My History

Happy, go lucky, cheerleader for years began losing weight at age 11, which I didn't have to lose.  In June, 1999 I was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes (type 1 diabetes) and told I would forever have to depend on some form of insulin, either by shot or insulin pump- which is inserted with a needle every three days. For those of you that don't know me, having to take a shot or be given a shot was about as bad as having my arm shot off- at least that's the way I acted then. I spent a week in the Scottish Rite Hospital in Atlanta learning how to eat, when to eat, how to administer my own shots, and where to go from there.  For a year, doctors closely monitored every bite of food I put in my mouth and all my blood sugar readings. I proved to be responsible enough that I was approved to get an insulin pump. What a blessing it was and still is! (An insulin pump is basically an external pancreas that, along with my doctors help, I am able to control the amount of insulin my body receives). Although I had blood sugar drops and spikes still, I did not let this stop me from being happy and keeping my head high. I continued to cheer on two different squads at one point and kept going strong.
Like any auto-immune disease, sickness gets you down longer and faster.  I suffered from serious migraines frequently, stomach viruses often, fluctuating weight gain and loss, and many days I felt completely exhausted. After discussing these issues with my doctor and various blood test I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism around age 18- a second auto-immune disease. Luckily, this can be controlled with routinely taking a pill, getting blood work done, and close monitoring from the doctors. Unfortunately, I wasn't the best at keeping up with my medicine so my hair would fall out by handfuls, headaches continued, exhaustion kept creeping up when I needed energy most, and overall feeling well was hit or miss.
I completed college and graduated with my bachelor's degree in early childhood education in May 2011 and married my best friend in July 2011- which deployed to Afghanistan five days later for his forth deployment.  Once my marine returned to the states, I moved all our things from Georgia to North Carolina to begin our lives together. While missing my family and friends daily was a struggle, I enjoyed establishing our marriage, working together, and learning who I was even more...including taking the time to take better care of myself and my husband that also suffers from many war related issues.
Thankful for the move, I finally found a great group of doctors that worked well with me to get my diabetes and thyroid disorder under control and I began feeling better than ever, with the exception of the occasional high blood pressure, which was a new an unexplained issue.
Toward the end of 2012 I began suffering from those wonderful migraines again but way worse than before and exhaustion to the point of not being able to get out of bed for an entire day. In March 2013 I was enjoying a chilly day on the beach with my love and noticed my left foot swelling. For people with diabetes, this can be dangerous. After about a week of the swelling not going down my husband took me to the naval hospital to have it looked at.  There, my blood pressure reaches 198/145 and I was spilling so much protein in my urine that it wouldn't even read on the medical charts. I was released from the hospital after they regulated the BP and was given an inhaler and steroid pack for pneumonia. A few days later I continually woke up every few minutes gasping for air and feeling purely awful with no explanation other than having pneumonia. This completely freaked my husband out to the point he immediately called my doctor and took me to the hospital out in town. I spent a week in the hospital having tons of blood drawn and a kidney biopsy before being release, still with no explanation of what was wrong with me.  In April I got a call from my doctor with the news that I had stage 4 lupus nephritis, the third auto-immune disease. To me this meant a slow painful death from what I had recently heard. I was so upset I could only hand the phone to my husband and walk away. This was the start of our lives changing forever, and I wasn't sure I was ready for this kind of change...or ever would be ready for that matter!