I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes exactly three weeks after my 18th birthday. It was during my first week of college in a brand-new big city. During this time, I was trying to figure out ways to adjust to being an adult on my own for the first time. Adding on a chronic illness diagnosis was something that made this transition so much harder, as I was now having to adjust to two new major life changes. This had a huge impact on my self-esteem, mental health, and academic career.
My name is Tama and I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes 43 years ago. It was a month before my sweet 16th birthday, and my family was getting ready to go on a ski trip. I was fortunate to bypass the typical hospital visit, as many with type 1 experience, because once my symptoms started my mother was savvy enough to get me to our pediatrician quickly. They then sent us to an endocrinologist's office in San Diego where I was able to be put on the first trial of recombinant DNA human insulin.
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