Alexander Friedman

I got diabetes when I was seven and now I’m 35. My older brother got it a year after me. All while my mom was going through a divorce. Try telling a seven year old he can’t have Skittles. That’s the first thing I did when I got out of the hospital and went right back in. I didn’t take it serious as a kid and was in and out of the hospital almost dying countless times. I now take it very serious and made a clothing line and host fundraisers with live music for it and call it diabetic avengers. Helping young kids understand just how serious this disease is–well it’s priceless. When I first got it I was allowed 100 carbs a day and three shots. Now a days it’s much easier. The countless struggles made me grow up much quicker. Sometimes loosing insurance and fighting to get insulin so I don’t die to having insurance and being told I can’t have insulin because it’s not time to fill it yet. I’m well aware of rationing insulin to say the least. I try to help diabetics who rely on the pump to understand how it works if the pump fails. It’s nice to make it easy but making it to easy is dangerous if that’s all they rely on. My life as a diabetic has been a journey with legit ups and downs but it’s a journey that made me who I am today and that’s a proud diabetic.