Danica Uzelac

“I felt powerless when I was first diagnosed with diabetes. It was my mom’s birthday, September 14th, 2016. I remember a few months before that building up to my diagnosis I just felt terrible all the time. I was always thirsty and fatigued. Basically, it felt like after a sugar rush and then I was finally diagnosed and it just put everything into a realization that I have this disease that will never go away. I think that was the scariest part that made me feel very powerless because I knew that it would affect my life and even with all the technology that I had it wouldn’t go away and there was nothing I could do about it. That made me feel very weird. It was weird to think because I was nine when I was diagnosed and I remember when one of the first things I was afraid about was when I get married and have kids or when I start a job what will I do? I am in fourth grade now and if I have issues with my diabetes I was lucky at the time when I could take breaks. Even now I still have that luxury of being able to stop during tests and stuff but what if something happens to my kid or a big life event happens? I was always terrified that something scary would happen and at the same time, I would have to worry about my diabetes. That was the thing I was the most afraid of. When I was diagnosed, one of the things the doctors made me do was to go to therapy. I guess there were high rates of anxiety, suicide, and depression associated with diabetes. So I was lucky that I was able to accept my new reality as well as I did because I know some people have bad struggles with it. Especially because I was young I didn’t really know what to think about it. I had friends that were diagnosed when they were two or three and they kind of just grew up with it. I also had friends that were diagnosed when they were like 15, 16, or 17. I feel like when I was diagnosed, the ages 8-12, you are just in that area where you are just figuring out who you are and what you like. Then this big thing comes along and you’re just lost,” Jr. Anne Uzelac said.