American Diabetes Association: I fight to give those without a voice a chance to be heard...

I fight to give those without a voice a chance to be heard...
Saturday, January 6, 2007
By: Katherine Rosenkranz

I fight to give those without a voice a chance to be heard...

Diabetes changed my life in the way I live, who I am, who I am to become and the friends I have made... I use my diabetes as a way to educate those who don't understand and to encourage those with it. I have diabetes, but it does not have me...

I decide to fight diabetes for myself and all the friends I have made over the years with Diabetes and thank those who fight along side us without Diabetes. Diabetes makes us a part of a club. A club we didn't choose but who chose us. I fight for our cause because I don't want the next generation to have to. Would I change having diabetes? NO. I am me today because of it. I know all the wonderful friends from the ADA, Camp Lakota, Camp Marrakesh and Lions International because I have diabetes. Do I struggle every day with it, YES, but I was given diabetes for a reason. I am here today to help fight and save others from not knowing or caring. I can show young children that I have survived and so can they. Many say it is treatable, and yes it is, but that is no guarantee that someone with it for 2 weeks or 30 years won't still die from a complication. There is no rhyme or reason to who gets it and who doesn't. My family has no history of diabetes. I am the only one. I was diagnosed at 10, I am now 25. My dad died waiting for a heart transplant Easter Sunday 1990, when I was just 9 and because of all that stress the doctors said it pushed the onset, but I was destined to get it. Maybe it would've happened when I graduated high school, gotten my 1st broken heart or when my mom died Good Friday 2004, but it didn't, it happened 15 years ago and I've lived with it each day since. But every Aug. 24th I celebrate my diagnosis because I am here and have "knock on wood" not had any major problems. I try to live each day with the knowledge that someday, maybe during my life and maybe not, that a cure will be found. I decide that my diabetes is mine and only mine to take care of, but I have over 20 million out there that are connected to me by this cause- together we can make our voice be heard. I am grateful to have the ability to try and make a difference for those that come after me.

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