World Diabetes Day
Hey guys, Jasmine here - your SU President! This year, one of my manifesto points is “supporting students with hidden disabilities”. One of the ways I will be doing this is by hosting a Diabetes Awareness Day event on 14th November in the Student Life Building Activities Space from 12 – 1:30. I will be sharing my diagnosis story and how being diabetic has affected my university life. Diabetes UK North will also be delivering a talk about what they do and one of their young leaders will also be speaking about their experience as a diabetic. There will be refreshments available, plenty of freebies, and some fun games and activities.
My Story
On a college trip to London, I was extremely thirsty. I bought 3 bottles of water and 3 bottles of doctor pepper and drank them all straight away. It was when we were heading to a show one evening that I had a full meltdown because I’d finished my water and thought I was going to die without it.
When I got home, I went to the doctors and after checking my blood sugar levels, it was confirmed that I had type 1 diabetes and that my blood sugar level was 35. To put that into context, a non-diabetic would usually sit at the 5-8 mark. I had lost so much weight and become so weak that I couldn’t even stand up with my bass guitar at a gig the night before my diagnosis. On the 10th December 2016 at the age of 17, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
The year that followed was one of many hospital visits and learning an overwhelming amount of information whilst also in my final A Level year. At the time, we weren’t sure if I would be able to go to uni. Luckily, through sheer hard work and determination I passed my exams and started university in 2018.
My time at university has not been an easy one. I originally started at LIPA but the 12 hour working days 7 days a week was a difficult thing for me to navigate and combining that with the lack of understanding from my lecturers, I ended up back in hospital with ketoacidosis, a side effect of blood sugar levels being too high for too long. I was constantly being told by lecturers and course peers that I was lazy for not coming in and that “I didn’t look ill”. All of this left me with no choice but to leave the university. My family wanted me to move home or at least go to a university closer to them but as you can tell, I’m far too stubborn and instead decided to enrol at LJMU.
I can honestly say that my experience at LJMU has been a much better one as I was regularly having meetings about my wellbeing, was supported with an individual student learning plan, and had lecturers that understood when I needed to take time out for whatever reason.
One side of diabetes people often forget about is the effects it can have on your mental health. In July 2022 I was diagnosed with anxiety, and it was all down to my diabetes. I was so scared of going into hypoglycemia and dying that I couldn’t bring myself to eat. In my head, I figured that if I didn’t eat, I wouldn’t have to take any insulin and then I couldn’t risk taking too much and having a hypo. This, of course, is completely wrong, but my anxiety made me believe it. I wouldn’t eat anywhere outside of my home and if I had no choice, I would get salad or something that I knew had zero carbohydrates in it. Its only in the last couple of months that I have started to eat properly again. I even ate in a café by myself a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t be prouder of how far I’ve come.
My experiences have encouraged me to speak out and use my position as JMSU president to support other students going through similar things. I’m here as an activist and I want to make a difference to the way diabetes is understood and supported within our university.
I’m hoping to set up a diabetes support group for those students with the condition and for those who have relatives/friends/partners they would like to support so please do get in touch with me if it’s something you’d be interested in.
