When I was 6 years old, my family and I went on a cruise. At the time, we lived in Armenia. During the cruise, I started drinking lots of water, and I stopped eating. I was losing lots of weight, and my parents were worried. When we got back from the cruise, my mom took me to see a doctor. They tested my blood sugar many times, but I didn’t know what was going on. My mom decided to take me to a diabetes doctor. When the doctor told us I had diabetes, my parents were very sad and depressed, my mom even started crying. I lived in Armenia for about one year before I moved to USA. Diabetes is a lot easier and the doctors are so much better in USA. When I first got here, I used a syringe to get insulin. Then I used a pen, and now, I have a pump. Before I got the pump, I met with my idol, Dr. Francine Kaufman. After I met her, I started doing research about her, and saw all of her achievements. She inspires me to be just like her, and that is my life goal. Now, I've had my pump for a little more than one and a half years, and I really like it. It enables me to have a more convenient lifestyle that I enjoy a lot more than when I didn't have the pump. Diabetes has inspired me to be a whole new person. Even though I was very young when I got diagnosed, I still remember the days without diabetes. And even though I had more freedom back then, I'm actually glad to have diabetes, because it opens my eyes to a whole new universe that I didn't know existed. My parents are the reason I have such great control over my diabetes, because they help me in so many ways, and I can't thank them enough. Diabetes has its ups and downs, but at the end of the day, it makes me who I am, and I can't imagine living without it.

Lusin Yengibaryan
Glendale, CA