Hey everyone, my name is Ben. I’m 24 years of age and I’m a surfer and a Physiotherapy student, and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was 11. As a competitive surfer with type 1 diabetes, good management is crucial to being able to focus on my long-term goals, upcoming contests, and…
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My name is Mellissa and I am 23 years old. I have been living with type 1 diabetes for the past seven years. It has taken seven years for me to get to a point where I no longer am afraid of my disease. I had lived in fear for so long – fear of…
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Much of this is based on my own journey and in observations and conversations with family, friends, and First Nations people I’ve encountered in my professional, personal and cultural lives. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes back in 2014, and it’s been a difficult journey to discover what my condition was, what it was…
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I was accepted into my nutrition course around the same time I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (I was diagnosed August 2015 at age 24). When I graduated, I wanted to create a space where women can find balance within their lives through nutrition and wellbeing. I went through many ideas within diet culture…
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Shaina Hatchell, BSN, RN, CDCES, is the author of Shia Learns and a recent Beta Change Minisode guest based in Washington, D.C. I am a strong believer that my talents and life story are not for me. There is triumph in speaking about my life and using what some may see as my pain to…
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In Latin America and in my country, Mexico, there is a lot of misinformation, taboos, and a general lack of education about diabetes – just as it happens around the world. Thanks to this attitude in our society, shame and silence come hand in hand for many people with a diabetes diagnosis. The situation worsens…
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Dear Beta Change, Do you know that song from the Miss USA pageants (“You’re one in a million” by Bosson)? Well, that’s sure how I felt when I was diagnosed with insulin allergy on top of having type 1 diabetes. It’s a very rare condition, with only 0.1% of insulin-requiring people also living with an…
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This year marks sixteen years since I was diagnosed with diabetes. I am now 32 years old, a teacher, the editor of Diastyl magazine – my country’s only diabetes magazine published by the IDF member organization VAZ Diabetiku Ceské Republiky – and above all, the mother of a two-year-old son. I still remember the day…
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The Diabetes Community Care Team (DCCT) is a nonprofit, pharmacist-operated diabetes clinic which increases opportunities for people living with diabetes to access medical care and education. Our Mission is to help people with all types of diabetes manage the challenges of living with a chronic disease and mitigate barriers to care including financial, psychological, and…
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Dear Friend, I am writing this letter because I don’t feel ok about the injustice in this world and that my life is easier than yours. How is this, you ask? We were both diagnosed 10 years ago with type 1 diabetes in Poland, our home country. We were 17 at the time. I remember…
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