I remember the first time I had my blood sugar taken… “It’s going to pinch for just a moment,” the nurse said. I was in the ER and I really wanted to go to my sisters’ soccer game at their high school but instead, I had to go to the pediatrician to get checked. I had been very thirsty and drinking gallons of water during the summer. I also felt distracted too. All this made my mom think that something was up. I was 10 then and it was the second week of fifth grade.
I went to the pediatrician right from school…then directly to the hospital. It was two days of constant doctors. I learned so much in the two days I was in the hospital. So did my parents. A LOT. And I learned that this was a new way of life for me, without a day off…. or breaks.
That was three and a half years ago. I am now 14. I am a four season athlete, honor student, National Junior Honor Society member and Breakthrough T1D Youth Ambassador. In this short time I’ve done over 16,000 finger sticks to test my blood sugar level, taken tens of thousands of units of insulin, kept food logs and counted carbs for over 4,000 meals. I’m a very healthy teenager. I don’t want to ever not be able to do the things I love to do. There has to be some way to jump start my pancreas and make it work again…..one day I want to say, “I used to have Type one Diabetes.”
Please consider making a Fund A Cure donation in honor of Dante and others living with T1D by clicking here.
