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: 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: Brian; notmycell.blogspot.com
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “I can tell you; it hasn’t always been easy. I have made many mistakes; poor choices. Trying to keep my sugars low out of fear of anything happening to me – that your kidneys are going to go, that you’re going to go blind; that you’re going to lose a limb. I was always fearful of those effects of high sugars, so I made stupid choices trying to keep my own sugars low. [...] It wasn’t until maybe the past three or four years that I realized that I wasn’t alone.”
Contributor: Briley; @4thandLife
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “The good days outnumber the bad, and that’s what you need to remember – that even on the bad days, there’s always someone there for you. We’re here, waiting for you to say ‘Help! I need you! I want some support!’ We’ll be there, just like everyone else was there for us.”
Contributors: Joe and Reyna; betabuddies.blogspot.com
Connection: Child with type 1 diabetes and his mom
Standout Quote: “I don’t like telling you this – it is a hard emotion to deal with, but frankly you will be envious; you will be jealous. Forgive yourself for these emotions. You are hurting; you are grieving. It is understandable. It is okay.”
Contributor: Anna; @FatCatAnna
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “The thing with diabetes is that we are alive. [...] We can live with diabetes. Yes, we will have good and bad days, but I think it makes us tougher. Even with the depression I’ve been going through, I’m alive.”
Contributor: Scott Strange; www.strangelydiabetic.com
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “I have a story to share – so do you. You won’t find a better audience anywhere, and I guarantee that someone will be impacted by it in a very meaningful way.”
Contributor: Kelly; diabetesaliciousness.blogspot.com
Connection: Person with type 1 diabetes
Standout Quote: “In high school [and] college, I just wanted to be “normal”. I should have just embraced my own normal. Everyone has their own reality of what normal is, [...] and ours is interesting and frustrating and challenging, but it’s doable. You can live a good life with diabetes – don’t listen to people who say that you can’t. You can do or be anything – you just need to work a little harder.”
