"Mom, how did you know I had diabetes?"

"Mom, how did you know I had diabetes?"

"OH Jenny, it was awful, you had no energy at all. You would just sit and be so very tired. You didn't even want to walk across the back yard to go play with the Perote girls. So we made an appointment for you to go to the doctor, and that day we had a huge snowstorm and I couldn't get the car out. So I called your Dad at work, and a lady working with him in the office told him "You go, you take her, something is wrong" and so he came home and took us to the doctor and then to the hospital."

"And you saw a difference once I came home?"

Smiles.."are you kidding? you never stopped! you ran all the way around the block to the front door of the Perote's house! You rode your bike, you played basketball, you had so much energy! I don't think you've stopped since!"

The picture above is me a few months before I was diagnosed. To say I was a chubby girl would not be a lie. :0) This is me a few months later, after being diagnosed and being put on insulin:

It wasn't a diet, it was simply fixing the body. Insulin is a hormone produced by the beta cells within the pancreas. When the beta cells detect that food has been eaten, the cells release insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin triggers the body's cells to allow glucose to enter them. The body's cells need insulin for energy. If glucose isn't helped by insulin, the body's cells starve and begin to break down fat to get energy. (ehow.com) My body stopped producing insulin, so it was starving my cells, and I had no energy. Once we manually put insulin back in my body, this system worked again, and I had energy.


Not every one's symptoms will be the same, but in general you will not feel your best if you have undiagnosed diabetes. Listen to your body. Mothers and Fathers, watch your children, notice drastic changes in both weight and energy levels. Go to the doctor and get tested.

I have never met that woman who worked in my Dad's office that told him to take me to the doctor in the snowstorm. But I am grateful to her for voicing her opinion that day, and to my parents for being observant.


The Centers for Disease Control report that diabetes is ranked as one of the leading chronic illnesses for younger children and teens. Approximately 151,000 children and youths 20 years of age and younger have the disease.


Be informed, be aware, and take action. Life is too short to take it for granted.