Inspiring Stories

my daughter

my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabeties at a very young age of 17mths took us 6 months to get her diagnosed with something. she was the youngest in the uk to be diagnosed. she went on the omni pod up until august this year a now on conventional pump. she is now 7 yrs old and can eat most things as she has other health problems also she has things like other children but she also knows when she not allowed certain foods due to nut allergy i was in tears when she was diagnosed she is my world and my rock

LISA Joynson
maesteg, United Kingdom

like a boss

My son, Tyler was diagnosed with type I diabetes at age 8. As a paramedic, I thought I knew how to handle this disease. I was so wrong! The training provided by my son's endocrinology team was phenomenal!
Tyler is now 12 years old. While we still have ups and downs, I am amazed every day at how he handles his disease. I have taught him from day one, he is NOT a diabetic, he HAS diabetes. This reminds him that he controls this disease, it does not control him.

Michelle Baughman
Salisbury, NC

The day my life changed

In April 2013, I decided I needed to get in shape and lose weight. I was 26, and the heaviest I have ever been. I weighed 167lbs. I started to lose weight slowly at first, but then by June the weight was falling off fast. I was really tired, and going to the bathroom all the time.
On July 3rd, I got up for work and it took all my strength to get ready for work. I was feeling really sick, but knew it was a really busy day at work. I am a teller at a credit union and stand all day. I could not stand for more than 15 minutes at a time without sitting down and resting. My co-worker called my boyfriend and told him to come pick me up and take me to the urgent care. I couldn't eat anything during the day, and was feeling so awful by the time I got off work. Once I was able to get into the car, we went to urgent care. I found out that I weighed 125lbs. After a bunch of questions, and a urine sample, someone came in to test my sugar. The machine said unreadable, and at that time I was told I was being directly admitted to the hospital. Once I got to the hospital I was told my sugar was over 1000 and I had DKA. I spent 5 days in the hospital, and found out my A1C was 15.9.
It has been a rough 4 months trying to change my eating habits and maintaining my sugar levels. It can be very stressful, and I was been depressed and in denial.
I was off work for 3 weeks after being released from the hospital, and I found out I had cataracts in my eye made of sugar deposits. That has cleared up, and my vision is normal again. My hair was falling out by the handfuls, but has slowed. In October, by A1C was down to 8.2. I know I am very lucky to be here and have no permanent damage.

Lindsay
Waterford, MI

Isolation

With two small children, a full time job and living on a cattle station in outback Australia, my life was plenty busy enough to make me tired. But it got to the stage where I was exhausted all the time, and I just couldn't get well. No matter how many times I went to the doctor to tell him 'There must be SOMETHING wrong with me!" - he couldn't work it out. Eventually a urine test revealed high sugar levels, so the testing began. Being in such an isolated town (700km to the nearest Diabetes Educator or Endocrinologist) it took quite a while to get me sorted out, but eventually there I was, at 27 years old, a Type 1 Diabetic. Now I really knew the meaning of being isolated!
Since then I have had two more children, and come to know the challenges of health care in a rural and remote setting. It is not as simple as just making an appointment - sometimes it means waiting months until the specialist I am after comes to visit my town. Support from my family has been so important, as has support from a great close knit community.
There have been some scary times - while pregnant with my fourth child, I had a hypo while driving and had to be saved by my then 8 year old daughter - my girls have certainly learned how to deal with having diabetic in the family!
And there have been some frustrating times, when needles and finger prick tests, and the need to always be AWARE, just get you down.
But I have never stopped living my life the way I want to live it - I don't live with diabetes - diabetes has to live with me! There is nothing about being diabetic that means you can't have the fullest and most memorable life you want to have.
I have decided having a disease like diabetes doesn't have to define me!
I dream of a day there is a cure, but until then, just keep plugging away at my wonderful life!

Shannon Gallagher
Normanton, Australia

Maggie

When I was 2 years old my granny convinced my mom, finally, to take me to a doctor. After checking my sugar he told my mom to go straight to the er, and that they would be waiting for us. When we got there they took blood and did some other testing. As they waited I went into a coma and stayed that way for 10 days. The results showed a sugar of 1250. They told my parents to make there peace and say their goodbyes. They explained that I had T1 diabetes and IF I survived I would have to live on shots. Well, obviously I was a fighter. I went through school and college and am now pregnant with my 2nd baby. Sugars are nowhere near controlled no matter how much I check them, but I'm trying and I'm alive. My family was so devistated when I got pregnant that they blamed my husband and told him he "Signed my death sentence." But my A1c went from a 13 down to a 7. Don't limit yourself! Diabetes is NOT what makes you.

Anonymous
Indianapolis, IN

My inspiration, my daughter, my Jadria

It was the week before halloween 3 years ago (2010). On Thursday night Jadria was thirsty, tired, eyes sunken in a bit. She was cranky but otherwise felt ok. That night she woke up because she had an accident. Her first experience with bedwetting so she & I both were confused. She woke up & seemed fine so we sent her to school. Her teacher noticed she was running to the bathroom a lot friday & tired so she let her rest her head on her desk. When she got home she told me about her day, still going to the bathroom & thirsty so I promised Id make her a dr appt. for monday but until then i bought her some Azo (cranberry pills) thinking it was a urinary tract infection & had her drinking lots of water.
Come Monday she wasn't any better & I had Googled her symptoms over & over all weekend & already knew type 1 Diabetes was the culprit, but seeing it was hereditary I hoped I was mistaken. Sure enough they took a urine sample, there was glucose in her urine. Then they sent her to the hospital for an a1c. The Dr called me the next day with the news, he said "you were right!" Her blood glucose level is in the 800's, she needs to be rushed to Children's Hospital asap. 3 days before halloween @ 7 years old. I was a wreck. I tried explaining it to her but she just didn't understand & I wasn't sure where it had came from. My dad had been adopted. About a year later we found out his biological brother had a daughter who was also Type 1. 3 years later this child is an inspiration to me. She endures so much yet still continues to keep a smile. My daily reminder that no matter what life throws at ya, keep on keeping on. She still doesn't understand why it happened to her, questions it daily but she is happy to be alive & thankful there is insulin to aid in that!

Rainbow Brown
Middlesboro, KY

I celebrate my Diabetes!

During this month of thankfulness. I am thankful for my Diabetes. I was thirteen years old when I was diagnosed. I had been ill for weeks and it was my mother and aunt who persuaded me to go to the doctor, where my mother was told by the nurse “she was overreacting” and she was simply a “nervous parent”. Some images you hold on to all of your life, and the image of my father’s silhouette outlined by the sun in front of the glass doors outside of the Principal’s office is one of those images for me. It seemed like it took me ten minutes to get down the hall to him. He was the first to tell me I was Diabetic.
During this season of thankfulness I am thankful for my Diabetes. The journey that it has taken me on; the lessons that it has taught me; the amazing people who I have had the pleasure of meeting. I sometimes wonder what my life would be like if I was not Diabetic, what a meal would be like without planning, testing, covering. However, I would not change my life for anything. Diabetes led me to a career in nursing, where every day I meet amazingly strong patients with equally amazing family members.It is refreshing to know that there is good in this world.
Diabetes has forced me to look at challenges in a different light than if I were "healthy". I have a better perspective of what a "road block" is. I have full confidence that if I can conquer Diabetes, I can truly do WHATEVER I put my mind to.
Yes; I am LUCKY, I am THANKFUL, I have so many reasons to LOVE life and appreciate the little things. I owe my life to my WONDERFUL family. Diabetes made me the person I am today, and I love that person! I will continue to celebrate, because that is what life is: a sequence of beautiful daily victories! HAPPY THANKSGIVING! CELEBRATE your Diabetes Victories!!!

Dani
Greenville, PA

Caramel pizza

My brother got diagnosed when he was two. The doctors told my mum that there is no chance that I would get it, because nobody in our family has it. But still my mum kept on checking my bloodsugar once in a while.
One day, (I was four) when she checked, it was 19,6 mmol/l (353 md/gl). She called her friend to drive us to the hospital. When he arrived, she asked him if we could go to a pizzeria first. He agreed, and we went even though they both knew it was dangerous, because my mum knew I would never be able to eat that much carbs in my life again.
In the pizzeria, my mum ordered a sweet pizza and it was huge! It had caramel, chocolate, all this fruit... I don't think anyone would be able to count how much carbs there was in it. But, even though I was four I ate the whole, entire pizza.
Nothing happened to me, I didn't go unconscious, anything... Except that when we arrived to the hospital, my BG was 48,8 (878)!!
It's my 10th diaversary this year, and even though I remember what happened very mildly, I am really thankful to my mum for taking me for that pizza, because I know that it was really good and I probably wouldn't survive eating it again!

Veronika Skacha
Prague, Czech Republic

Diabetic at 3

When I was 3 my family went to Australia for a holiday and that was when I started getting symptoms of diabetes. A little amount of time went by when we were home where I was always coming out of my room at night to use the bathroom and drink heaps- this got me throwing tantrums as my parents would make me go back to bed, as any parent would. When I got tested I went to hospital for a week to get my levels down and for my parents to learn how to take care of a diabetic. I don't remember much about how I felt at the time because I was so small. But now, 15 years later I have a pump and take care of my own diabetes with plans to become a diabetes nurse. It has definitely been an uphill battle over the years, but I can tell you that it is getting better and the hard work is paying off. I have no complications from being diabetic for so long and I intend to keep it that way!!

One thing that annoys me about diabetes is the amount of people who have type 2. You can prevent it, you can cure it!! So why don't you?? Us type 1s did nothing to become diabetic and are stuck with it. Type 2s aren't. Please if you can, make life better for yourself.

I am a diabetic. Always have been, it's what makes me different and myself. So no, I don't desperately want a cure. Even if it does suck so bad sometimes you just want to curl up and hide. I've met so many wonderful people, and I've made it this far, why not keep going.

Bailey Cockerton
Hamilton, New Zealand

15 years and counting

When I was 11 years old I was in the 5th grade. I had been loosing weight, extremely thirsty, having extremely bad abdominal pain, fatigue and very frequent urination. My mom's brother died from T1D at age 32; she recognised the symptoms. She took me to our local clinic where they informed us that I had type 1 and I needed to go to the hospital right away. The closest hospital was 2hrs away from our small town. I remember getting in the car to go pack bags and my mom crying. she looked at me and said " everything wil be ok." For many years I wasn't sure if that were true. I was hospitalised so many times from DKA. I came to find out my body went from ok to horrible real fast. With in 10 years i was hospitalised 23 times. Everytime I was in DKA. I have been depressed and I have been angry at times. It's never easy but its your choice of how to handle the disease. You can let it beat you and take you down or fight it and enjoy life. I now have a 3 year old son; I was told when i was younger that I would NEVER be able to have a child (WRONG.) I used to question why, why me? I have diabetes to help others, to be strong and responsible. Diabetes made me grow up rather fast. I had to be responsable. I am proud of who I am and I wouldn't be this way if I weren't diabetic.
My biggest lesson learned so far, its ok to be scared and mad, its ok to cry, accept your life and make it the best life you can.

Amanda
Nucla, CO