Patti Brown

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when I was seven years old. I actually spent my eighth birthday in the hospital. I started off using urine tests to attempt to manage my blood sugar, then I began using glucometers. I have to admit I wasn’t a good example of a diabetic patient in my teens and early 20s, especially since my pediatrician and endocrinologist told me and my parents I probably wouldn’t live past 40 and I would never be able to have children. But I got myself together and decided that was going to be nonsense for me! I had two beautiful daughters by cesarean section, and so far I’ve been lucky to escape the dreadful side effects that long-term diabetes can bring. I’m 61 now, and there isn’t anything that my diabetes has stopped me from doing. I hope to continue that way of living for as long as I can. I’ve often thought about what those doctors told me when I was a youngster, and I’m so grateful I am able to live each day in defiance of that prognosis. Receiving this award would be a tangible reminder of how hard I’ve worked to live a wonderful life with diabetes.