Abigail Bayer

A week before thanksgiving when I was 10 years old my mom brought me to the doctor’s office … she knew. She was an RN, I had just participated in the JDF diabetes walk (back then that’s what it was called, I think) for a friend with T1D. My diagnosis story isn’t as exciting as most, I wasn’t very sick and only stayed in a hospital overnight. That being said, that single Monday in November changed it all. I am now an RN and CDCES. I’ve worked in adult and pediatric diabetes care, as well as dialysis and now I teach people how to do dialysis at home to continue thriving with end stage kidney disease. I have made some of the best friends (family, really) of my life at diabetes camp, and while I would give anything for some endogenous insulin in my body, I have found the little silver linings of this crummy diagnosis.