Contributor: Chris; tobesugarfree.com
Connection: Adult with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “”[Diabetes] is a very personal disease, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a one man or one woman army fighting this battle. There’s a community that […] wants to help and offer support, because doing this by yourself is pretty miserable.”
Contributor: Mike; www.diabetesmine.com
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “It’s been tough sometimes – a lot times, especially as a teenager or in my early 20’s, that I just wanted to give up. I had a lot of burnout, and I wanted to be ‘normal’ – whatever that means – and I really wish I would have been able to find somebody to talk to, to realize that I was not alone. That there were other people out there going through the same things that I was going through and struggling with. I knew that there were others, but I could never really find them and I didn’t really want to talk about my diabetes.”
Contributor: AJ Cunder; www.thesilvertalon.com
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Blog post: http://www.thesilvertalon.com/silver-talon-blog/you-can-do-this-
As a kid, I always wanted to be a firefighter. Since I was little, I’d wear my kid’s turnout gear around the house pretending I was answering a fire call. But sometimes people told me that since I had diabetes, I couldn’t be a firefighter. “How could you fight fires and save lives when you have to constantly worry about your own?” they’d ask. I would just look at them and shake my head, knowing that diabetes wouldn’t–couldn’t–stop me from achieving my dream. Now, at age 18, I’ve been with the Whippany Fire Department for over two years, I’ve battled a house fire, and I’ve responded to hundreds–yes, hundreds–of emergency calls, serving my community as a fully trained Whippany Fire Fighter. I did not let diabetes overcome my desire to be a firefighter. Of course, there are certain precautions I must take, such as keeping a bottle or two of Gatorade in my bunker pants in case I feel my blood sugar starting to drop on a fire call, but with those precautions taken care of, any diabetic can and should serve his or her community as a firefighter, EMT, police officer, or in whatever capacity he or she wishes.
Contributor: Jennifer; @datangeL82
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “”My grad school education cost less than the four days I spent in the hospital for DKA. […] Diabetes is difficult, but just take it one day at a time… nobody does it perfectly.”
Podcast can be heard here: http://www.divshare.com/download/15076007-e18
Contributor: Janice
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes; Joslin 50-year medalist (has lived with insulin-dependent diabetes for at least 50 years)
Standout Quote: “It hasn’t been an easy trip, but it’s been a wonderful one. […] I’m very grateful to medical science for all of the discoveries that have helped me to live with type 1 for 56 years. I want everyone to know that it is most certainly worth the effort to try to take care of yourself, because life is wonderful and we should enjoy every moment of it that we have. You can do it; you can get through the hard times.”
Contributor: Naomi; @hopewithpump
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes (father had type 1 as well)
Standout Quote: “If I tell my patients to do something with their diabetes, I should follow my own advice. ‘Why can’t I do that?’ I wish I were more open about some things, like injecting in public and talking to my Mom about my diabetes – but I’ll get there, and you will, too.”
YOU CAN DO THIS PROJECT 