Tell your inspiration

What are the realities of trying to prevent or control diabetes? In your life, family, and/or community? What about this inspires you? Is it a person, an experience, or something you learned about diabetes?

TELL YOUR STORY


Inspiration Introduction




Networked Blogs

Inspired by a community of support

What's your name?
Jeffrey

What's your inspiration?
Inspiration is an interesting word. What truly inspires us… Some would say that inspiration is the act which causes our mind to reach unusual activity or creativity. While I am very interested in a cure I know now that my diabetes has had a profound impact on my life and in choices I make. Because of diabetes I have reach out to hundreds of lives and hopefully assisted them through hard times.

Throughout my life I have had many experiences that assisted me in “getting back on track” when I fall off the wagon. I have been a Type 1 Diabetic for over 15 years now and continue to struggle with it daily. Most recently, what has truly inspired me was an invitation to go back to a diabetes camp in Nevada as a counselor. The first thought was do I really want to spend a week of my vacation going to this camp for kids… I am truly blessed and happen to have more then enough vacation so I decided sure why not go.

I found a community of support. People who had experiences the same as mine and could assist me in challenges I was going through while at the same time I was able to assist them with challenges they are going through. It is this collaboration of ideas, methodologies, and systems which produces individuals who can manage their chronic illness.

Then there was after… When I say after I am talking after camp and I found I did not have the support group I just had. I became more active in looking for a support group here in Utah. What I did find was education groups, educators, doctors, and so on. All of which are amazing in their own right but really did not help me find the same sense of community. So I went back for a different weeklong camp and then another. I have been to 4 camps in the past year and they are amazing. To help me fill my time I have been going to support groups and noticed they were doing the same education that I have received for the past 15 years. Not to say new advancements in technology are not brought up, because they are, but it is the same type of stuff.

Another Diabetic and I have been talking after the classes and decided we wanted to have a group for Type 1 Diabetics for a few reasons. The first being it does not exist. The second is we want a group which is activity based. We believe through the activities will allow people to open up become friends and then more comfortable to talk about what is really going on in their lives. We are at the beginning stages of creating the new “Injection Connection” for teens and adults. I am hoping we can include the true design of this new group here once it is more formalized.

What's one lesson you want people to learn about diabetes?
So what does all of this mean? Well I have found the more active I am in the community the more I actually care about being a good example, helping others, and taking care of myself. It is when we act as a group we have more power than one can imagine. I would like to end my long winded post with the following… In managing any chronic illness (for me Diabetes) Henry Ford was correct when he said “if you think you can then you can. If you think you cannot then you can’t. In either case you are correct”. Lets all think we can and together we can live a healthier life while we look for a cure!

If you have type 1 diabetes and want to assist in the creation of the Injection Connection, have ideas for activities, want to join once it is more formalized please feel free to reach me at jeffrey.r.r.rands@xo.com or 801-928-9070 (txt ok).

Inspired by my family

What's your name?
Joyce

What's your inspiration?
The thing that inspires me most to control my diabetes is my family. When I was diagnosed with diabetes 3 years ago it meant a lot of changes for me and for my family. We didn’t go through the house and throw out all the junk food, but we didn’t buy more when it was gone. We had been moving towards a healthier diet over the last few years, but we still found ourselves eating fast food fairly regularly because of our busy schedules.

The biggest change for me was that I stopped drinking soda and made healthier choices at lunch time. My family is very helpful and supportive. We have all learned a lot about controlling my diabetes. They both walk with me in the evenings. My teenage daughter doesn’t ask to have a lot of snacks in the house that I like and shouldn’t eat. My husband always makes sure that we have some carbs and lots of non-starchy vegetables at meal times. They both watch to make sure that if my glucose is getting low I eat something, even when I don’t feel like it. Whenever I start to feel like things are out of control they are always there to help me get back on track.

What's one lesson you want people to learn about diabetes?
Know your risk and know the symptoms. If you think you might have diabetes see your doctor and get tested. I was fortunate enough to have my diabetes diagnosed and treated relatively early before I had any complications. I’ve heard too many stories about people who find out they have diabetes only after it causes serious complications like a stroke, vision impairment, neuropathy and even death. One thing that people need to know about diabetes is that putting off the diagnosis won't make it go away and not knowing might kill you.

Kjazz interview

On September 11th I was interviewed on Kjazz news at nine. This was a very fun experience for me. The night before the interview I talked with myself and thought about important things I would need to say like what I was doing. Why I was doing this and were my blog was. For the interview I was representing my Girl Scout troop, My family and the American Diabetes Association. Since I represent my family by just being me I decided to wear a Step Out shirt and my Girl Scout vest. Some of the questions I was asked were why am I collecting stories. I am doing this for my mom and my Nana is how i replied. It was very scary knowing that all of my state could be watching me but once I was done I knew that what I said was sure to draw some attention to my blog and I just hope that get some stories after Step Out on Saturday September 26th. I will be collecting stories there so I hope that soon there will be some stories on my blog.

Silver Award

My name is Gen and I am working on my Girl Scout Silver Award. I am trying to spread diabetes awareness so I am collecting peoples stories on what it is like to have diabetes or what it is like to live with someone who has diabetes. These stories will be used for an educational purpose so that people understand that diabetes is affecting people all over the world.

My life is affected by diabetes and that is why I am working on this project. My mom has diabetes and my Nana died of complications from diabetes. So please help this good cause and tell your story.
~Gen

Collecting stories at StepOut SLC, UT

Will you be at StepOut this year? It's on Saturday, September 26 and we'll be walking from This is The Place Monument to Utah's Hogle Zoo! Check-in starts at 8:30 AM and the walk itself starts at 10:00 AM.

I will be there for sure. This year is special though because I'll be collecting your stories there! I want to know why you walk at StepOut. Is it for a friend or family member? Do you do it for yourself or to set an example? What inspires you to StepOut?!

Ginny's Story and Q&A Service

Ginny Burns is a local nurse who has quite the story. She has worked with people with diabetes for the last 20 years and helps the American Diabetes Association and Utah Association of Diabetes Educators. Plus she has type 1 diabetes for 40 years!

You can ask her questions about diabetes in Utah by visiting her site -- Ask Ginny about Diabetes.