Submitted by Randy Lay

First let me thank Steve and Trish for allowing me to be a part of this fun event. Let me tell you my story.

I was about 7 years old when I started feeling lousy. That eventually led to a complete diabetic coma. My Grandpa carried me into the emergency room where I was diagnosed with diabetes. That was 1963. My earliest memory is sitting on my bed with my Dad and an orange. We had practiced giving the orange “shots” for an hour, then my Dad says, “Now I will show you how easy it is to give yourself a shot”. He tried, but was never able to pull it off. To this day I don’t know how I was able to put that needle into my leg by myself. Seems like forever ago.

I started with a combination of long and short acting insulin shots once a day. I treated my diabetes that way until I was married. Then I was able to go on an insulin pump. My first was a larger unit and since then I have had many different types of pumps. In the beginning I tested my blood sugar with the “pee” method. That would tell you what your blood sugar had been hours ago. Now, I am able to take a small drop of blood from my finger and get an immediate result.

I remember sugarless candy. It tasted bland to awful. Now you cannot tell the difference between sugarless and regular candy.

I look forward to the future for younger diabetics. I believe that in the near future this disease will take large steps toward treatment and perhaps prevention.

I am a 33 year old mother of 5 children, and I have the most supportive husband on the face of this planet.
I was diagnosed with diabetes 1 week before my 8th birthday. I was in the hospital for 1 week. Back then blood testing was putting your blood on a test strip, and then holding that strip up to the bottle to see which range your blood sugar closely looked like (80-120), (120-180), (180-200). Blood glucose testing meters back then cost as much as insulin pumps cost today. It is amazing how far the advances in diabetes technology have come. I now have a brother, nephew, cousin and a sister in law with type 1 diabetes. This disease has affected our family tremendously.

About 4 years ago I made the decision that I needed to go back to school and finish my education. My husband was (and still is) working a business from home at the time, so I went out and got a part time job at a hospital in order to provide insurance benefits for our family and especially for me. I would go to school full time during the day, and work part time in the evening, or vice-versa depending upon my school schedule.

Somewhere along the way I finally "woke up" and got onto the exercise train. I enrolled in gym classes on campus, and also exercised first thing in the morning. I am here to testify that when I exercise at least 4-5 times a week, I have better control of my diabetes. When I skip my exercise routine, my blood sugars are on a roller coaster ride. Over the past 2 years I have lost 30 lbs, and I feel great. My routine has quickly become 5:30 am-exercise, School from 7-4, work from 4-9 pm. This is basically a daily routine. This Friday (5-1-09) I will graduate from with my BA in Education. I can't tell you how excited I am to have accomplished this great goal. My kids are even more excited that they will have more time with their mom!

One year ago I was issued a challenge to run a 5K. My whole life I have hated running, but have immensely enjoyed speed walking. I took up the challenge and have been training since that time. Yesterday, (4-22-09), I ran my first 5K. I ran the entire way, and finished in 39 minutes. I now have made a new goal to run the next 5K in 30 minutes. This is something I never thought I would be able to accomplish. With the help of my trainer, and the control of my diabetes, I have been able to do this, and continue to increase and make new goals in my exercise routine.
Is type 1 diabetes hard? It absolutely is. I hate having the disease. However, I hate it even more when my blood sugars are on a roller coaster ride because I am not in control. That is why I do what I do, to stay in control. I want to see my kids grow, get married, and have kids. I want to see my grandkids. I want to grow old with my husband; I want to be able to take care of myself. I have to be in control to accomplish any of this, and that is why I do what I do.