The middle of my 8th grade school year I went to the doctor’s office for a checkup or so I thought. They ran a few tests and the doctor left and came back with the tests results, she told my parents and I to go home and pack my bags, there was a room waiting on me at the hospital and to go straight there. When I got to the hospital the nurse showed me where my room was, they ran more tests there and the doctors told me I had type 1 diabetes. They explained to me what it was and they said sadly there is no cure for it. I now take 3 shots a day of insulin to keep me alive, I denied I had diabetes at first and it took me a while to get use to it. I realize you can die from it, so there I was going from a normal teenage girl to a sick girl with a disease that can’t be cured. I spent 4 days in the hospital with doctors explaining to me what to do and what not to do, what to eat and what not to eat, waking me up at all hours of the night. Boy did I not like that, I needed my sleep, I was so mad but I forgive them now. I also have to check my blood sugar 4 times a day sometimes more. The day the doctors told me I could go home I was so happy but I was not going home to what I was use to. I have a new normal now and it will be normal until a cure for diabetes is found. Before I went home the child life specialist gave me a Rufus the diabetic bear it is so cute. The day I got out of the hospital I went to school and my dad said you just got out of the hospital are you sure you want to go to school? I told him I sure do, I miss my friends and I have a lot of work to catch up on. Truth is I also did not want to fail, he said ok my friends started acting different around me but they got use to it. I have passed out several times from a low blood sugar, the scariest thing my dad said I became unresponsive and when I wake up I can not remember anything. That’s too scary I am afraid to go to sleep at night, what if I do not wake up it always pops into my head. When I entered high school all my new friends were like why do you have to leave class early everyday before lunch to go to the nurse and eat lunch early? So I told them living with diabetes is not easy no where close to easy but I have to live with it, there will be a cure found one day. I have hope and I will never stop fighting and never give up hope. On a good note I graduated from airport high school on June 1, 2011. Just recently on June 5, 2012 I received some bad news I got a nerve test on my feet at the foot doctor and they diagnosed me with diabetic neuropathy, one foot is mild the other is severe as you can see I live a complicated life. It was a couple days before my 13th birthday, just recently on August 12, 2012 my health insurance cut me off but I am not gonna let that bring me down I will fight even harder now! I have to find new ways to get my supplies since I can not afford a lot. Here is one thing diabetes can never take away from me my passion for music and acting. I love them both and will stay strong!

Crystal Phillips