Raising Awareness

Today I had the pleasure of speaking to over 700 middle school students about diabetes and my personal story.  Last year I was able to speak to the students, I was taken aback when I was asked to speak again this year.  As the first group came in I started to get very nervous, these were the new students at the middle school and had never heard me speak.  I quickly relaxed when a majority of the students raised their hands when asked if they knew anyone with diabetes.  It was amazing to me that all of the students sat very quietly as I spoke for a half hour.  I tried my best to tell my story and make it so they so could relate to what I went through.  Diabetes is a big part of my story but having people that believe in me and having a passion have gotten me to this spot.  I tried my best to emphasize that and that each student controls their future.

As the older students came for their assembly, my story quickly changed.  They got more details about the bad parts of my life.  After I spoke I was very happy to see that the students had questions.  A majority of the questions were about cycling but I was very happy when someone asked the famous why question.  That is the toughest question I can be asked and I don't have an answer for why I went so long without taking care of myself.  I was also happy to spend a few minutes with a student that wanted to talk one on one.  That student is why I speak, I could tell that what I said clearly helped this student.  That is an amazing moment, I so happy that this student came and spoke with me.

Today was amazing.  I had a blast and had a great time hanging out with all of the type 1 diabetics that go to the school.  They are amazing people and are doing a much better job then I ever did when I was at that age.