Dear Alfred's Pancreas: Based on a True Story of a Family Learning to Live with Type 1 Diabetes

Dear Alfred’s Pancreas,

You are not very dear, to tell you the truth, but I would like to ask you why you stopped making insulin in Alfred’s body. I bet you didn’t even care that you made Alfred get diabetes, right? You just thought it would be less work for you to do. I am very ashamed of you. You are a real lazy organ. I really do not appreciate that Alfred, my brother, has diabetes.

This book is based on a true story. Alfred is the real name of a real child who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Alfred didn’t even know what diabetes was, but he learned fast, because he had to. There were many things he needed to do. Alfred didn’t like any of them. Neither did Alfred’s sister, Marie, who was jealous of all the attention he was getting. And Alfred’s parents worried…A LOT.

DEAR ALFRED'S PANCREAS has valuable information both for children who have been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and for their families, who need to understand the disease and learn how to help their child cope with his or her new reality and thrive post-diagnosis.

“A beautiful book, beautifully illustrated, that tells more than the story of diabetes. It tells how everyone in the family is affected when a child is diagnosed with a chronic disease, sometimes in ways we would never predict.”

— C. Ronald Kahn, MD, Chief Academic Officer, Joslin Diabetic Center, Harvard Medical School