Following my third episode of pancreatitis, doctors spotted a very large cyst on my pancreas. Further examination showed I was at high-risk for pancreatic cancer. On March 21, 2025, I underwent a total pancreatectomy. During the eight-hour surgery, doctors removed my pancreas, spleen, and gallbladder.
As a result, I immediately became a type 1 diabetic. I'm now wearing a continuous glucose monitor and insulin pump, plus taking digestive enzymes (Creon) before, during, and after each meal. Aside from carb counting, a CGM, insulin pump, and Creon...NOTHING has changed.
I was 21 years old when I was initially diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I had unknowingly been presenting symptoms for a few years: I was always thirsty, always tired, and needed the bathroom a lot. It never occurred to me or my parents that there was something serious going on.
I was long overdue for a physical in 2007, and the clinician found sugar in my urine and brought me in for a blood test. The night before I consumed an entire two-liter of pop, a fairly common thing for me at the time. When we tested my blood glucose the next day, it was over 600 mg/dL!
It has been a long road with diabetes since age 11. My pancreas was damaged when I was struck by a car in 1981, so doing the math, 43 years of being type 1. I have endured and learned to deal with diabetes for 16,191 days to date. So yes, I am experienced and still relatively healthy.
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 3 and now I am 17! I was the first of three to be diagnosed in my family. Growing up with diabetes there have been many struggles and amazing opportunities, such as the insulin pump and CGM. When I was 3 I was doing [insulin] shots and then they created the Animas pump. Now they don’t make Animas pumps and I have a CGM and Tandem pump and they are so helpful.
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