I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2011 on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I have had Type 1 Diabetes for almost 7 years. I was kind of scared at first because I had never heard or known what Type 1 Diabetes was when I first got diagnosed. I am tired a lot and get frequent headaches. Some nights I get very little sleep because I am having low blood sugars and need to drink juice and recheck my blood sugar every 15 minutes. Other times, my blood sugar is high and I need to give myself insulin shots every 2 hours and drink a ton of water and hope that my numbers go down. It’s a nonstop rollercoaster.

I can’t ever do anything without thinking about it. I always need to carry a bag of supplies. For example, I carry juice or candy for low blood sugar, and I need to carry a glucometer for testing my blood sugar and insulin and needles to correct my high blood sugars. I would love to one day be able to run out the door to shoot hoops with my friends and not have to worry about my diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes is not caused by diet. It is an autoimmune disease that has no cure. Without insulin, I would die. If I give myself too much insulin I could die of low blood sugar: if I don’t get enough insulin my blood sugar would go high and I could go into a diabetic coma called ketoacidosis and die. It is very scary for me and my family. I am, for the most part, a happy person and I think that’s because I am happy to be alive each and every day. I try to remain on the positive side by reminding myself that, yes my living with Type 1 Diabetes sucks, but I’m alive, I have good friends and family, a home, food to eat, etc. Someone somewhere could always be worse off than me.