Diabetes Blog Week: 'Diabetes Hero'

Let’s end our week on a high note and blog about our “Diabetes Hero”.  It can be anyone you’d like to recognize or admire, someone you know personally or not, someone with diabetes or maybe a Type 3.  It might be a fabulous endo or CDE.  It could be a d-celebrity or role-model.  It could be another DOC member.  It’s up to you – who is your Diabetes Hero??

Okay, so when I saw this topic, I immediately thought. Well you could go with Nick Jonas, Steve Redgrave, Halle Berry... celebrities who, in the public eye, have shown that diabetes should never stand in the way of what you want to achieve.

However.... for me a 'diabetes hero' is a role model, and for me I could not have found better d role-models then those whose blogs I have read in the last month. It was reading those blogs which inspired me to start my own, as for the first time in my ten years as a diabetic, I felt that someone finally got it. What did make me slightly wistful was when I read on a lot of the blogs how people had been to these diabetic meetings/gatherings or whatever you want to call them! Simply put, that they knew other diabetics. And the reality is that for me, I'd never properly known anyone else diabetic until a month ago. The closest I get to feeling like someone understands me is when I read Balance Magazine every month, yet now it is so wonderful to see people put my thoughts and experiences into their own words; to feel like I am not alone with this. Of course I have to name drop three wonderful blogs (the first 3 I came across and which really spoke to me) and that's: Kelly, Kerri and Karen - the three Ks! Their blogs have been so inspiring for me, particularly as they are older and I am at that point in my life where I'm making the transition from child to adult. It really is so nice to read about how they are coping with D, and does give me a greater sense of hope for the future. And then of course there are the other wonderful blogs of Hannah, Daisy and Jess, which I am now hooked to!

However, I do have to give a huge thank-you to three people in my life who have been so incredible with mym diabetes: my Dad, Mum and Sister Charlotte.



In Disney, 2 months post
diagnosis (I'm 7, Charlotte's 10)



My Dad especially worked from home since I was diagnosed (he is an architect) and is always there to bring in supplies to school when I'm being ditsy and forget (it does happen!) He orders all my supplies and collects them from the doctor, and although he does get over paranoid when I'm ill, he does look after me so much and I will be forever greatful to him for that. My mum has been wonderful too, having experienced all too many nights of staying up as I ever so delightfully am throwing up as a result of a failed set change and sky high blood sugars. She was also the one who diagnosed me when I was 7, after my GP proved completely incompetent...!



I think though, one of my greatest diabetic heroes would have to be my sister Charlotte (I'll probably do a post about her sometime soon, but will do a brief overview now!) She has been my rock all my life. She has never been anything other than supportive and caring, and I would completely understand if she had shown some resentment over the years, when diabetes has been a bit all-consuming. But through all the different injection regimes and rubbish that's happened, she's kept me going and I couldn't have asked for someone more supportive.  



I think though, another reason why I am so thankful to my family, is that I have never really been very open with my friends/peers/teachers etc... about diabetes. It is something which I to some extent regret now, maybe because I have seen how open some people have been on other blogs etc... But it's meant that, when I'm at home, the happy-D mask is thrown off. At school I put all my energy into smiling through everything, and that means once I get home, and my BGs are going a bit all over the place, I can have really bad mood-swings and am probably slightly unbearable to live with at times! The morning lows especially can worry my mum and dad, because I often don't speak. But they still support me, and never treat me differently. Sometimes I wish they would be a bit less "what's your blood sugar" everytime I am remotely 'off' in terms of mood, but I completely understand why they are like that. I'm not the most vocal when it comes to my diabetes, as I like to believe that I can cope by myself, and that I'm not burdening them. At the end of the day though, I couldn't have done it without them, so I count myself very lucky in the respect. They always motivate me to achieve to my best, and never see diabetes as a barrier to anything I hope to do in life. And yes, diabetes may be a very dark cloud that I really wish wasn't there, but the silver lining has been in part discovering how truly amazing and supportive my family is; so thank-you mum, dad and Charlotte - I love you so much.



Me and Blue stuck together
like glue... well technically
sticky tape - glue could prove
rather problematic come
set-change day...!



Sophs x

 

*Oh, and of course my last diabetic hero would have to be my pump Blue; I couldn't imagine my life now without him, so thank-you also to the inventor of the Medtronic insulin pump - I don't know your name but you're  a legend and pretty much a life-saver! :D