Arielle Blumberg

I never took my final, final college exams – I was in the hospital in DKA, getting diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. There are so many vivid flashbacks I still get to that day – from my vision being so distorted I couldn’t see, to a nurse handing me a terrifying pamphlet on elder diabetic foot care and ulcers. I remember weeping because I thought my life was over – that I would never again enjoy anything from food to travel to normal relationships. What I have come to learn over the last ten year is that I could not have been more wrong. Are there hard moments? Absolutely. But T1D has made me so much more aware of my body, my needs, and how to take care of myself. I feel privileged to live in a time and place where I have access to the very best in healthcare and technology. Since being diagnosed I have indeed graduated college, grown a successful career, married the love of my life and travelled extensively abroad. My greatest accomplishment, though, was welcoming my daughter in January of 2024. Pregnancy with T1D was the singularly hardest but ultimately most rewarding thing I have ever done. Having a healthy baby – despite my chronic condition and high risk pregnancy – showed me that I can accomplish anything I put my mind to with determination, hard work, discipline and sacrifice.

Receiving a CWD Journey Award is important to me because it represents all I have accomplished in the last 10 years since diagnosis, and will help me celebrate my life and health. I am planning a 10 year “diaversary” party for May, inviting all of my friends and family who have supported me thus far on my journey. I would love to wear my medal that day!

The photo shows me climbing the Great Wall of China in 2018 with the assistance of my little blue Medtronic insulin pump.