I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 15yrs old only months after watching my birth father die from diabetes complications. It started like many of the story's I've read about. I started getting really light headed & fainted in class 2Xs & was tsken via ambulance to the hospital but the Drs couldn't figure out what was wrong so they sent me home where the symptoms really started- I was extremely thirsty, sick & vomiting, had to pee alot & this went on for almost 2 weeks before my Mom called 911 and had the ambulance come get me again. Once at the hospital the Drs. Could see that there was something wrong with me because of the huge amount of weight I had lost in the 2 weeks since my last visit, I went from 150lbs to 118lbs so the Dr ordered blood work & thats when we found out I was diabetic. My blood sugar was 1175mg/dl & I slipped into a coma. When I awoke a week later I was hooked up to life support with multiple iv's, a ventilator & other equip. The worst part for me was the big lie I was told as a child growing up- that I could do & be anything I dreamed of, my biggest dream was to be a soldier in the marine corps, that was no longer possible! And because I had just watched my Dad die from this disease at the age of 35 I thought the same was going to happen to me so I didn't take care of my self, in fact I was self destructing. I'm now 36yrs old with many diabetes complications & my future looks bleak at best. This horrible disease has destroyed my life.

Michael Joseph Godles
Little Compton, RI