I get some pretty strange looks from people when I say I'm happy to be a T1 diabetic, but I feel truly blessed to have this disease. Starting with my first episode at the age of five, I spent over 20 years battling acute and chronic pancreatitis. For those who are unfamiliar with pancreatitis,it is a horribly painful condition that can take over your entire life. I spent more time in the hospital than I did out of it. By 2009, I was so frustrated with always being sick that I knew I had to do SOMETHING,because I was at the point of not caring if I lived or died. I went to see a specialist who told me there wasn't anything more that could be done unless I wanted to try an experimental surgery to remove my diseased pancreas and have an islet cell transplant. I had never even heard of such a thing. The doctor warned me that if my islet cells failed to produce insulin after being transplanted,I would become a diabetic, but that didn't matter to me. I was willing to do just about anything to escape the pain and illness that I was experiencing on a daily basis. After undergoing the surgery and being hospitalized for almost 3 months with complications, I was given the bad news that my transplant had failed. But by then,it didn't even phase me. Although I've had some issues with DKA and extreme lows,I'm so happy to no longer be in pain that even diabetes can't dim my outlook. So yes,I am absolutely thrilled to have this disease,because diabetes has given me a chance to have the life I was unable to live before.

Anonymous
Mount Pleasant, OH