Finding Love at FFL: Chelsea and Martyn Carr

Some of the best things that have come as a result of the diabetes community are the relationships. And some of those relationships have gone on to become families. Today, we are sharing stories from the friends for life community about love, diabetes, and the special people in our lives who support us.  Martyn and Chelsea Carr met at Friends for Life in 2003 and were married in 2014.

Chelsea, could you please tell me a little bit about Martyn?

Chelsea: Martyn is the single most caring person I have ever met. I say all the time that he likes people way more than I do, it’s just in his nature. It takes a special kind of person to choose the career he has and I am endlessly proud of him. Martyn also is such a big support for me, both in living away from the country I grew up in, and in everything that I choose to do. I love that he always wants to try and catch me when I am swinging from the rafters (trapeze artist 😉 ). He makes me happy in the little ways he is always there for me, and I can always be there for him too.

I love him to the moon and back. Even when the Dexcom beeps in the middle of the night. Even then.

Martyn, could you please tell me a little bit about Chelsea?

Martyn: Chelsea is a smart, intelligent, beautiful woman who always keeps me on my toes, makes me laugh, and has always been there for me either to help me with issues or to elbow me in back when my Dexcom is going off. Chelsea loves cirques; she has been doing it for years. When we first started dating, I would buy tickets when shows came to Glasgow. Cirques has always been her passion. Some of the things that made me fall in love with her are her smile and her nervous tune she would “hmmm” when we first started dating.

I know you met through Friends for Life and have personal connections to diabetes. Can you tell us the story of how your relationship came to be?

Chelsea: My family attended our first FFL conference in 2003. This was also the same year that Martyn and his family happened upon CWD while on vacation in Orlando. Both families have gone to every FFL conference since. We started hanging out in the same group of friends at the conference and also spent time together at the UK conference in 2011 when I was on a semester abroad in Oxford. At the 2012 FFL conference we got to know each other more and started dating officially after that, long distance which was challenging. We spoke all the time on facetime (just ask our parents!). I went over to Glasgow for two weeks to visit in April 2013 and to work at the UK conference. It was when I left to go back to the states, long distance again, that we both knew we had found the right person to be with, it would not have been so hard otherwise. I moved to Scotland that September to do go to school in Edinburgh. Martyn proposed in November because he could not wait any longer (he drove around listening to Bruno Mars “Marry You” for a month before, imagining how to propose). We had planned to get married in 2016, but decided that we couldn’t wait to be husband and wife and got married 15 May 2014 in Scotland, with Martyn’s family and my parents in attendance.

We did a vow renewal in July 2016 so that my family and our friends in the states could be there and celebrate with us. We held a hand-fasting ceremony at my grandparents house in Dunellon, FL.

What is the best thing about the CWD community?

Chelsea: The conference is the entire reason that Martyn and I met. If it wasn’t for diabetes in our families, we wouldn’t know each other. Martyn also was influenced in his career choice as a nurse in the diabetes space by attending the conferences, seeing the important role that Diabetes educators play in patient care.

Our best friends in life are people we met at CWD, and we have know them for the last nearly 20 years. All of that history and understanding – about diabetes and about life – that exists between all of us is something I would never change.