National Diabetes Month

November is recognized as National Diabetes Month in the United States. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was just 6 years old. You can read about my history with Diabetes here.

If it wasn’t for the incredible work done by Doctors Banting, Best, Collip & Macleod, I might not be alive today. These great scientists discovered insulin and made it safe for Type 1 Diabetics to use. Over the years the great work has evolved from a syringe and refrigerated vial, to the pen that doesn’t require refrigeration once used to the outstanding Inhalable fast acting Insulin, Afrezza that enables me to control my blood sugar with the ease of breathing. Diabetes affects millions of people around the world, daily. For the age group 0-19 years, the IDF Diabetes Atlas 2017 provides a global number of 1,106,500 people with type 1 diabetes with an annual incidence of 132,600 newly diagnosed cases. ⁽¹⁾

This November, I request that you please think about the hardships that people face with pre-existing conditions, thank the awesome scientists, researchers and doctors who save lives on a daily basis, and do a little good for someone. Oh, and World Diabetes Day is November 14th, so please feel free to get me a present. 💋

_{1. International Diabetes Federation. IDF Diabetes Atlas, 8th edn. Brussels, Belgium: International Diabetes Federation, 2017. http://www.diabetesatlas.org; last accessed on January 23, 2019}