11/14/2018
Hanna is a Senior Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Major here at UConn and at diagnosis, she wish she knew...
"My blood sugar was only in the 230s at diagnosis. I attribute this not eating that morning, but also that my mom knew the signs so we were able catch it earlier on. I was the fourth kid in the fifth grade at my school to be diagnosed that year. This was nearly 11 years ago, and I have seen how the world of type 1 diabetes has changed. At the time of my diagnosis, which was in early 2008, the culture of diabetes was much different. When I was first diagnosed, one of the first things I did was google “diabetes”, and at that time all of the google images were of fatty foods, overweight individuals, and very early memes of Wilfred Brimley saying “diabetes”. If I do the same thing today, the images are of people checking their blood glucose levels and some arrays of the signs and symptoms. I wish younger me knew that diabetes was not represented by these images, and that it is much more than that. I wish I could tell myself that diabetes will open more doors, not close them, and that I would meet some incredible people over the next 10 or so years because I have type 1 diabetes."
Thanks for sharing Hanna! @ Storrs, Connecticut
