump attached to her arm.
The Dexcom devices track her blood sugar and they can be put into different modes and calculate carbs consumed. They connect to her phone and also a list of loved ones’ phones so everyone can make sure she’s OK.
The devices make it so much easier to make it through school days.
“It’s a lot of planning, but once you have it, it’s like golden, and it’s like a flat line,” Banks said.
To keep that flatline, she has a lot of supplies.
KSAT got to head to Steele High School with Banks to see her routine.
She pulled out her supply box and explained each piece.
“Big old thing of sugar,” she laughed, pulling out a bag of Jolly Ranchers. “You’d never think candy would be life-saving, but it is! I like Jolly Ranchers because you can suck on them and not get way too much sugar at once.”
She then pulled out extra replacement parts for her pump, insulin shots just in case her pump stopped working, and a way to manually check her blood sugar if the Dexcom devices stopped working.
At the start of every school year, Banks packs that up and hands it to the nurse who knows her by now.
Who she didn’t know yet was Steele Assistant Principal Michael Gonzales.
Banks bumped into him while walking to the school with KSAT, and their first interaction was a big surprise to them both.
Gonzales also has Type 1 diabetes.
He saw her pump, and they immediately started speaking T1D language, comparing devices and stories, and bonding over the difficulty of being open about a new diagnosis.
“I’m pretty good with advocating for myself,” Banks said to Gonzales.
“You hold on to that voice,” he told her, promising to keep tabs on her this year.
Banks said she hears that voice at the start of every class to let her teacher know about her health.
“You need to be able to tell people, ‘Hey, I don’t feel good. I need to sit out. Hey, I’m low, I’m high. I really shouldn’t be taking this test,’” Banks said.
She keeps snacks with her and makes sure teachers know she’ll need them from time to time.
That level of communication is especially important for her dance team and coaches.
“I have to put my pump in activity mode and then ... throughout my workout process, I have to just take like a little squirt of apple juice,” she said.
Banks wants other kids with diabetes to know it’s possible to have a full life.
“It makes you cooler!” she laughed.
That confidence comes from a solid community she’s built through the organization Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF).
Breakthrough T1D offers support and connection to patients while also fundraising for cutting-edge research.
“You think that you’re all alone. You can’t connect with anyone. Your parents are there to support you, but like, they don’t know. And ... it’s so much more beneficial to know people and have friends that also have it. It’s really special, and it makes you feel like you’re normal,” she said.
Banks hopes that other patients of any age will contact Breakthrough T1D through the website or by calling 800-533-CURE (2873).
She has met lifelong friends and mentors. One of the people she knows through the organization is a teacher at Health Careers High School. KSAT met with her there as she set up her classroom to see how she plans her routine in order to be healthy while caring for her students.