1 for the Cure

Hi! My name is Olivia Rose, I am 17 years old and I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age 4, Upcoming March I will have been diagnosed for 14 very long years. It is no lie, diabetes is a struggle and at the age I'm at, it feels even harder to get under control and manage. Now a days, I see all over TikTok how glorified illnesses have become and they are FAR from that. Ilness is challenging and humbling experience that no one should have go through. As we are delt the cards we are delt, we have no choice in having what we have. It has been a constant ride of struggle for the last couple of years and the feeling of defeat of has been more present as every time I go to the doctors office and my A1C has not improved. My unstable blood sugars for the last couple years has worried many of those who love me and I just keep telling them I will be okay but to be truthful, with the path I'm going with my blood sugars, I won't be okay. Its hard reality to face but its true. I've always been a very independent person growing up, since a kid, I would like always setting up my own appointments and doing projects in school by myself, and I thought that I could handle diabetes on my own too, but I can't. Throughout the years of arguing with my mom telling her I got it under control, My definition of under control was her texting me every 5 minutes to correct my blood sugars because they were constantly high. No matter how hard you try to convince yourself that you can get it under by yourself, you can't, it takes village and for years I've been pushing away my very caring and loving village because I want to have control and be seen as independent. It was hard to accept that help was there but I was just too high-headed to realize that accepting help doesn't make me any less brave or strong. Support, love and family is what has helped me be here today and I am so thankful to have them in my life. For a while I didn't take care of my blood sugar because a part of me resented my illness for the effects it had on my social life and that also caused me to not take an understanding of how important my health was. Sooner or later I realized that can't control what I was diagnosed with and my illness doesn't who I am. Those who are struggling and see no way out of this illness, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Just know, we are all in this together and this illness does not defy who we are and who we can be, We are more than our illness! Now a senior in high school and enrolled in New Visions Health along with my sister enrolled in Human Services New Visons, me and my sisters mission for this go fund me is to raise at least $500 to donate to the American Diabetes Association and to recognize the struggle families and diabetics have to go through on the daily. I just wanted to share my story and show the good and the bad and the real of it all and hopefully one day educate and inspire those on Type 1 diabetes. Donate and be 1 for the Cure!