Day 2 – Meet Gemma

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September 20, 2012: A typical day at school, really. That night, I planned on cramming for a test the following day. I had spent a ridiculous amount of time worrying about my sixth grade lunch table drama. Little did I know that, soon, these would be the least of my worries.
Then came my doctor appointment…that’s all it was, a routine checkup. Until he found something called “ketones” in my urine.
I now know that this means I was in DKA, something that still scares me every day. My doctor pricked my finger, and that alone made me cry in pain. Now I prick my finger an average of 7 times per day, and after 3 years, it’s still something I need to get used to. I was then taken to the hospital. I still remember my dad sitting in the back seat with me, rather than the front, so that he could console me as I wept. Only later did I find out that he was crying too. September 20th was a life-changing day for so many reasons: I was forced to be more mature, to take insulin injections every time I ate, count my carbs, worry about what went in my mouth during every single meal or snack. T1D has changed my life. Every day, I pray for a cure. Yes, I pray for me. But, I also pray for my parents, who check my blood sugar at 12am and 3am every single night. I pray for my brothers, who constantly worry about me. And I pray for my friends who I have met through the Breakthrough T1D and other programs, because they want a cure just as much as I do.

Please consider making a Fund A Cure donation in honor of Gemma and others living with T1D by clicking here

Gemma