Chrissy Teigen took to Instagram on Wednesday to share that her son Miles is a Type 1 Diabetic.
Her post came three days after she shared a photo of herself alongside Miles and her eldest daughter, Luna, at the summer Olympic Games in Paris. Eagle-eyed fans noticed a diabetes sensor on the six-year-old boy’s arm.
“A lot of you noticed something a little special about a photo I posted a few days ago- Luna, Miles and I celebrating Simone and Team USA,” the caption wrote. “Miles had his arm up, and sooo many of you reached out to say the most beautiful and incredible words I have ever witnessed on this platform.”
The “Cravings” author gushed over the “love and encouragement” she received from her followers.
“I was, and am, so blown away by the kindness of this community, already,” she continued. “I know. Things could be much worse!! So many parents around the world are going through unfathomable things that I could never imagine. I tell myself this every time we get a red alert blasted to our phones. And we are so blessed to have so much help and wonderful, kind, huge-hearted specialist.”
Teigen and her husband, John Legend, learned of Miles’ diagnosis after he went to the hospital “with a terrible case of shigella,” a type of intestinal infection. She explained that a lot of Miles’ friends were also sick with it as they all went to the same camp.
According to the Mayo Clinic, people can contract the illness when they come in contact with and ingest small amounts of bacteria from the stool of an infected person.
“This can happen in a childcare setting when staff members don’t wash their hands well enough after changing diapers or helping toddlers with toilet training,” the description reads. “Shigella bacteria can also be passed in infected food or by drinking or swimming in unsafe water.”
However, doctors saw something “off” about the little one’s blood tests.
“I’ve learned since then that this is how so many young children end up being diagnosed with Type-1-going to the hospital for something completely different,” she revealed.
From there, their family learned that Miles was in the “honeymoon period” of a “lifetime of T1.” He had his very first shot of insulin on Tuesday.
The Sports Illustrated model also shared an excerpt from the children’s book, “Year One with Type One,” which both she and the “All of Me” singer read to Miles that evening. Teigen said Miles loves the book already.
She called life after the diagnosis a “new world” for the family and said they are continuing to learn more on the fly.
The television personality ended her post by assuring her 42.3 million followers that they are “not alone either” and that she and her family “promise to be there for you guys like you have been there for us already.”
Teigen and Legend are also parents to eight-year-old Luna, 1-year-old son Wren and 1-year-old daughter Esti.
According to the American Diabetes Association, Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease that’s diagnosed in young people most of the time, but can “develop in anyone at any age.”
“When you have type 1 diabetes, your immune system mistakenly treats the beta cells in your pancreas that create insulin as foreign invaders and destroys them,” the site explained. “When enough beta cells are destroyed, your pancreas can’t make insulin or makes so little of it that you need to take insulin to live.”
The ADA explained that scientists and researchers aren’t sure how to prevent type 1 diabetes or what triggers it.