As human beings, we all have stories to tell throughout our lifetimes. There are many beautiful moments in life and then there are moments in life that completely turn your world upside. One of those moments that completely turned my world upside was on May 9, 2009, the day I was diagnosed with type one diabetes.
My name is Kaitlin O'Grady and here is my diagnosis story:
About a month before I was turning 18, I began to notice physical changes in my body. I lost a drastic amount of weight in a short period of time. I initially attributed my weight loss to my nerves; I was not only graduating high school in a few months, but I also made the decision to move four hours away from home to attend college at Penn State University. At the time, I was also extremely focused on my cheerleading training because I was planning on trying out for the Penn State cheerleading team (Cheering for a division 1 football team was a goal I was determined to fulfill).
It wasn’t until I began feeling awful that I knew the rapid weight loss had to be caused by something more serious than my nerves. I was sluggish, overly exhausted, and got winded after partaking in normal everyday activities. My movements felt exaggerated and it was difficult for me to get out of bed every morning. I also could never seem to quench my thirst and I constantly had the urge to go to the bathroom (which I disregarded because I attributed my bathroom usage to drinking so much water). My gymnastic coach even began to have concerns when I could not complete a simple gymnastic maneuver and immediately alerted my mother that something was not right.
I am not one to complain about being ill or in pain, but I knew something was wrong. I told my mother, in very brief details, my symptoms and how lousy I was feeling. Due to my lack of complaining and the alert from my coach, she knew that this was serious and immediately took me to the pediatrician.
The doctor concluded the check-up with a diagnosis of asthma but wanted me to get blood work to rule out anything more serious. I left the doctor’s office with an inhaler and a glimmer of hope that the inhaler would make me feel better. Well… that glimmer of hope was quickly extinguished. A few days later my mother received an urgent phone call from the doctor informing her that something serious was in fact going on. The doctor stressed the importance of going to the emergency room as soon as possible.
I didn’t really understand the severity of the situation; I was only a teenager, getting ready for graduation and college. However, the moment I stepped through those hospital doors, my life, as I previously knew it, would be changed forever.
After living a healthy life for 18 years, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a disease I nor my parents knew anything about. Once the initial shock set in, the doctor was giving me a plentiful amount of knowledge about what I needed to do, when I need to do it, and how I needed to do it. I remember crying in the hospital bed thinking to myself why me? Why now? How am I going to take care of myself? What does this even mean? As the questions clouded my brain, I did come to facts that this was a part of me now and there was nothing I could do to make this go away. At the time, I knew this was going to be tremendously hard but what I didn’t realize was the extent of how much of a toll this would take on my mental state and the mental state of the loved ones surrounding me.
Fast forward 10+ years later – I am proud to say that I am living a healthy, bold life with type 1 diabetes. I never let diabetes stop me from pursuing my goal of becoming a division 1 cheerleader, graduating from college (with honors), and living a vivacious life. Despite my diagnosis, I have accomplished everything I set out to accomplish and will continue to do so!
Your diagnosis does not have to define who are you and who you become as a person but can be used to enhance your character and open doors to many beautiful new adventures.
xoxo Kaitlin