Martin's Story-Take care of yourself for your family

Fahina's Story

Fahina's story really inspired me, I never knew how much of a risk Tongan's had of getting diabetes. One of the things that I connected with is that you don't have to give up eating what you normally eat like ice cream or chocolate you just need to balance it with something healthy. Diabetes is all about balance, in a way you could say its like walking on a balance beam, if you lean too far to one side you start to stumble but if you are fast enough you can bring yourself back upright. The key is to balance your foods, and your exercise. Play video games, they are fun but you also should get outside and take a nice long walk with your family or friends, make a habit of it because your habits become your lifestyle and as we all know some habits are hard to break.

John's Story

John's story has inspired me to keep fighting diabetes. He has been effected by it for a much longer time than I have. Never once have I seen him stop fighting diabetes and that encourages me to do the same, and never stop fighting.

Press Conference at the Columbus Library

Today I spoke at a press conference promoting the opening of the new campaign The Faces Of Diabetes. This is what I told them:

Men and women, young and old, you and me. We are all affected by diabetes whether it is you, family, friend even your friend's family. I am here to tell you how my life is affected by diabetes.

It was a hot and sticky June evening, we had all just eaten dinner at my Nana and Papa’s house. My mom started to feel nauseated. My Nana had had diabetes for over 20 years so she checked my mom’s glucose, it was a lot higher than it should be. When we came home my mom scheduled an appointment with her doctor. When she got home from the doctors she had been diagnosed with diabetes.

Turns out she may have had diabetes up to 5 years before she was actually diagnosed. This was not much of a surprise because of her family history. After that day all of our lives changed.

We ate out less, used more vegetables in our cooking and got more exercise. I like playing Dance Dance revolution and you get exercise from that. When I found out about all the changes that had to be made I got scared. I didn’t know what diabetes really was at the time. All I knew was that people I knew had it.

In the same summer on July 26^th my Nana passed away from complications of diabetes.

Now I know that diabetes is a disease but I am a Scorpio and Scorpios hold grudges. I was mad that my Nana had died because of it so I wanted to do something to get revenge.

The next year when I was in 6^th grade I started my Girl Scout bronze award on diabetes awareness. I put up posters with interesting facts and “know your risk” fliers in local places. In doing this I not only educated the public, I educated my family and myself as well. I was then able to better understand what diabetes was and what my mom had to do to keep her diabetes under control. 2007 was the year I became involved with the American Diabetes Association (ADA). The event was Step Out for Diabetes, I ran t-shirts for walker check in.

I am committed to help fight diabetes and doing all that I can to prevent people from getting it.

It is 2009 and I am now 14. I am still a girl scout and I am working on my silver award. I have a blog that is used to collect stories. The theme is “What inspires you to fight diabetes?”

I have interviewed people with a camera at step out and I have had people submit stories to my website, Inspiredbydiabetes.blogspot.com.

I think by creating this blog people will see what others are going through.
These stories don’t have to come from someone with diabetes. It can come from a friend or family member that is close to them. People who have diabetes need to understand that they are not alone and that there is hope. Every day I try to be as healthy as I can and I encourage people to do the same.

Let’s fight diabetes together.

Talking to a camera was kinda scary but I know that i am getting the word out. I also got the American Diabetes Association Teaching Award for educating the public about diabetes. The interviewer asked me how I got involved and how diabetes affects me. I told her that it was because of my mom and my nana. Thanks for all the wonderful support!

~Gen

Tell Your Story

Elli - Inspired by Her Mother

What's your name?
Elli

What's your inspiration?
My beautiful mother inspires me to prevent diabetes. She was diagnosed 32 years ago with Type I diabetes and, in recent years, has been hit hard by the disease. My mom raised my brother and me on her own and she took every precaution to ensure her diabetes was under control. Unfortunately, my mom's diabetes is so advanced and she has had numerous health problems that were unable to be prevented. She lives each day with an unmatched strength and optimisim that inspires me to do as much as I can with my own life. Even with her declining health, my mother still has the priorities of a selfless mother: to let her kids' dreams come true.

Although it is hard to be away from her (I live in Utah to go to school and she is home in Colorado), she encourages me to follow my dreams and continue to go to school, no matter how sick she gets. Her selflessness and encouragement inspires me every day. Whenever I get down, I think about my mom and how much strength and beauty she radiates even in the face of this ugly disease. I think about the sacrifices she made so I could be happy and healthy.

What's one lesson you want people to learn about diabetes?
One person with diabetes affects an entire army of others. Because of my mom's diabetes, my grandma has donated her kidney (for a transplant in 1999), my aunt has taken her in her home so she is closer to the better doctors in her neighborhood, and all her friends from various parts of the country have flown in to take care of my mom. It seems everyone in my mom's life is knowledgable about the disease, which is the first step to preventing diabetes.

I think the best and most effective power is knowledge. The more people learn about diabetes, the more managable it becomes. The more people you have in your life that support you after you've been diagnosed, the fear and trauma will subside. You have to gather your loved ones and teach them. Everyone has to learn together and diabetes has to be a team effort in order for it to be controlled, in my experience. All the people that love my mom the most know how to calculate insulin levels or take blood sugars.

Little things like that make my mom's condition more managable for her.

Step Out

On September 26th I was at Step Out For Diabetes walk. I collected some stories thanks to you who came my project is becoming an overwhelming success. While I was there I met some really cool people with very interesting stories. I also had over 1000 fliers with me that day, and I maybe came home with 500. Thanks to all who helped me and also to Grant. He has helped a lot with this and I wouldn't even have a blog without him.
~Gen