Emma

From her mom, Kara:

Our daughter Emma was diagnosed on October 2, 2014. She was 9 years old. There’s so much I remember about that day but mostly how scared she was when I explained to her that we needed to leave school early after I had picked her up because we needed to go to the doctor. I had suspected she may be diabetic due to some signs I was seeing a few days before even though we have no family history of T1. The doctor evaluated her and then did a quick urine test and once he saw the results he said, “take her to the ER now.”

I am a Respiratory Therapist so I had enough awareness to suspect she was diabetic based on her symptoms of excessive thirst and frequent urination but had zero understanding of the difference between T1 and T2. I will never forget Emma crying en route to the hospital and asking me if she was going to die. My mother had died just four months before this but I reassured her she was not going to die. My husband and twin sister met us at the Children’s Hospital and I went into this calm/clinical mode. I was present for her but not emotional. My sister and husband were crying but I just had to be strong for her. We met with the medical team and they informed us that Emma had Type 1 diabetes, that her bg was 845 and that her A1C was 13.1. We had no idea what that meant at the time but we were told that she was probably a half day away from DKA.

We spent two days in the hospital learning her new normal and explaining it all to her little sister Julia who was 7 and all of her family and friends. It was overwhelming. It was sad. We had just lost my mom and now our child has this lifelong disease that could cause her health issues or worse.

We were so fortunate and grateful to have our loved ones rally around Emma and before we left the hospital, we had assembled and registered a walk team for JDRF that was three weeks later. Team “Sugar Emmas” was born. We raised several thousand dollars that year and have raised over $15k since! Emma is a warrior. The last ten years have been met with many challenges but she has also persevered and accomplished so much. As I am writing this, she is spending her sophomore fall semester of college in Italy! She is an inspiration to all of us and an unwavering advocate for herself and others. She educates everyone around her about T1 and she has been a camp volunteer at Camp Nejeda in NJ after being a camper for several years. We pray for a cure every single day but until then, Emma will continue to pursue her dreams and achieve her goals. She is in the 3+1 program at her University and will be graduating in 2026 (undergrad) and masters (2027) via an accelerated program. She is studying Forensic Accounting and Financial Crimes. She loves Law & Order and reruns of Friends. She still has her Rufus teddy bear who is quite worn but has been with her every night since her diagnosis.

T1 has definitely changed who she was but it is a big part of who she is now; an incredibly mature, capable, fiercely loyal big sister who is the oldest of 8 first cousins. She’s a friend, a teammate, a niece and so much more. She is still silly sometimes but is also very focused and driven. She is one of the strongest people I know and I’m so proud to have her as a daughter (along with her sister). We won’t be able to see her in person on her diaversary but we will be visiting her for Thanksgiving and I’d love to present this to her then during Diabetes Awareness month. Thanks for taking the time to read a little bit about this amazing human being.