Cadott girl participates in Ironkidz Program

Email this story Print this story Archives

1 comment(s)

By ROD STETZER
rod.stetzer@lee.net
Tuesday, September 16, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

Courtney Chapek is an active 10-year-old student at Cadott Elementary. By her count, the fifth grader plays volleyball, softball and soccer.

She is also a Type 1 diabetic, just like her twin sister, Cameron. That means Courtney has to be very careful about what she eats and make sure she injects herself with insulin nearly every time she has a meal. That’s as many as six injections a day.

So she was the perfect candidate among 200 children to apply to be picked for the Ironkidz Program as part of the Insulindependence Expedition.

Courtney was one of only 10 children chosen to participate, said the twins’ mother, Lacey Chapek of Cadott.

“She’s the only one from Wisconsin,” Lacey Chapek said, adding that Cameron decided not to apply.

Courtney spent three days on a canoeing trip on the Namakogen River in northern Wisconsin, before going to Madison to attended the Sept. 7 Ironman Competition.

While there, each of the Ironkidz was paired with a member of the Triabetes Project, each of whom was participating in the triathlon and has Type 1 diabetes, which used to be known as juvenile diabetes.

For example, Courtney was paired with Joe Brady, a Nordic skier and a teacher from Cambridge, Wis. He finished 1,368th our of 2,206 participants in the Ironman, which combines 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of bicycling and running a marathon, over 26 miles.

Fortunately, Courtney didn’t have to do that. She was able to run with Brady the last 50 yards as he completed the marathon after tracking his progress during the day.

The Chapek family, including brother Thomas and sister Cameron, got to tour the Wisconsin State Capitol building before watching Brady run.

“There was just as many people (watching the race) at 9 at night as there was at 3 in the afternoon,” Lacey Chapek said.

The only drawback to the day was the 4 a.m. wake-up call. Courtney said she was “not such a happy camper,” because of that.

The fifth grader said she enjoyed the trip to the Namakogen River. “I’ve never been canoeing before,” she said.

“This expedition was led by two diabetic counselors,” Lacey Chapek said.

The goal was for children facing adversity to become more independent. For Courtney, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on Dec. 16, 2005, that meant learning she has to closely monitor her diabetes to keep it in check.

That point was driven home on her trip.

“I was surprised by how much taking insulin really, really matters,” said Courtney, who administers her own injections. “We checked our blood sugar every hour.”

Courtney said the entire trip was a lot of fun.

“Now I want to do it again,” she said.