Two '23 Bel Air High School grads navigate their diabetes with help of Roy Phillips, endrocrinologist and Harford County school board member

Jun. 13—The relationship between Harford County Board of Education member Roy Phillips and Bel Air High School students Elizabeth Harris and Wyatt Delaney started when the two students first popped their heads into his office.

Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when they were children, Harris and Delaney were trying to get their health under control as they navigated the winding road of adolescence. Phillips, director of endocrinology at UM Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, played a big role in their journey, and it meant the world to the students when he was there on stage June 1 as they received their high school diplomas.

The Diagnosis

Harris and Delaney were just 11 and 12 years old when they independently first experienced signs that something about them was different. Both were involved in sports, but they suddenly realized that they were growing tired very quickly.

"I was outside playing, throwing the ball around with my brother, and I remember getting tired real fast," Delaney said. "At that time, I was playing football, so me being that tired after doing barely anything was very concerning."

A month later, Delaney's parents thought their son had the flu; he was pale and losing weight.

"I remember my parents telling me that I looked like a skeleton," Delaney said. "One day, we went to Patient First because I couldn't get out of bed. I was shaky. My bloodwork showed that my sugar was way too high. I was diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes."

Harris had a similar experience.

"For a three-month time span, I was eating like a 300-pound man," Harris said. "I was starving. I was eating so much and losing weight. I was urinating all the time, and I looked like a skeleton."

Harris' mother urged the family's primary care physician to test her daughter. Harris, a lacrosse player, also was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Meeting Phillips

After receiving his medical degree from the Chicago Medical School, and completing an internship and residency in internal medicine, and fellowship in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Maryland hospital, Phillips became Harford County's first endocrinologist in 1982. He was appointed to the Harford County Board of Education in 2019.

The body's endocrine system are glands that produce hormones. Diabetes is one of the system's related disorders.

Phillips has known Delaney's family for years, as they were longtime neighbors. Shortly after Delaney was diagnosed with diabetes, his family reached out to Phillips. Harris, meantime, became a patient of Phillips when she was 15 years old, after three years of receiving services at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore.

"They were nervous youngsters as I would expect," Phillips said, "but I also saw two kids who wanted to feel better and take care of themselves."

Adolescence is a tough enough stage of life without diabetes. People with Type 1 diabetes are at a heightened risk for mental health issues, including diabetes distress, depression, anxiety and eating disorders, according to the American Diabetes Association.

"It's a tough age from an adolescence perspective because they are getting to a point where they learn to spread their wings a little bit and separate from their parents as far as having every move they make overlooked by mom and dad," Phillips said. "Then, all of sudden, they get this diagnosis, and mom and dad are hovering even more. It's almost easier sometimes when they are diagnosed as a young child because they grow up with the diagnosis."

Diabetes and High School

Harris and Delaney each experienced stress and anxiety while navigating high school.

"When I first got my diagnosis, it was tough taking care of diabetes and school work," Delaney said. "It was irritating having to handle so much at a young age. As time went on, I got used to everything. It was an everyday routine, but in my senior year, I got real bad anxiety and Dr. Phillips reminded me that it could spike my blood sugar.

"It put a lot of stress on me about how the anxiety could effect me. We eventually got everything settle to a good point. I was prescribed anxiety medication, and it has helped a lot."

In addition to anxiety, and managing the diagnosis and school responsibilities, Harris experienced difficulty socializing.

"There are days where you forget you have it, and then there are other days where you have anxiety and are on the verge of tears because everything is out of control," Harris said. "I sometimes had my pump and dexcom (glucose monitor), and I looked different than the other kids but then I decided to embrace it."

Phillips helped them change their diet, address their anxiety, and learn how to manage their blood sugar while continuing to play sports.

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"My coach and I practice plays that will work with my diabetes," Delaney said. "When I'm on the bench, I check my blood sugar and I have a Gatorade. My diagnosis doesn't affect me too much. In some ways, it changed my life for the better because I am eating healthier."

Harris continued to play lacrosse and was a member of the student government.

"Every step that my teammates took, my body was working 10 times harder to make that same step," Harris said, "but my diabetes never stopped me from doing what I want to do."

Graduating high school is bittersweet for them. On one hand it's exciting, but on the other it's more responsibility. Still, Phillips doesn't doubt that they will be just fine in the future.

"I want them to be happy and realize that it is nothing that they can not accomplish with diabetes," Phillips said. "As time went on, they became quite dear to me. They are two wonderful people, and I see good things happening down the road. I think we've developed a pretty special relationship. I care for them almost like they are my children."

Harris will be attending the University of Alabama, and will major in marketing and minor in communication. Delaney has hopes to enter the fields of computer science or computer engineering. He will work to save money to attend a school for computer programming.