Melissa Saunier

When talking about chronic diseases the words “lucky” and “thankful” are usually not associated with such a grave subject. However, I do feel lucky to have been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of 3, because growing up and needing shots of insulin on a daily basis was in fact “normal”, because I was too young to know any different.

The difficult task actually landed on my parents who had to monitor and give injections to a scared and squirmy toddler, who then turned into a very athletic child, especially when they didn’t have the incredible technology in 1981 that they do now. There was no carb counting or blood testing machines to help them determine how much insulin to dose. They had to collect a urine sample and check for ketones and I can’t imagine that was an easy task to do multiple times throughout the day and night!

I have had T1D for 43 years and have managed to live an amazing and healthy life with the help of my caring and supportive family. They helped me have a positive outlook on life and to stay hopeful that we will see a cure in the future. Until then, I will continue this fight and try to be an optimistic role model for people just like me.