When young writers are just starting out, they are told to write what they know. I’m not as young as I once was, but I am a writer and have been a for more than 30 years. Most of the time I write about technology and its marketplaces. But I wouldn’t say I know a lot about that. Only what I must to do my job. Diabetes, however, is something I know more than a few things about.
I’ve been living with diabetes, fighting with it, and thriving with it for nearly 50 years. I’ve also raised a child with diabetes and walked alongside a diabetic niece. I’ve commiserated with a friend and a cousin who have diabetic children. I was diagnosed with diabetes when blood sugar was measured with urine tests and insulin pumps didn’t even exist on paper. But 30 years later I was at the center of the some of the most cutting-edge research when I received an islet cell transplant that allowed my body to produce its own insulin for six years.
“I was diagnosed with diabetes when blood sugar was measured with urine tests and insulin pumps didn’t even exist on paper.“
Linda Nelson
My experience with diabetes is deep and broad. My knowledge of what it is to live with this disease, as well as what it means to raise a child with it, is hard earned. So if writers are supposed to write about what they know, I guess it’s time I write about this. But I’m not here to educate on the science of the disease, or the research being done to conquer it, or the technology being developed to manage it. There are many qualified people doing that already and well.
I simply want to share what a T1D life looks like. What it feels like with all its highs and lows, both literally and figuratively. In my experience, it’s a disease most people know about but few truly know. I hope I can change that. And if I can offer some insight or support to anyone else living with diabetes or loves someone or simply knows someone living with it, that would be incredible.