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Friday, November 6, 2015

JUVENILE DIABETES...THE ENEMY OF OUR TRIBE!!!

In 1997, when Max and I were with Soulfly, recording in Malibu, our son, Igor was stricken with a strange illness we had never encountered on the path of raising children. It was strange fate, as the week before, we were at the beach outside our hotel, the Malibu Beach Inn, enjoying the sand and surf with the boys. Igor ventured into the crevices of these large rocks, scattered around the hotel. I noticed fragments of debris and ocean bits and pieces, and called him away. "You are going to get a sickness from that junk," I said, as I coaxed him out.


Soulfly with Ross Robinson

Igor and Jade on Malibu beach



The next week, he developed an insatiable thirst. Every second of the waking moment he said, "I'm thirsty." We shoveled drinks down him so often, I thought I was going crazy. We actually left the studio and flew back to Phoenix to see his doctor. The doctor gave him a test for diabetes and it was negative. He diagnosed it as a virus. What the hell kind of virus makes you lose weight and thirst like a man crawling out of the Sahara?

Returning to the studio, Igor rapidly diminished before our eyes. He lost his desire to play, eat or smile. I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on. Being the Tribe Mom, I must always be in control and able to fix anything. This was driving me nuts and watching our little son wither away was more than frightening!

One day I told Max, Ross and the others at Indigo, that I was heading home to find out what was going on with Igor. Max decided he had recorded enough and booked a one way ticket for Soulfly 1 on a jet plane to NYC to mix.


Igor

The doctor confirmed to us that Igor had juvenile diabetes. What a shock! I didn't even know what diabetes was exactly. No one on either side of our family had ever had it. We were lost. Our next journey was to the hospital, where Igor stayed for 3 days. We stayed too and learned the regiment. I think I had a bit of a nervous breakdown.


Christina, Igor and me
When we came home, it was Roxanne's birthday. Igor came down with the chicken pox on top of everything else. Covering his speckled torso with calamine lotion, finger poking and shots consumed our days. Worrying about him getting low and having a diabetic coma was another drama. So much info...

Igor with chicken pox

Roxanne at her birthday
My friend, Kristen, and I were sitting at the kitchen table---yes, the table Chaos and Roots was written at--- during the birthday party, heads in or hands. We had lost Dana the year before; now Igor had diabetes...We looked at each other and I said, "What next?" I turned around to see Jason inhaling a balloon full of STAY HI, not helium, and pass out on the floor, eyes rolling in the back of his head and body convulsing...

We looked at each other, eyes popping out of our heads and I called 9-11.
Class dismissed......