JA Coins_1200x400

Family for Life

Hi, I am Maddie. I play the flute, I love singing, I like swimming, I have a younger brother, two rescued greyhounds, and I have type 1 diabetes.

I attended my first Friends for Life conference in 2016, after my parent’s bribed me with a trip to Disney World. I could not begin to imagine at the age of six why I would want to go to a “conference” with a lot of other people with type 1 diabetes. Once we got to our first conference, no one asked me what was on my arm (Dexcom) they just asked how I was keeping it in during July’s hot weather. That is also where I met my “spirit twin,” even though she was not diagnosed with type 1 (yet). This family has lived on the opposite side of the country from mine. Without this conference and diagnosis, I may not have met her. Since our first meeting we have only grown as friends and when she was diagnosed with type 1 too it only made us more alike.

Since our first large conference, we have gone on to be at each Friends for Life Orlando conference since and several smaller regional ones too. We make plans to be there before the conferences to see friends, hang out with them, have dinner with them, and just catch up. We make all our summer plans around the Friends for Life yearly conferences.

We joke in our house that FFL is not friends for life, in our house we call it Family for Life. The friends we have made are truly forever.

 


In celebration of the milestone 100 years since the discovery of insulin, we want to recognize everything we can do as a community – diabetes doesn’t hold us back.

Find out more about our 100 Years of US campaign at cwd.is/100Years.

Maddie

Do you have a story to share about your experiences with diabetes? We want to hear from you! Tell us your story using the form below and we'll consider it for inclusion in the CWD Stories section of our website. 

advertisement