Girls hockey: Proctor/Hermantown’s Pajari doesn’t let diabetes slow her down

DULUTH — Proctor High School senior Abby Pajari was always very active as a child, playing all kinds of sports, but in the fall of 2010, she started complaining about extreme exhaustion.

Pajari was playing soccer at the time and just couldn’t muster any energy.

“Then she started talking about how thirsty she was all the time,” said Pajari’s mother, Angie Skogstad, a Type 2 diabetic. “Just knowing the signs and symptoms from my own experience of having it, I said, ‘You know, Abby, we should check your blood sugar.’”

Skogstad used her own blood glucose monitor to check Abby’s blood-sugar level. Normal blood sugar is between about 70 and 120 mg/dL. Abby’s was over 500.

“Off the charts,” Skogstad said.

Pajari was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little or no insulin, according to mayoclinic.org. It was once known as juvenile diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes.

Pajari hasn’t just learned to deal with her diabetes. She’s owned it.

Pajari, a goalie for third-seeded Proctor-Hermantown (19-7-1), will lead the defending state champion Mirage against unseeded Albert Lea (14-10-1) in the Class A quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.

“It’s just really exciting, especially senior year to make it back to the state tournament,” Pajari said. “I’m super excited for the opportunity to end the season on a great note.”

After posting a 12-0 record, 0.92 goals-against average, .954 save percentage and three shutouts last year, Pajari has been relied on even more this year.

Pajari is one of four seniors for the Mirage. She has logged almost all the time between the pipes this season for a team that had to replace 10 seniors and played a tougher schedule. She is 18-7-1 with a 1.24 GAA, .949 save percentage and six shutouts.

“Abby does a great job in net, and I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Mirage coach Emma Stauber said. “She’s been phenomenal. She gives us that confidence. She’s always there for us, and when she makes a great save, that gets us firing down to the other end.”

For her efforts, Pajari was named one of five finalists Monday for the Senior Goalie of the Year Award presented by Let’s Play Hockey. Her mother got the news via text late Monday afternoon.

“Oh, my God, that’s awesome,” Skogstad said while scanning her messages.

Pajari was in first grade, only seven years old, when her world turned upside down with her diabetes diagnosis.

“It was awful. She was just so young,” Skogstad said. “I was the only one who could give her shots. She was scared to do it herself. It was really hard in the early days. She wanted to go to birthday parties, have sleepovers and be normal but instead was attached to insulin and needles for years.”

In those early days, there was no full-time school nurse at Pike Lake Elementary. Pajari chose to have homemade lunches. Her mother or grandmother went to school with her every day for lunch, counting every carbohydrate and keeping tabs on everything that went into her mouth.

“It was really hard because I didn’t really understand what was going on,” Pajari said. “All of the sudden, I had to watch what I’d eat, weigh everything I ate and do a bunch of shots all the time. It’s come a long way since then, but it was really tough at first.”

Pajari didn’t want to stick out. She just wanted to fit in.

“It was really an adjustment,” Skogstad said. “She was awkward about having all the kids in school wondering, ‘Why is her mom there every day for lunch?’

“She has never really wanted this to be about that (diabetes) with her. She wanted to manage it, keep it to herself and didn’t want anybody thinking she was different or weird or sick in some way. She’s a trooper.”

Mirage junior defenseman Sophie Parendo grew up playing hockey together with Pajari, who started playing goalie when she was 10 because her team didn’t have anybody else.

“Abby was always kind of shy talking about it, but we got older and started understanding it more,” Parendo said of diabetes. “She doesn’t make a big deal about it at all.”

Young Pajari soldiered on for a few years before getting an insulin pump, something Skogstad called a “big-time game changer.”

The pump is attached to Pajari with a belt clip and is filled with insulin. Pajari enters how many carbs she has eaten and the pump knows how many units of insulin she needs. The insulin enters through a “cannula,” a thin tube with a small needle inserted into the body.

“The pump changed everything,” Skogstad said. “It just gave her so much more independence because she didn’t have to do shots anymore.”

Now, Parendo said, it’s to the point where her teammates hardly notice except for the team briefcase, which includes athletic tape, among other things.

“There’s also candy and Gatorade in there, but nobody ever takes that because we know — that’s for Abby,” Parendo said.

Pajari no longer even has to poke her finger. She wears a sensor with another mini needle on her arm that tells her where her blood sugar is at. She can make adjustments anywhere, even on the ice if she had to.

If her blood sugar is high — maybe her insulin didn’t cover the carbs enough and her blood sugar is rising — she can do what’s called a “correction,” signaling the pump to give her the correct amount of insulin to keep her in balance.

“Honestly, I’m not even sure how it all works,” Pajari said. “It’s amazing even to me, because I just started using the sensor in the last year. The technology has come so far.”

Sports and other activities can cause spikes in blood sugar, both high and low, so Pajari monitors her level throughout games, before and after and during intermissions.

If Pajari gets out of balance, if her blood sugar gets low, she can start to get really sweaty and confused, her body can shake and she could even pass out, though it’s never regressed to that point. If it is too high, it’s not healthy on her body and her kidneys and other internal organs could be affected.

Insulin is a hormone and Skogstad said diabetes likely stunted Pajari’s growth. Abby is generously listed as 5-foot-2 but the Wisconsin-Superior recruit plays beyond her size. It’s something the assistant captain has learned to embrace.

“Abby’s dad and I tell her all the time, this is nothing to be ashamed of,” Skogstad said. “Her story can help other people … this is something big she has overcome to do what she loves.”

Pajari admits there were times she asked, “Why me?” and said it still occasionally comes up. She might be used to constantly monitoring her blood-sugar levels, but she’s human, too. It can still get old, it can still be a hassle and it can still be frustrating, especially when everyone around her can come and go as they please and she can’t.

Pajari, however, isn’t alone.

According to the American Diabetes Association, in 2019, 37.3 million Americans, or 11.3% of the population, had diabetes, and nearly 1.9 million had Type 1 diabetes, including about 244,000 children and adolescents.

“You have those times where you get frustrated having to deal with it,” Pajari said, “especially when I’m trying to keep it level before games and I’m like, ‘Nobody else has to deal with this stupid little thing.’

“But that doesn’t happen often, and it’s only for a little bit. It’s nothing I can’t deal with.”

ALBERT LEA VS. NO. 3 PROCTOR/HERMANTOWN
What: Class A girls hockey quarterfinal
When: 1 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul
Records: Albert Lea, (14-10-1); Proctor/Hermantown (19-7-1)
Up next: The winner advances to play the winner of second-seeded Orono and Mankato East at 11 a.m. Friday in the state semifinals.