Diabetes is one of the 10 leading diseases that cause death in the world. It is perceived by many to be a disease of the old but the reality is that diabetes affects people of all ages. Many people in the society especially teens and the youth are either rarely aware of the disease or not aware about it at all.

As one of the victims of diabetes, I found that one was my biggest challenge was to be understood by the people that I live with, most especially friends and classmates. Nobody knew how to deal with me and my recently diagnosed disease by that time. I got diabetic when I was 13 and just like others, I wasn’t aware of the disease at all, of course, apart from knowing that it was the disease that caused the death of my late aunt.

It was a hard time for me, my school and my family. When I was diagnosed, my blood sugar level was as high as 28. Even the nurse was astonished on how I was able to walk to the hospital with such a high blood sugar level, that she had to recheck again.

From there, the only thing in my mind was DEATH. I think this is something that every diabetic person fears when they get diagnosed. Especially when the only thing that you know about diabetes is that it got no cure!

Everything changed at the tip of my fingers. It only took a day at the hospital to know that my life would never be the same. Being admitted for the first time, being denied to eat a lot of foods that I loved, being injected all the time was among the hardest things in life.

Most teenagers in boarding schools were scared of reporting to the matrons when they felt ill but that was a different story for me. That really saved my life! I started experiencing changes that I felt were very unusual to happen to me. I had the urge to urinate frequently especially after drinking tea, I woke up to visit the washroom at night even 10 times, I had a hard time sleeping well, I got frequent muscle cramps especially at night and I always had excessive thirst. I even lost a lot of weight that it was noticeable to everyone. That’s when I thought something must be wrong and I was taken to the hospital.

My friends and family and the school matrons were very supportive of me, something that every newly diagnosed person needs from their closed ones. It gave me hope to get through that rough time.

 Although everyone who came to visit me looked at me in a sorrowful way, I was always cheerful. Life doesn’t end with diabetes. And I kept learning that every day as I adjusted my life one by one.

With the help of my specialist, Dr. Kaushik Ramaiya and my dietician, Mary, life become more easier for me. I was provided with councelling, I got.