“After telling them all my symptoms, they put me on hold. When they picked back up, their voice seemed urgent. ‘Go to University Health Services as soon as they open in the morning. Don’t wait for an appointment. Don’t eat or drink anything for the rest of the night.”
‘People told me to get a second opinion because there was ‘no way’ I could be diabetic. I wasn’t ‘fat’ enough and I didn’t eat enough sugar, so the doctor HAD to be wrong.’
‘My son complained of pain in his abdomen. He was gray in color, his cheeks sunken in. When he started throwing up, I thought, ‘Maybe he ate something bad.’ I was in denial.’
“We had no family history of it. When we got the news, I was thinking we had some quack doctor in the middle of the desert trying to diagnose my son by smelling his breath. He added, ‘If you waited 3 hours, he would’ve died in the car.’ My heart broke into a million pieces.”
‘I couldn’t keep any food down. I had lost 25 pounds. Something serious was going on, I could feel it in my bones. And I was pregnant.’
“I remember saying to him that something must be brewing for us because our life had been too easy! The rest was a blur of grief and anger. I have a lifelong disease—one that will never be cured. One that was caused by IVF.”
‘My baby had undiagnosed Type 1 Diabetes. Her blood sugar level was in the 500s. How could she have died from a disease thousands of people manage? I could not comprehend.’
“When I got to the babysitter’s, she carried her to my car; my daughter was completely knocked out. In an offhanded way I asked if she was breathing, joking. Until I put my hand on her little chest and felt no movement.”
‘Alec was looking at a cost of $1,300 a month. He died because he was unable to afford insulin.’
“He was rationing the little bit of insulin he had left to last until pay day.”
‘I get it’: Woman with Type 1 diabetes encourages other diabetic moms with gripping newborn photo
“The key is to focus on the good. Remember, we are more than a number on a meter.”
‘I age faster than I should. He also had what’s called aplastic anemia’: Lovebirds with disabilities share ‘far from ordinary’ fairy tale romance
With having a moderate case of progeria and knowing I aged faster, I was terrified I would never find someone to love me for who I was.
