Just as importantly, the sensor on the back of her upper left arm has not slowed her down.
“I still do everything I want. I run, jump, and play in the pool and it doesn’t bother me at all. It’s also really easy to use. You just connect the phone app with the sensor and it gives you the results. I don’t need anyone’s help anymore.”
Technology, however, can only do so much to improve the life of a tween girl at school.
“She loved the device, but then she started asking about maybe returning to the traditional method,” Bruno said. “But we could tell it was for another reason.”
That reason turned out to be that she felt self-conscious, as she was the only person with the circular sensor at her school.
Tattoo You
“That’s when I got the idea for the sensor tattoo,” Bruno said.
Being the loving parent of a child with a chronic condition is never easy. As Paula observed, they would do anything to make their little girl’s life easier or at least make her smile as much as possible.
Figuring she would likely be wearing the sensor for a long time, he decided to commit to wearing a sensor tattoo for even longer. A permanent sign of his love.
“I wanted to put effort into getting even closer to her, and she would know that people were supporting her, for as long as possible,” Bruno said.
Not telling anyone of his plan, Bruno went to a local parlor and had a small circle placed within a larger one, on his left upper arm, simulating Maria Eduarda’s device.
“I remembered how I felt when she was first diagnosed and those emotions ran through me again. I thought of all that she’d gone through,” Bruno said. “When I got home, I asked her what she wore on her arm and she said, ’Only my device,’ and I showed her the tattoo and said that I was now using it too.
‘Dad, I can’t believe you did that,’ she said. And she cried.”