Hi my name is Justin and I am 14 years old and I have type one diabetes. I was diagnosed 3 days after my 11 birthday. I never knew how much someone’s life could change in a blink of an eye. My life went from playing football and soccer and having pizza parties with my friends to counting carbs, checking my blood sugar 5 to 10 times a day, passing out from low blood sugars, getting really sick from high blood sugars, testing for keytones and so much more.
I am 1 of 3 children. I have a brother James who is 17 and a sister Sydney who is 9. My siblings had to learn how to test my sugar and help to give me shots when my sugars are high. They have had to learn all the signs of low blood sugars too, to avoid me passing out or worse. When my sugar is high or low it’s very hard for me to think straight and know the right thing to do for myself. I never thought my 9 year old sister would have to learn how to give me shots and take my blood sugar. I miss a lot of school because I wake up and my sugars are elevated, which cause me to shake and throw up sometimes. The high blood sugars also affect my attention span and I find it very hard to focus. The mood swings from my sugars are awful and I can’t control them. They make me angry and sometimes they make me cry. They are uncontrollable and I don’t even feel like me anymore. I am afraid every day of my life that this awful disease will affect my eyes, my feet, my organs, or worse. My mom and I and my brother and sister pray to God every day that within my lifetime someone will find a cure. I’m very thankful that I was introduced to Breakthrough T1D. I have met other kids like me and I am able to share my fears and everyone understands me. Before Breakthrough T1D, I felt very alone. I hope my story brings awareness to this awful disease and people start to see how life threatening this disease can be. Please pray for a cure and please help anyway you can.

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