Contributor: Chris; tobesugarfree.com
Connection: Adult with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “”[Diabetes] is a very personal disease, but that doesn’t mean it has to be a one man or one woman army fighting this battle. There’s a community that [...] wants to help and offer support, because doing this by yourself is pretty miserable.”
Contributor: Michael
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
“Michael V. diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 6/30/97 shows what you can do with diabetes through his photos.”
Contributor: Scott; rollinginthed.wordpress.com
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “There are people in the diabetes online community who are not living the guidelines of living with diabetes – but they’re living it. I mean they’re really LIVING life. It’s so empowering [to see]. I don’t see diabetes as an opponent; I see it as a bad roommate. I’m stuck with you; you’re stuck with me. We don’t really like each other, but we make the best of it.”
Contributor: Jennifer; @datangeL82
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “”My grad school education cost less than the four days I spent in the hospital for DKA. [...] Diabetes is difficult, but just take it one day at a time… nobody does it perfectly.”
Contributor: Kari; delightfullydiabetic.wordpress.com
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “I have undergone dozens of [retinopathy] treatments on both eyes, but despite my diabetes and despite the retinopathy (which is now almost completely under control), I’m living a successful and fulfilling life. I’ve taught first grade for the past two years, and in September I will begin teaching third grade. I’ve begun graduate school and I have a wonderfully supportive boyfriend [Editor's note: now fiancé!] who cares just as much about my diabetes management as I do.”
Contributor: Allison; @AMBlass
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “I really feel that getting a friend with diabetes has been the best medication for me – almost as important as insulin. I can’t live without [the diabetes online community] at this point, and I would never want anyone else to go through this alone either.”
Contributor: Naomi; @hopewithpump
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes (father had type 1 as well)
Standout Quote: “If I tell my patients to do something with their diabetes, I should follow my own advice. ‘Why can’t I do that?’ I wish I were more open about some things, like injecting in public and talking to my Mom about my diabetes – but I’ll get there, and you will, too.”
Contributor: Elisa; @Elisa1840
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “I didn’t know that high sugars would depress you, and I was depressed to the point that I was thinking about suicide every day. [...] It gets to the point where you’re depressed, but you don’t even know why… that’s brutal because you don’t know how to fix it. [...] We don’t want to portray ourselves as victims, so we don’t talk about it.”
Contributor: Ally; http://diabeteswashere.blogspot.com/
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “I was in this pretend world; that I was happy and okay. I was hoping that the more and more I denied that I had diabetes, it would just slip away overnight. [...] It makes you nervous; it scares you. [...] I’m at a place now where I’m okay talking about myself and having diabetes, and I was never at a place like that before. I went through probably six years of my A1C being over 10.”
