“You have something called type 1 diabetes,” was what the doctor told me at just 9 years old, 18 years ago. I thought, ‘oh I just don’t need to eat sugar?’ If only it was that easy - although that would be devasting for a kid who loves candy. I had no idea what challenges I was going to face for the rest of my life. or until a cure comes around. If I could have one wish it would be to go back to those first 9 years and eat anything I wanted without a worry – I can do that now too, I just need to spend 30 minutes prior doing math calculations.

My name is Mary, and I have had type 1 diabetes for 18 years. I am a full time content creator sharing my life with diabetes online to millions of people, and I also recently became a new mother to my baby boy Hudson.

I thought that once I figured out diabetes, as best as one could, that that was that and I could carry on. We go through so many different chapters of life as we age, and diabetes is always sitting right next to us, or should I say sitting right on me because it can feel like such a burden. It followed me from elementary school to graduation, starting new jobs, travelling and trying new foods, and more recently going through pregnancy and now raising my baby.

This most recent chapter of my life (being pregnant and raising my baby), has been the most challenging when it came to having diabetes. Specifically going through my pregnancy. It was the first time that having diabetes could affect somebody else, my son, and not just me – although there were plenty of risks there too, if only you could see the number of handbooks I was given.

I wasn’t somebody that liked being pregnant, I hated it. The anxiety I had in between every ultrasound was terrible. They told me to stay in between 3.5-7.8 for my glucose levels… that was hard enough for me to maintain without being pregnant. Anyways I could go on all day and night about what pregnancy and diabetes entails. This was the first chapter that truly showed me how important it is to lean on people around you for support with your diabetes.

Your support system when living with diabetes is so important. My biggest supporter for me when it comes to my diabetes is my partner Zach. He always took the time to learn the in’s and outs of diabetes before we were even planning for me to get pregnant, to then also learn everything with me throughout pregnancy. Not to mention continuing to support me in every way since he’s been born. He was running to get me a juice every time I started breast feeding because I immediately would go low - he’s had enough running practice after that to compete in a marathon.

I also had the best healthcare team I ever had throughout my pregnancy. I would call them almost weekly because that is how often things would change with my insulin needs throughout pregnancy. My doctor would say “once you figure out what finally works with your glucose levels, things are going to stop working again”.. the last thing a pregnant person wants to hear. Or I guess anyone in general.

And then there was my online diabetes community on my social media platforms. Being able to relate to and have people relate to me with diabetes makes everything feel just a little bit better and a little less lonely.

Diabetes is going to stick with us through every chapter of our lives. My best advice is finding a good support system who takes the time to help you in whatever way that may look like (that could simply be by bringing you a juice box or skipping out on pizza and eating a boring healthy meal after a day of high glucose levels), try to connect with other diabetes Warriors out there, learn about diabetes technology and what could make your management easier, and finding a healthcare team that you actually feel like is a good fit for you, it took me many to find the right one today.

Anyways I have to go and be a full-time pancreas again, goodbye!