Kasarah Lawrence

My grandmother had type 1 diabetes since her mid 20s to early 30s. I always saw her checking her blood sugar or taking insulin. As a child, I never really knew what she was doing. I only knew she was taking medicine. Her and her husband used to travel a lot. The spring break of 2000, my family and I were supposed to go on a trip. My grandmother had just returned from traveling and noticed how skinny I was. I was also eating everything in sight and drinking a lot of water. I don’t remember what it was, but she checked my blood sugar and it was high. My dad and I went to Cook Children’s ER. That is where I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. My dad started crying and I was crying, because he was sad. At the time, I didn’t understand why. I lost my grandmother four years ago, but I am so thankful and blessed to have had her. Even if we did things differently, it was nice to have someone that could teach me the ways and complain about our bad days and truly understand each other.