
This Teenager Wants You To Know What Diabetes Really Looks Like
This is Madeline Milzark, an 18-year-old from Missouri. She's had type 1 diabetes for almost 10 years now.
There are three main types of diabetes: type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. While both type 1 and type 2 are chronic conditions, type 1 is typically diagnosed in children, and type 2 is often diagnosed later in life. Gestational diabetes is a form of diabetes that occurs during pregnancy.
Last week Milzark wrote a Facebook post about what it's like to live with diabetes, and people have been sharing it across the globe.
"It's a disease that isn't picky when it chooses who to attack, it doesn't care if you're 2 months old or if you're 73. It doesn't care if you eat Big Macs and McChickens every day of your life or if you're a strict vegan who goes to the gym daily. Diabetes is me. Diabetes is a whole ton of people who fight for their life every single day and go to bed not sure if they're going to wake up the next morning. So before you tag your huge dessert #Diabetes, think about what #Diabetes really looks like".
Madeline says she's received hundreds of positive messages from the post, which has been shared over 5,000 times.
Facebook / Via facebook.com
She decided to write the post after her blood sugar crashed, resulting in her collapsing while home alone. It was sugar supplied by her grandmother that saved her life.
Madeline had her phone at the time and was able to text her grandmother, who brought her the sugar: "If she didn't there was no telling how long it would've taken her to find me and it would've probably been too late by then."
"I have to monitor my
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