Rhodes Ritenour, our vice president of external and regulatory affairs, has the very important job of leading our Virginia hospitals’ public affairs initiatives. He represents our ministry before local, state and federal governments, in communities we serve as well as to corporations. He also provides regulatory legal counsel and manages governance for our Richmond market.
Despite his current external-facing role within our ministry, Rhodes knows what it is like to be a patient in the health care setting. This is because he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child.
Rhodes has managed his diabetes for nearly 40 years by following a continuous treatment regimen. He now wears an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor. But before this life-altering technology became available, Rhodes relied on sticking his fingers to test his blood sugar and insulin injections to manage his disease.
“I estimate that I’ve had more than 80,000 finger sticks, 20,000 injections and 1,000 blood draws,” he shares.
However, when Rhodes was a 5-year-old diagnosed with diabetes, there were no resources or books to guide children like him through the challenges of growing up with the condition. But today, such books exist because Rhodes and his wife, Alana, have coauthored them.
Rhodes has channeled his personal experiences into co-writing a series called “The Adventures of Rhodes and Alana.” The books are geared toward kindergartners through fifth graders and feature 8-year-old Rhodes, a character partly based on his real-life counterpart. Instead of focusing the books on diabetes education, the couple wanted to provide the perspective of a kid living with a chronic condition.
“We didn’t set out to write another children’s book about diabetes,” Rhodes explains. “We set out to write an adventure series where the main character happens to have type 1 diabetes and is living life to the fullest.”
The first book, “School Bus Secret,” was released in November of 2022. In that story, Rhodes and Alana are new friends trying to make their way to school after missing the bus. During their adventure, Rhodes must prick his finger to draw blood and test his blood sugar, which he worries will gross out Alana.
Their second book in the series, “Bully Blues,” was released in June of 2024. This time, Rhodes is dealing with a baseball teammate who makes fun of his diabetes. But with Alana’s support, Rhodes and the bully eventually find common ground.
While the books are fictional, they borrow a few elements from Rhodes’ childhood and add other scenarios into the stories. While each child with a chronic condition has unique experiences and challenges, Rhodes and Alana hope their books will reach them in some way.
In the series, they created a main character with a supportive friend who receives encouragement to speak openly about having a chronic condition. While they didn’t know each other as 8-year-olds, their story today is similar: Alana provides incredible support to Rhodes in managing his diabetes.
“Not only does it educate some about a chronic condition, but it also normalizes the disease and empowers people to talk about whatever they’re dealing with, whether it’s asthma, autism, an allergy or diabetes,” Rhodes explains.
Since the books were released, Rhodes has loved hearing from his colleagues about them enjoying it with their children, grandchildren, neighbors and even patients.
“So many people have a connection to diabetes and can relate to 8-year-old Rhodes’ experience managing type 1 diabetes, or Alana’s desire to be a helpful and compassionate friend.”
As for Rhodes’ passion for writing these books, he hopes they give hope and encouragement to children and families dealing with a chronic condition like diabetes.
“Taking what we have learned and experienced over the years and passing it along to others is our effort to provide good help to those in need!” he shares.
In addition to these books, Rhodes supports others with diabetes by serving as chair of the American Diabetes Association’s National Board of Directors. Alana serves on the Mid-Atlantic chapter board of Breakthrough T1D, a nonprofit formerly known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF).
The couple also co-founded TheDiabetesSupportGroup.org in 2010, which provides practical resources for managing diabetes, such as keeping a health journal, using an insulin pump and practicing good nutrition.
You can find the “Adventures of Rhodes and Alana” book series at all national online retailers like Bookshop.org, Barnes&Noble.com, and Amazon (for e-books). Locally, the books may be purchased at BBGB in Carytown (Richmond, Va.).
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