Simon Hart was a student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, NC. He was a junior studying Mechanical Engineering and had a 4.0 GPA. He celebrated his 21st birthday 2 months prior. He texted with his father on Thursday, September 22, 2022 stating all he wanted to do was sleep and felt sick. On Friday, there were no response to his father's texts. His parents got worried so his father drove to UNCC from Mebane. With the help of the Mecklenburg County Police and Firemen, his father got access to Simon's apartment and found their wonderful beautiful young man laying on the floor. Simon was gone.
Six months later, after Simon's toxicology report was completed, the coroner explained that Simon died of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). DKA is a complication from diabetes. When the body is not receiving enough insulin, ketones are released into the body. In small amounts, ketones are not dangerous but in Simon’s case his ketone levels rose to a deadly level. The reason they rose so quickly was due to his body trying to fight pneumonia. The pneumonia triggered dangerous levels of ketones and he slipped into a diabetic coma. Although he left without suffering, it does not decrease the tremendous pain his family feels at his loss.
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Simon was never diagnosed of having diabetes. There was no history of the condition in his family history. A healthy brilliant young man one day, gone the next.
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In hindsight, if we knew about DKA and its symptoms we could have taken action. Simon could have gone to the emergency room and got treated. Only after we knew that DKA killed Simon and shared this information with family and friends did we get feedback of other young adults that died of DKA. The deaths happened quickly.
DKA is very dangerous. Watch out for the early symptoms of diabetes and DKA. Please spread the word. Be DKA Aware.
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