Laney's story

My name is Laney, and I was diagnosed with T1D when I was 7 years old. My parents recognized the symptoms fairly quickly, I lost a ton of weight, was wetting the bed, and just couldn’t get enough water. I’m the only one in my family that has diabetes, so it was a bit of a shock - but even at that young of an age I took it with strength and accepted it as my reality. I was a “model diabetic” for a long time, with a great A1C and a level of independence with my care. But then, like a lot of those diagnosed young experience, I went through a period of diabetes burnout.

I was around 13 years old when my burnout hit. I would put off taking my insulin until I could barely handle my high sugar symptoms anymore, would lie to my parents about my blood sugar levels and let it coast in the 400’s for days at a time. I struggled with varying levels of burnout throughout my teens, and it wasn’t until I left for college that the reality of my self-care hit me. It was then that I refocused my priorities and put my health into focus.

I’m now 21 years old and the healthiest I’ve been in years. I’m pursuing my Bachelors in Mathematical Sciences with an Actuarial Science concentration and a Data Analysis/Data Mining minor. I keep busy with school, work, enjoying living in the city, hanging out with friends, eating good food and drinking good drinks. I don’t let diabetes get in the way of how I want to live my life. Rather – I embrace it as a part of me and the perception of life it has given me.

It’s easy to slip into feelings of regret for letting my diabetes go uncontrolled for over 5 years, but I know that I need to keep taking steps to better my care. I’m still constantly taking these steps, but every happy, blissful moment I have in my life gives me the motivation to do that. Support from the online T1D community has made taking these steps SO much easier – when you can communicate with those that have gone through the same things you have this diabetes thing doesn’t seem so bad.