Chasity’s journey with Type 1 Diabetes started when she was just eight years old. Her grandmother noticed that she was losing weight and going to the bathroom frequently, and that Chasity was always thirsty. It took a trip the emergency room with blood sugars high enough to lead to seizures or a coma for Chasity to finally get diagnosed.
Chasity had to make many adjustments as a kid, from transitioning to a strict diet to taking three shots of insulin daily and checking her blood sugar four times daily. She was supported by her family who also transitioned to eating every two hours to accommodate!
From the age of 18 to the age of 22, Chasity started to manage her diabetes a bit less closely, and actually ended up hospitalized for diabetic ketoacidosis several times. Diabetic ketoacidosis can lead to loss of consciousness and possibly even death if left untreated.
Chasity credits her insulin pump with her ability to better manager her diabetes today. Chasity says that her pump “has completely changed her life.”
Chasity shares, “The cool thing with the pump is I have a sensor plus my pump. My sensor reads my glucose levels throughout the day and tells my pump what it is and then I have settings in there based upon my body size and my carb ratio… so all of that helps fine tune and keep my numbers more steady which in the long run is just going to help me live a longer more fulfilling life.”
Unfortunately, just this past year, Chasity was experiencing blurred spots in her vision. It turns out that this was the result of six years of relatively uncontrolled diabetes prior to getting her insulin pump. She shared, “so pretty much for the last eight months I’ve had to go in get eye tests done every month. I’ve had five different eye injections done. I’ve had a laser treatment done so those are all effects of just having diabetes for 20 plus years and having a chunk of that not being healthy.”
Chasity’s Advice for Others
Chasity wants everyone to know that “I think just being honest with your feelings and thoughts about diabetes is a huge step but then realizing that the things I do to manage my diabetes are a small thing in the grand scheme of things for me to live life and be happy and to be as normal as possible.”
Chasity thanks her husband for his support! “I’ve been with my husband for seven years and he’s been a huge support. Both he and his family are fantastic and amazingly supportive. Their support is huge because diabetes is a 24-7 battle. There’s no down time. There’s no pushing the pause button to say hold on, I just want to take a moment to breathe.”
