Diagnosed at Age 15

by Kay
(USA)

I have had diabetes since I was fifteen, and now I am twenty three years old. It took me two weeks of being sick, was going to the bathroom all the time and drinking a lot of water, before I went to get a checkup. They took my blood and came back after ten minutes just to tell me that have have diabetes and I need to go into the hospital ASAP. My blood sugar was so high and if I waited a couple more days I could have dies. The first thing I said to the doctor was, "you mean I can't have candy bars anymore?" My parents laughed a little but were very nervous about the whole thing. It is definitely a hard life to go through checking your blood sugar and making sure u took enough or didn't take too much insulin. I am very hopeful that we will find a cure, but since there has been an eight year gap on stem cell research, it seems farther away. But I am grateful that the stem cell research is back and I would like to thank President Obama for giving people another chance to get a cure and have a better life. Not to mention how expensive it is every month for prescriptions and doctor visits. I know my like I would be much easier if I did not have diabetes, but I am still very happy to be alive. It also scares me that the effects of having diabetes completely destroys your body over time and that dying at a younger age is very possible. The one thing I want to do in my life is get married and have kids, but it scares me to do so cause I want to be there for them and not just leave them behind. This has also taught me that you have to be a good person all your life and help others out that are less fortunate than you are because you never know how much longer you have in this life. I am lucky that I have all my friends and family there to support me and besides being diabetic, I am more fortunate than a lot of other people in the world.