Living Everyday with a Deadly Disease

My name is Katie Ferguson, and I am 14 years old. I may seem normal on the outside, but i have a disease called Type 1 Diabetes. I've had diabetes for four years. I was diagnosed on February 17th, 2014. I'm writing this today to share my story and try to help you with stereotypes that come along with this disease.

For the 3-6 months before I was diagnosed, I didn't really feel like myself, but I didn't know what was wrong. The week I got sick I was supposed to go to the doctor because the stomach flu was going around school. My parents and I believed that all I had was the stomach flu, so it was no big deal, but the second day I had the "stomach flu" was when it got bad. I started having bad dreams, and later that night, I was gasping for breath. I didn't want to go to the hospital, but my mom insisted. Halfway to the hospital, I started hallucinating and my speech slurred. My dad had to carry me into the emergency room. When I was put into a wheelchair a nurse started asking me questions. I yelled at the nurse, "I don't care. Just fix me!" I was taken to a room where a nurse checked my blood glucose with a meter. It couldn't register on the hospital meter; this means that my blood sugar was over 1,000 (normal is around 70-140). I then went to a different room to wait for an ambulance to transport me to a different hospital. In the ambulance, my lips and feet started turning blue because my temperature was dropping due to my organs starting to shut down. When I got to the second hospital, I was given insulin, fluids, and I was checked every hour. After a day in the ICU, I was moved to a regular hospital room. During this time entire time, I was going in and out of consciousness. Later, we were told that if I wouldn't have come to the hospital, I was a few hours from being in a coma.

From this moment on, my life changed forever. When I went home, it was like I was a brand new baby and my parents were first time parents who didn't know what they were doing. I am now a healthy 14 year old who loves to dance and who lives her life everyday with Type 1 Diabetes.

Even though I am still a normal person, just with a little difference from others, I experience stereotypes that come with this disease. One stereotype is that you have diabetes because you are fat. This is very untrue. While I am not the ideal weight for my age and height, my weight did not contribute to my diabetes. You can gain a little weight because of having Type 1 Diabetes due to the fact that insulin is a growth hormone, but it doesn't make you gain enough weight to be an issue.

The other stereotypes that I want to talk about are based on something someone once said to me. Someone told me that because I have Type 1 Diabetes, I am less important than others and that I would die sooner. This is untrue on so many levels. First of all, you are no less important in life than anyone else because you have this disease. You live every day with a deadly disease. There are so many people who could not do that, but you do. The second thing to address is that you "die sooner" because of the disease. You can actually live longer than someone without this disease if you take care of your body. There is no reason you can't live a long and rewarding life.

What all of this boils down to is to be determined, keep your head held high, and believe in yourself. This is a disease that can be managed. It also can impact your life in more than one way. I believe that I have become a better person since being diagnosed with diabetes. because one thing I have learned is to value life and every single day that you are able to live it. The following quotes sum up what I am trying to say:

"Believe you can, and you're halfway."

"You were given this life because you are strong enough to live it."

By Katie Ferguson

@karaeferg