The Jokinen family shares its story about their daughter’s fight with Type 1 Diabetes

The signs were accumulating.

Former Panthers captain and All-Star Olli Jokinen and his wife Katerina had noticed several changes in their middle daughter, Emma.

All of a sudden, Emma was getting thirsty all the time. She was eating non-stop, and she was frequently tired.

At a pool party to celebrate Emma’s 13th birthday, Olli and Katerina noticed that their daughter looked unusually skinny despite all her recent food consumption. Family friend and ex-Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun had also mentioned to his former teammate that Emma looked thin.

“I knew something was off,” Katerina said.

A couple of days later, Katerina made the decision to take Emma to Broward Health in Coral Springs. Tests were performed, and Emma was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, which is genetic and not behavioral.

“I woke up in the hospital and got the news,” Emma said matter-of-factly. “I said, ‘Oh, that explains it.’

“This is just something I have to get used to now.”

This Saturday, Emma — now 14 — will get a thrill as she will be honored by the Panthers. She and Olli will drop the ceremonial first puck as the Panthers host the Vegas Golden Knights.

Further, the Jokinen family has made the decision to go public with Emma’s story in the hopes that they can help others. They know that had they waited even a few more hours to take Emma to the hospital, things could’ve turned out very badly.

“She was in a critical stage,” Katerina said.

The Jokinen family didn’t know it at the time, but Emma’s body was starting to shut down due to diabetic ketoacidosis, a serious complication.

“No nutrition was coming into her body,” said Katerina, who has made herself into an expert on the subject. “Her pancreas was not producing insulin.”

Olli, who is working in conjunction with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, is promoting a fundraiser May 18 at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood.

“Hopefully, we can one day find a cure for diabetes,” Olli said. “[Montreal Canadiens left winger] Max Domi has diabetes. You can still live a normal life. This is not going to hold Emma back.”

Clearly, diabetes has become Olli Jokinen’s fight, too.

“Emma has it,” he said, “but we are all living it as a family.”

Emma has handled her condition and the telling of her story with maturity well beyond her standing as an eighth-grader.

She’s a kid who enjoys sketching and painting and takes three hours of art classes per day. She also loves animals. She has one dog and six cats, including three she is sheltering, saving their lives, in essence.

Olli has thought about attempting to ban Emma and Katerina from PetSmart because they seem to pick up another pet after every visit.

Emma said she’s “not really a sports person,” but she learned how to skate at age four — she is a hockey daughter, after all.

Her life changed, of course, with her diabetes diagnosis.

“A nutritionist explained to me what I needed to do, and I was given a care package with a bunch of books and information,” Emma said. “I started injecting myself in the hospital so I would know what to do when I got home.”

Emma now uses an insulin pump, which eliminates the need for injections. But she pricks her finger seven to 10 times daily in order to check her blood-sugar (glucose) levels.

Everyone in her family, including her seven-year-old sister Keira as well as 18-year-old sister Alexandra, reminds her to check her glucose levels.

Mostly, though, Emma has done a great job on her own. She knows she is in for a lifetime of modification — no junk food, for example, because it would spike her sugar levels.

“I’m practically a human calculator,” Emma said. “You can give me any type of food, and I can calculate in my head how much carbs are in it and how it will affect my insulin levels.”

Added Katerina: “There have been ups and downs, but I have so much admiration for how Emma has handled everything.”

This story was originally published February 1, 2019 at 3:13 PM.