If asked what my plans for the future were a few years ago, I would not have been able to give a clear answer. Even though I had earned a very respectable GPA in high school, I was only able to make satisfactory grades for the lack of effort that I put into my first two years of study at West Virginia University. I can honestly say that I had no long term goals for my life. I was not motivated, depressed, and in denial that I was allowing Type 1 Diabetes to slowly end my life.

     I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was five years old. My parents were able to control my blood sugars until my junior year of high school. As a teen, I wanted nothing more than to be skinny, popular, and most importantly to feel normal. It didn’t take me long to realize that I could avoid gaining weight and still party with my friends by barely eating and taking just enough insulin to survive. I never heeded the warnings of my doctors nor the pleading from my family when my Hemoglobin A1c tests averaged as high as fourteen. I even resented the fact that my father was forcing me to attend counseling for eating disorders. Although I remained thin, I would spend most days in my dorm room because I lacked the energy to walk up the steep hill outside of the complex. I dreaded showering because every time a large clump of hair fell out and I noticed just how thin my hair was getting. I managed to maintain this lifestyle and hide my disease from just about everyone for over four years until my decisions finally caught up to me during an eye exam. The ophthalmologist discovered that I had developed retinopathy in a short amount of time and had made it clear that if I continued to neglect my health, I could be blind within ten years.

     As soon as I was done with my appointment, my boyfriend, now husband, and I started researching information regarding my condition. Neither of us fully understood how serious dieting, exercising, and proper blood glucose control really was until we had read several books about Type 1 Diabetes. Although my transformation did not occur overnight, I have never stopped finding ways to improve my health. I was still skeptical as to how all of the hard work that I was putting in was going to help reverse the damage that I had already done until I started getting results. Two years after that wake-up call at the ophthalmologist’s office, I have now completely reversed all of signs of retinopathy in my eyes, which rarely ever happens. My family doctor has routinely said that he has never once witnessed a Type 1 Diabetic patient with the level of blood sugar control that I now have. My hair began to grow back thicker and healthier, I suddenly had more energy to exercise and attend class, and I developed a strong motivation towards learning in school.
Soon after I started taking care of myself, I knew that I needed to turn my passion for a healthy lifestyle into a lifelong career in the dietetics profession. I have never experienced anything similar to the appetite for learning that I have in dietetics. I want to enter the dietetics profession because I believe there is no limit to the amount of knowledge a person can gain throughout his or her career. Not only will I be able to relate and help individuals struggling with health problems, I will also be able to continue gaining knowledge and experience that will benefit my own health.

     Besides soaking up as much knowledge as I can during my time in school, one of my short-term goals is to design a more nutritious menu option for a proposed dining facility on campus. During a prior fall semester, a fellow student and I performed surveys around the West Virginia University campus to understand if fellow students felt they were being offered enough nutritious options from the numerous dining facilities on campus. We have since been asked by a professor to partner with another student interested in this matter as well as the local Farmer’s Market to develop an affordable nutritious menu before c onstruction on the facility begins.

     One of my biggest weaknesses that I have been trying to improve on is public speaking. I have always felt more comfortable when interacting with smaller groups of individuals. I have been working to overcome this by sharing my experience with Type 1 Diabetes during class presentations and other group settings. I am currently developing more confidence in this area while progressing through my dietetic internship rotations. One of the rotations that I completed not long ago really opened up my eyes to children (and their families) who have developmental disabilities. I enjoyed interacting with the children and their families during Feeding and Swallowing Clinic with Monica Andis, MS, LD, RD along with the other Feeding Clinic team members at WVU's CED and it also gave me some knowledgeable experience. 

     I do not regret the decisions that led to my previous health condition because I know that these decisions have allowed me to gain experience that will help me relate to people who are struggling with health concerns. My journey has shaped my passion, devotion, and enthusiasm for the dietetic profession. Although I believe my personal life experience has allowed me to learn information that will benefit my career in the dietetics profession, I am looking forward to an internship in order to gain professional experience through interactions with knowledgeable professionals in this industry.