In my family, we celebrate my diaversary—the day I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes—not because living with T1D is glamorous (spoiler: it’s not!). We’re definitely not celebrating my diagnosis as some type of victory lol! Instead, it’s a way to acknowledge and celebrate the hard work I put in every day to stay healthy. It’s a reminder that despite my diagnosis, I’m still living my best life! 

I was diagnosed on 11/08/2010 in the beginning of the sixth grade, my first year in middle school. The perfect time to get diagnosed with a glamorous disease that sets you apart from your judgy peers, right?? Luckily, I had nothing but supportive friends. I am 25 years old now, officially living more than half my life with T1D, memories of not carb-counting distant glimmers from a lifetime ago. 

But no point focusing on the past! Now, my family and I celebrate the fact that I can still have my cake and eat it too, thanks to insulin—we enjoy all my favorite foods and an ice cream cake as we reflect on that pivotal day and how it affected all of us. We look back at what I’ve achieved, the technological innovations that continue to make my life easier, and we give thanks that it is treatable.

To me, my diaversary is about celebrating the ability to live at all. Before the discovery of insulin in the 1920s, type 1 diabetes was a death sentence (yikes, but true). I get to live a normal life because I was born at the right time and can use life-saving insulin every moment of every day.

On my diaversary, I take time to reflect on everything that’s happened since my diagnosis. It comforts me to know that I’m doing my best to care for myself. And it gives my family time to  acknowledge the extra work I have to put in just to stay alive, while probably thanking God it wasn’t them lol. And I give thanks that it’s a treatable disease.

Do you guys celebrate your diaversary? If so, what do you do in recognition of all of your hard work??

Celebrating 14 years of thriving despite living with T1D