American Diabetes Association: Living with Diabetes

Living with Diabetes
Saturday, June 9, 2007
By: Tiffani Rosenbaum

Living with Diabetes

My name is Tiffani Rosenbaum and I have type 1 Diabetes. The year I turned 6 years old I was diagnosed with this disease. It was all new to me and my mom, and we didn't really know how to deal with it. I was scared for the first year because I had no idea how this was going to change my life. When I turned 13 I totally just stopped taking care of my Diabetes, I didn't realize the damage that it would soon do to my body, I was in the hospital at least 13 times that same year and was beginning to slowly loose control. I am now 14 and trying to regain the trust in myself, I don't think it would be this hard, now doing more shots, checking my blood twice as many times as I used to, and just trying to live again. I don't know why I decided to stop taking care of myself but I do know that it was one of the biggest mistakes I made in my life and I don't plan to make that same mistake twice. Now I am trying my best to get through high school with the highest grades and then get into college to someday became a pediatrician to help kids like me not make the same mistake that I did.