By Grace Pateras

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On Saturday night, 11-year-old Aaron Miller will get to experience two of his hobbies — raising farm animals and Iowa football.

While the Iowa football team plays against Penn State, Aaron and his dad, Zac Miller, will be at a cattle sale. But don’t worry — Zac Miller says they will record the game and watch it on Sunday.

“It’s his time away from everything, he spends it out there [with his cattle and sheep],” Zac Miller said. “It’s just his focus or hobby.”

This week’s Kid Captain got diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes two years ago, but he still enjoys raising and showing his animals.

In fact, it was when Aaron was tending to his farm animals that his parents realized it was time to take him to the emergency room. Back then, at 9 years old, Aaron didn’t understand the complexity of diabetes, mother Nicole Miller said.

“He didn’t realize that he needed an adjustment. He was out playing with the cattle when they [doctors] said he should have been in a coma,” she said. “So, it didn’t faze him. He didn’t notice the changes. Even when we were taking him to the emergency room, he kept saying, ‘I don’t feel sick.’ ”

The family, from an Iowa town called Hawkeye, wasn’t too invested in much Iowa football until the day Aaron was leaving the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital after getting diagnosed.

He looked down onto Kinnick Stadium, Nicole Miller said, and stated he wanted to go to a football game. So his mom applied for him to be considered for the Kid Captain program and was surprised when hearing the news Aaron was chosen.

“You don’t think of diabetes as such a big thing,” Nicole said. “I realized having this disease myself, some days you don’t even feel like there’s anything wrong with you. When he was in the hospital, he was in the cancer ward, so seeing all those kids and thinking how much worse it could be.”

Aaron’s mother was also diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes after Aaron showed symptoms. Now, two of his four siblings are showing high and low blood sugar levels.

Now, the family bonds over watching each other and what they eat and also when they travel two hours every three months for doctor’s check-ups.

Day-to-day, Aaron is just like any kid.  However, unlike most kids, he has to carry around a kit filled with glucose tabs, a finger poker to draw blood, a meter to tell test levels, and insulin to take before every meal.

Compared to his friends, Aaron said, “I can’t eat as much. I eat healthy.”

He tests his blood numerous times daily: when he wakes up, before a meal, two hours after a meal, and before bed. But sometimes, if he is more active, he has to adjust his insulin intake, his mother said.

Constantly checking on Aaron’s blood levels is important, Nicole Miller said, because diabetes can affect every system in his body.

Aaron might need a growth hormone because he’s not growing, which is a symptom of the disease. Other symptoms include ketones (excessive blood acids in the body), diabetic shock, and kidney, thyroid, and eye complications.

Since finding out about being a Kid Captain, the family has never missed a game. On kid’s day, Nicole Miller said the Hawkeye football team was so good with the kids, it’s hard not to like them.

“We got to go in the locker room and get autographs on kid’s day, then we got to go on the field and get autographs,” she said.

Aaron’s favorite football player changes from game to game, his mother said. But lately, he’s had one favorite:

“Desmond King,” he said.