Noahs March was originally formed by Noah Barnes to bring awareness to the growing problem of children being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.

How it all got started

When Noah was 10 years old he came up with the idea that he could walk across America and that would bring awareness to the rising problem of children contracting Type 1 Diabetes.

Noah was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when he was 16 months old. If you ask anyone living with T1D (Type One Diabetes), their is an emotion and physiological part of managing your glucose levels. Noah as a child hit this emotional wall and out of frustration wanted it to end, so he could be normal. Living with T1D is a constant channel of balancing your glucose level with food consumption “counting carbs” so that you can dose enough insulin to stay in a normal range. To oversimplify, what most medical professionals consider normal is that your glucose is between 100-120. If you fall below 100, not enough oxygen can gets to your brain. You will sudden get disoriented and pass out. If not corrected immediately, you will slip into a coma and your body shuts down all your vital organs and you die in few hours. If your glucose level is too high, you put a huge strain on your organs, specifically the kidneys. If you don’t get your glucose level down to a normal range, your body can not process the high levels of glucose, and the reaction that your body produces ketones which are extremely dangerous. When your body develops too many ketones, then you will experience Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). This process can take days to fully develop, if the symptoms are not recognize, you will slip into a coma, your body’s vital organs will start shutting down and you die within a few hours.

Symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes

Excessive Thirst

Frequent Urination

Unexplained Weight Loss

Exhaustion

In Noah’s situation he had what appeared to be the Flu. Wasn’t feeling well, but didn’t have a fever, was sleeping a lot and we just assumed his body needed to work it out. After 2 days we took him to the doctor and the reassured us it was a flu that was going round. After 5 days we took him back and they told us it was the flu and he just needed time to work through it. He was getting worse, low energy levels, didn’t want to do anything, and wasn’t really crying. He breathing got worse, very heavy like from a bad flu. We took him to the ER and the attending Nurse recognized the symptoms right away and brought us in immediately. Noah was extremely dehydrated but because he was only 16 months old they were struggling on how to get an IV in him. The “flight for life” crew came in and they finally located a vein on his head that they were able to get him an IV. The next 24 hours was very intense, they were not sure if he was going to pull through. Noah’s Mom completely feel apart; confused, frustrated and scared that her baby was going through this and she had no idea how this happened. Noah’s Father was very angry but was powerless to do anything. The reality of praying that Noah would pull through and there was nothing that Noah’s parents could do but wait, was a very emotional 24 hours. Noah started making a slow recovery and after 5 days he was eventually released.

Crossing America in Foot

At Sunrise On January 1, 2017, Noah Barnes started his 4240 mile crossing at Key West, FL (Most Southern point of the Continental US) to Blaine, WA (The most North-Western point of the Continental US) ending on December 9, 2017.