On this episode I'm going to all him to introduce himself...his name is Omar!
Omar was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes only weeks before his 20th birthday.
O is from Bronx, NY. Coming up he admits that he didn't know much about his family history. He grew up relatively healthy as an athlete and played baseball, basketball and football regularly.
By sharing is story of living with diabetes he hopes to motivate other people to do better and achieve better or just get answers to questions they have.
Omar first noticed changes in his body during his first year college. Weird things were occurring such as him always being thirsty. He didn't know it was a sign of diabetes.
One day he tried to walk up a hill to his apartment building and began running out of breath and it was then that he told his mom that he thinks he need an ambulance.
He went to the doctor, and they told him he had diabetes.
His initial thought was how much he hated needles!
Early on during his journey with T1D he remembers going days without taking insulin because he was afraid of injecting insulin. After two years of diagnosis while in college during finals, he ended up in DKA and that's when he began making little changes.
Omar speaks openly about being educated limited to none upon diagnosis and not being shared the true ramifications of elevated blood sugars.
Growing up in underserved communities made the care received be minimized.
Omar talks about the inconvenience that is living with diabetes when you have to work and make it for yourself.
A few years ago, he started getting warnings of retinopathy. The signs started with his eyes flashing different colors. When eye doctors told him that he needed to see a retina specialist he ignored them, and questioned why they couldn't do the work since they were eye doctors. His eye doctor even told him he would go blind
One day he woke up around Thanksgiving and had lost his sight in his left eye. Only a month later around
Christmas it began happening to his other eye and it was then that Omar had to make arrangements to live with his sister.
Today. he tells people not to procrastinate even on minor things with diabetes because they will become major.
Omar has a uncle that is type 1 diabetic as well and although he wants to have more future children
he fears having a child that will have diabetes.
Omar speaks openly about complications with diabetes, relationships and also his stories of success. He even gifts me flowers during this episode.
Omar is someone the community definitely needs to know!
If you are a person living with T1D or care for someone that does use your experience to drive research that matters. The T1D Exchange Registry is a research study, designed to harness the power of individuals with type 1 diabetes. Join the registry by clicking my link
