Newport boy helps save grandmother from diabetic coma

Under doctor’s orders to stay off his bandaged feet, 10-year-old Jayshaun McNinch could have used a superhero’s cape this week.

In his grandmother’s eyes, he’s certainly a hero.

When Sheryl McNinch’s blood sugar level plummeted to 13 Tuesday night, she went into a diabetic coma. Jayshaun’s quick action helped save his grandmother’s life.

McNinch has been staying with Jayshaun throughout the day and some evenings while his mom is at work. Jayshaun had surgery on both feet last week and he can’t stand or walk until he’s healed.

For his last few precious weeks of summer vacation, the soon-to-be middle-schooler is stuck on the couch – his skateboard off limits and no running around with neighborhood friends allowed.

On Tuesday, Jayshaun was sitting next to his grandmother on an air mattress on his living room floor in the Adnah Hills community, watching TV. With no warning, Sheryl McNinch’s blood sugar level dropped.

She began to shake, tremble and sweat before losing consciousness.

“You never know when that’s going to happen ... It happens really quick,” she said.

Diabetic comas can be deadly or cause brain damage if left untreated.

The 53-year-old grandmother of two – with one more grandbaby on the way – has had Type 1 brittle diabetes for more than 20 years. The illness leaves McNinch unable to work. A brittle diabetes diagnosis means her glucose levels can swing dangerously high or low at any time.

Jayshaun and his whole family know McNinch’s diabetes is serious. He even knows how to give his grandmother a glucagon shot.

She could have used a glucose injection Tuesday night when she experienced the hypoglycemic coma but her insurance company stopped covering the glucagon medicine earlier this summer.

Fortunately, the paramedics who Jayshaun called to help his grandmother had the life-saving glucagon shot.

Jayshaun, a shy child who – like most kids – is hooked on his smartphone, luckily had his iPhone in hand when he realized his grandmother needed help, and quick. He first called his mom, who was nearly 30 minutes away at work.

His mom, Michelle, told Jayshaun to call 911. Then, Michelle McNinch, a hair stylist, left a customer sitting in the chair at Great Clips in Tega Cay to race home.

She drove so fast from Tega Cay to her Newport home, police officers tried to pull her over for speeding. She wouldn’t stop so they followed her home. She arrived at the same time as two Piedmont Medical Center EMS workers.

Inside, Jayshaun was waiting with his grandmother. After about 15 minutes, medical personnel helped McNinch regain consciousness.

Had Jayshaun not been there or known to call for help, McNinch said on Friday, she may have died.

McNinch’s condition is rare. People with brittle diabetes have difficulty regulating their blood sugar level no matter what they eat or drink. She has to prick her finger and check her levels every two hours. At night, her husband takes the “third shift,” she said, and regularly tests her glucose level even while she sleeps.

Her diabetes is so delicate, she had to leave her full-time job more than 10 years ago as the chief building inspector in Chester County.

A proud grandmother, McNinch hugged Jayshaun’s arm on Friday afternoon and asked if he realized that he helped saved her life this week. He shrugged and kept his head down – so shy he didn’t want to say what he told the 911 worker on the phone when he called for help.

But his grandmother looped her arm under his. She knew what to say: “If it hadn’t been for your quick action, I probably wouldn’t be here with you right now.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2015 at 6:10 PM with the headline "Newport boy helps save grandmother from diabetic coma."