A Family Affair: Three Siblings Living — and Thriving — With Type 1 Diabetes
Kennedy Fees isn’t exactly your typical 12-year-old. The three-sport athlete is an All-Star shortstop whose West Suburban (Johnstown, Pa.) team won the 2025 Little League Softball World Series. She also has type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes.
What sets her apart even more is that her two younger siblings — Easton, 9, and Elle, 6 — also have the life-threatening disease. And you’d never know it from looking at them.
“They are all very active, normal children,” says their mom, Amber. “We encourage them to play sports. Having diabetes doesn’t mean they can’t do anything.”
A Frightening Diagnosis
Kennedy was the first to be diagnosed in 2019, when she was 6. Amber, a Cambria Heights teacher, was coaching the Cambria Heights girls basketball team. The entire Fees family was at the game for senior night.
“She’d had a big sports drink and a bag of candy. She wasn’t feeling good, so she laid down on the bench with a coat over her,” Amber says. “After the game, two friends who are nurses noticed she looked bad and advised us to take her to the hospital to get checked out.”
Amber and her husband, Jordan, were shocked when the local emergency department doctor told them their daughter had type 1 diabetes. Her blood sugar was a critically high 1000 mg/dl, and she was in severe diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA is an acute complication that can lead to diabetic coma or death if untreated.
Kennedy was immediately transferred by ambulance to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, about 90 minutes away. She spent three days in the Endocrine Unit as doctors worked to stabilize her. Before leaving, Amber and Jordan met with a diabetes educator and nutritionist to learn how to manage her diabetes through finger pricks, insulin injections, and counting carbohydrates.
“UPMC Children’s does an incredible job. Their team is amazing, and they have the best doctors and nurses I’ve ever experienced,” Amber says. “But when you leave the hospital with a child with type 1 diabetes, you feel like you have a newborn. You become a parent all over again.”
Peace of Mind
For the first three months, Kennedy endured up to 14 finger pricks and eight injections of insulin daily. Nighttime was the hardest.
“We were scared that her sugars were going to go low. I remember pricking her finger at least every two hours at night to check her,” Amber says.
Thankfully, things got easier for the Fees family with the introduction of “smart technology.”
The two devices — a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) and wearable insulin pump system — work together to constantly monitor blood sugar levels and deliver small and precise amounts of insulin. Readings are sent to a smartphone, allowing parents and kids to see real-time data and trends.
“It was a game changer,” Amber says. “The technology made it so much easier and gave me peace of mind, especially at night.”
A Double, Then Triple Whammy
Easton was diagnosed in the fall of 2023, at the age of 7.
Ironically, the family had hosted a softball tournament to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (now Breakthrough T1D). After eating chicken, French fries, and a milkshake at the event, Easton began complaining of a bad bellyache.
Suspicious, Amber pricked Easton’s finger to check his blood sugar. Initially, it was a worrisome 300 mg/dl. But the next morning, it was up to 500 mg/dl.
“I knew right away,” she says. “This time, we packed our bags first, then drove straight to UPMC Children’s.”
At UPMC Children’s, doctors confirmed Easton also had type 1 diabetes. But he showed none of the typical symptoms: fatigue, unusual thirst, frequent urination, irritability, or weight loss. His only complaint was stomach pain.
“I wasn’t mad. But I knew what it meant,” Easton says. “I’d have to watch what I eat and take insulin.”
Six months later, 5-year-old Elle began complaining of stomachaches after drinking chocolate milk. Then her mom noticed she was urinating frequently.
“The red flag went up,” Amber says. “I pricked her finger, and it was over 500 mg/dl. We packed our bags once again and drove to Pittsburgh.
“We were all devastated. She was the youngest and only 5.”
Amber was relieved that Kennedy’s pediatric endocrine specialist, Mohamed Saleh, MD — who is now Easton’s and Elle’s doctor — sent both younger children home with the same CGM Kennedy uses.
“It was overwhelming. But I felt confident I knew what I was doing,” she adds.
All in the Family
Kennedy admits feeling “very emotional and sad” when her siblings were diagnosed.
“Diabetes is a lot to deal with. I didn’t want them to have it, too,” she says. “But we’re all in it together. They’ve got my back, and I have theirs.”
All three children live normal, active lives. They attend school in the Cambria Heights School District. And they all compete in various sports.
“They even compete against each other to see who has the best A1C level and carb load results,” Amber says.
Even though diabetes is manageable, there are sacrifices.
Sleepovers are limited because they must ensure their sugars don’t get low at night. They also have to deal with misconceptions that they can’t eat sweets — they can, but they can’t go overboard. The kids always pack juice boxes, crackers, and other low-carb snacks to help manage blood sugar levels when they’re away from home.
With guidance from their parents, the children have learned to input their carbohydrate count into the app before eating. The system uses that info along with data from the CGM to automatically deliver the calculated bolus, or dose, through the insulin pump. After waiting 15 minutes, they’re able to eat.
Elle — the youngest and the “Boss” — is always checking on her siblings, demanding to know if they’ve “carbed” their food intake or if their numbers are “high.”
“She wants to make sure they are behaving and being good about managing their diabetes,” Amber says with a laugh. “It’s comforting knowing they’re always going to have each other.”
Helping Others
Shortly after her team’s World Series victory, Kennedy returned home to Cambria County to work on a project close to her heart: supporting kids and families living with type 1 diabetes.
Accompanied by teammates, Kennedy delivered 35 boxes to the UPMC Children’s Endocrine Unit, where she herself was hospitalized six years ago.
The boxes — bearing the label, “Kennedy, Easton & Elle’s Box Adventure” — contain toiletries, hygiene products, toys, games, and other comfort items for families facing an unexpected hospital stay. They also contain a note from the kids saying, “Everything is going to be OK.”
“It means a lot to me,” Kennedy says. “When I went to the hospital, my mom and dad didn’t have time to pack anything. So, we make these boxes to help families like us who go straight to the hospital.”
The boxes are part of an effort started by Kennedy and her family. Working with the community, they host fundraisers and collect items for the boxes. They also started “Strikeout Diabetes,” an annual softball tournament, to raise funds for diabetes research. In its first year, the tournament was a great success, raising more than $2,000.
“I feel very fortunate. My kids are healthy and thriving. Their disease is manageable and becoming even more manageable with the technology,” Amber says. “Our goal now is to spread awareness of type 1 diabetes and its symptoms and encourage other families.”
The Fees sibling's treatment and results may not be representative of all similar cases.