This is the story of 2 sisters with 2 different approaches to managing diabetes. Let me introduce you to my sisters…Emma, my younger sister (on the left) and Kay, my older sister (on the right).

Kay’s Journey with Diabetes

Things to know about Kay’s Diabetic Journey…

1. As my mother (see the blog post, Living with Diabetes, for my mother’s story), she was headed down the same diabetic path of not taking care of herself.
2. Intuition led her to believe that she would not be a diabetic her entire life.
3. Enter an egotistical psychic that drew Kay in and manipulated her into believing she could cure herself of diabetes!
4. Desperate to beat the disease ANY WAY available to her, she became a very gullible, easy target.
5. Suffered irreparable damage to her health.
   • Neuropathy
   • Amputation below the knee of the left leg
   • Severe foot ulcers of the right leg that could have led to an amputation
   • Kidney failure
   • Vision problems
   • Gastroparesis issues
6. She is no longer in kidney failure and no longer diabetic.
7. She was a candidate for a pancreas transplant because of a kidney donation.
8. Alternative healing and as an active member of White Dove Circle of Light and Love, she continues to thrive while dealing with irreparable complications from many years of uncontrolled diabetes.

While I am an advocate of organ donation, I’m usually not one to randomly tell people that I donated my kidney to my sister. If it comes up in conversation, I do share but I never want it to seem self-serving. When you make the decision to donate a kidney, you have to give it without strings attached and no judgment. It is truly a gift!

It’s easy to judge my sister’s choices. However, I do understand her desperation to find a solution to being diabetic. But it saddens me that the payment could have been her life. Unfortunately, having diabetes affects every part of your being and everyone close to you.

Emma’s Journey with Diabetes

Things to know about Emma’s Diabetic Journey…

1. She’s a 40-year diabetic with no complications and considers herself very lucky.
2. She understood the importance of taking insulin and monitoring diabetes!
3. She currently wears a pod that scans with a device to check blood glucose level several times per day.
4. She adopted the motto “You control diabetes, Don’t let diabetes control you” which she modeled for her children that are both diabetics. (See my niece’s guest blog post, How I Learned to be My Own Health Advocate and Manage My Diabetes
5. Her thoughts…..It’s not an easy disease to live with; it’s a struggle every day to stay “regulated” and it can do so much silent damage that it’s a constant concern.

Yes, we all grew up in the same house. And there are only 29 months separating the firstborn from the last born! Yet, watching our mother deteriorate from diabetes clearly didn’t affect my sisters in the same way. And here you have 2 sisters, 2 different approaches to managing diabetes.

Has diabetes affected your family and friends? How are they dealing with it?