November is Diabetes Awareness Month and Nov. 14 is World Diabetes Day. According the American Diabetes Association, nearly half of all American adults have diabetes or prediabetes. Yet most do not understand the life-long burden of this chronic illness or the 24/7 work it takes to manage it.
Kelsey Stewart is a normal 14-year-old girl. She is on the pom squad at Lubbock Cooper High School and works hard in school. She also has Type 1 Diabetes.
Stewart was diagnosed with this chronic illness when she was only nine. She and her family had to find a new normal, one where counting carbs and testing blood sugar was a daily routine.
“It is very scary and after five and a half years I still get emotional,” Melissa Stewart, Kelsey’s Mother said. “It is nothing you want to see your child go through ever. I wish there was a cure for this disease. I know there is; we just need to find it.”
Throughout the month of November, the American Diabetes Association encourages everyone to take a stand by either becoming an advocate, sharing their stories about their battle or donating to the association to find a cure.
