Ja:goh Jayden Barton!
By Kellen M. Quigley | Jan. 10, 2020 | Reprinted from www.salamancapress.com
Photo: Nine-year-old Jayden Barton (right) is certainly a hero in the eyes of his mom, Cierra Desbian, after taking care of her during a recent medical emergency the week before Christmas. Photo by Kellen M. Quigley
SALAMANCA — A mother and son relationship is a special one, but sometimes it can also be a lifesaving one.
About a week before this past Christmas, nine-year-old Jayden Barton, of Salamanca, knew exactly what to do when his mom’s health was in trouble.
As Cierra Desbian’s blood sugar level got dangerously low one night, Jayden was there to help her through what could have been a life-threatening emergency.
Desbian, who has diabetes and kidney failure, said she takes five shots of insulin a day. But after taking her nighttime medicine one evening, her blood sugar started going low while both of them were asleep and it was going fast.
“I woke him up and he got right up,” she said. “He immediately knew what to do.”
Desbian said she and Jayden, a third grade student at Prospect Elementary School, had talked through what to do when something like this happens, telling him what to get for her to help her through it.
“He checked my sugar and it was only 32 (mg/dL),” she said.
Jayden next went to the kitchen to get his mom some specific foods, including cheese and graham crackers, to help get her blood sugar levels back up.
“He kept taking my sugar periodically and it didn’t seem like it was going up too fast,” Desbian said. “Finally, it ended shooting back up.”
In all, Jayden spent about 45 minutes caring for his mom that, staving off what could have resulted in a much greater emergency.
“He knows to call 9-1-1, but if he knows what he’s doing, he won’t call,” she said.
Desbian said Jayden has been helping her manage her low blood sugar and kidney failure for about a year now, even sleeping in the same room as her so he isn’t far away.
And he called my friend to make sure he was doing everything right and walked him through it,” she said. “He stayed up with me the whole time.”
