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Each year living with T1D is an accomplishment. Do you celebrate your diabetes anniversary (diaversary) in a special way? Share with us in the comments!
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I don’t celebrate it, but I usually acknowledge it somewhere (twitter, instagram, places like that). It’s a day that changed my life. It deserves something.
I post it on Facebook. January was 53 years for me. I might as well brag about it! lol
Yes but not in a very long while. I have enough now for spares in case I need them. Insurance was very parsimonious in both transmitters and sensors. They don’t understand that we always need spares, just in case. And now several spares of sensors just in case because of shipping hassles..
No. But after 70 years being T1D I celebrate a lot and often. I told my wife once, “The worst possible thing that could happen to me (other than her dying) would be to die with a full bottle of champagne in the refrigerator.” l’horreur! (っ-̶●̃益●̶̃)っ ,︵‿
It has never occurred to me to celebrate my T1D Dx date. I do however celebrate life daily.
I don’t even know the date! It was 23 Dec 1969 (give or take a couple of days). Second worst Christmas ever (I did not go into hospital to be put onto insulin until 2 Jan). Worst Christmas was the following year when I was very severely hypo – almost could not be roused and fed barley-sugar, think I was hypo for the entire day. Just slept and was given sweet stuff, repeating through the day…. Ps emails still linking to the wrong questions …
It’s been 57 years – they don’t even have my records because nothing was online back then! I, however, can still picture the doctor’s office and remember the doctor’s name. Like others I focus on each day as something like a miracle and feel so lucky!
Being diagnosed with T1D is nothing to celebrate, even accepting the diagnosis is devastating. But this year and next is truly something to celebrate, and that is the 100th birthday of the discovery of insulin and the manufacturing of insulin. Happy 100th Birthday to Insulin!!!!!
My diaversary also happens to be my actual birthday. I was dxd on my 10th birthday in 1977. It’s hard to ignore it for me for that reason. I try to focus on all the things I have accomplished despite having T1. I look at how things have changed in treatment since my diagnosis and how I was told there would be a cure in 5 years – still waiting. My daughter was dxd at age 5, coincidentally only a couple days after my dx date. We don’t celebrate that.
Not celebrate more like obsess on what life’s been like with it.. woke up from a dka coma in a navy hospital at the age of 17. Diabetic training consisted of an orange and a syringe. He said practice stabbing the orange because your going to be doing it to your stomach for the rest of your life… if you start shaking eat the orange
I completed 75 years of Type 1 in Sept, 2020. I received my 75 year medal from the Joslin Diabetes Center. That was a celebration of sorts.
It looks like I accidentally answered yes to this question. I’m not sure how. I do all these questions from my phone. The true answer to if I celebrate my diaversary, is no, not specifically. I was officially dx’d the day before my birthday. So I celebrate my birthday and really just any day I am alive and able to love and be loved.
I have lived with the manifestations of T1D in my body for 59 years this year. No, I do not celebrate in any special way except to give thanks that I am alive and thriving after all these years. Life is a precious gift everyday and I do the best I can as a human being to maintain my health and well-being in order to practice and experience love, peace, joy, gratitude, compassion, generosity, harmony, equanimity, and balance with loving regard and respect for all of creation.
I’m not sure what the actual date is although it was sometime after my actual birthday in January. I remember taking my new bicycle out and pedaling weakly around the neighborhood trying to prove to myself there was nothing “wrong” with me! I will celebrate my 50th year next year and maybe I will treat myself to a trip. I have to say I am impressed and inspired by the milestones others have reached.
Wow, reading other comments, I was surprised to see Richard Vaughn with 75 years of T1D, and Stacey Rose who was diagnosed the same year as me, 1977. Congratulations to both, and all of you for moving on, and living your lives. NO, I do not celebrate my anniversary of having this disease that significantly changed my life, and not for the positive. I am proud that I hung in there and have lived this many years. I do celebrate my years of life on my Birthday.
I remember the date, 6/6/1970, but do not feel it’s a date to celebrate!
I received my diagnosis on my 40th birthday, but celebrate being diabetic — no — celebrate being alive — sure!
Forgot to add: I’m going to be 75. So far Ian that oxymoron, a healthy diabetic.
When my daughter was diagnosed, she was 6. That same year AG started making the doll diabetes supplies, so her first diaversary we got a doll that looked like her with a pump and insulin, and every year after that went to the AG store for something new for the doll. We stopped doing that a couple years ago at her request. We need a new way to celebrate now.
I was diagnosed with T1D in January 1965. In January of 2020 I installed and started using Control-IQ on my Tandem pump. That was my greatest celebration that I had ever had on my anniversary!!!
I always remember what date I was diagnosed and I note it every year. Yesterday was my 23rd year of being diagnosed at 22yrs old. I now have had more years with diabetes than not. I celebrate all the successes and hard work it has taken to arrive at this moment, healthy, having two healthy children, being a diabetes educator myself, and all the ways technology has changed for the better. I thank God for His abundant provision for me and my family. Here’s to another 23!
I note it but don’t celebrate, except I did for my 50th in August 2018… seemed like the occasion called for it.
Kind of like celebrating getting shot an surviving…I recognize my survival, but calibration is for good stuff.
Since my diaversary is July 4th (1966) I get to have fireworks and celebrate every year!
July 19, 1962; I was 11. This year will be 59 years! I started celebrating it in, I think, 1976 or 77. My therapist suggested that i could probably find something to celebrate related to having diabetes. On reflection, I did. (what, exactly, is a longer story) That year I did so by doing something I’d been told by a couple of Doctors I should probably not do: get my ears pierced. Yes, I was a passive aggressive twit back then. And yes,one got infected, but it healed. I think I used to be more creative about the celebrations. Events or treats of some kind. These days I am more likely to do something I enjoy, alone- a craft project or a long drive….but it is still an important time for reflection on all the good in my life. And the ways that the good things in my life may often come wrapped in unavoidable pain and struggle.
I usually make a mental note of my medical diagnosis date. I do intend to apply for the Joslin 50 year medal in July 2024. The day does, however, trigger vivid memories of my life just before diagnosis.
November 1962, when I was 10. I had never heard of diabetes, but I was glad to learn that there was an explanation for why I had been feeling so bad, and that there was something to do about it.. I had assumed that I was about to die.
Heck no. Living with this is a constant interruption to my life. I hate it. Why would I celebrate it?
It’s an interesting concept to celebrate making it through another year… but, my diagnosis events led to PTSD for me… so, while I think it could have value, I’m just not at a place where I can celebrate the years I’ve lived through with this albatross around my neck… it would bring back too many difficult memories.
Nope. Don’t really care to celebrate it but I am grateful there is treatment. And before I was diagnosed I had irritable bowel issues that went away when I started eating better and stopped drinking sodas. I prefer diabetes over that issue. I couldn’t go anywhere and eat anything out. There is always a positive side to an issue and I try to stay positive.
Why celebrate a death sentence? In 1950, a diagnosis if diabetes meant almost certain death within 10 years. It would be like celebrating the day in 1975 when I was diagnosed with cancer, or like the day in 1966 when the ophthalmologist confirmed my retinopathy. Instead, we, my family and community celebrate life with feasting, parade and fireworks.
I’m grateful for every day of life. I don’t know the exact date of my dx., sometime between March and April, 1955, during spring break from my 3rd grade classes. I celebrate by advocating for quality healthcare for all, by being a member of the Joslin 50 Year Medalist Study and by often acknowledging that I’ve lived with T1 D for 60+ years. This year I’ll celebrate by getting both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine while continuing to enjoy the gift of life.
No. But I remember the date: August 10th, 1954 was the day my world went upside down. I was 7 years and almost 4months old. Now, I’m 73 and have gone from testing my urine to having a CGM and a “clooed-loop” system pump!!! (artificial pancreas!!!) That’s what I call progress!!!
I do not celebrate. It does bring back bad memories. I also don’t remember the exact date but it was around my birthday in May 1961 and I might’ve actually been in the hospital on my birthday as I was there for about a week. I do pat myself on the back often for the fact that I am still doing reasonably well after all these years and look toward the future rather than the past.
Yes, usually just with a fun meal and a dessert.
When I was on MDI, I would do a needle free day on that day. I would try to not eat much, but after 2-3 years realized it just made me feel like crap, so stopped doing that & did not even acknowledge the date. A few years ago I found an in-person (now Zoom) support group and learned about diaversary celebration. I found out that I was due medals and certificates from various diabetic related companies and institutions (Lilly & Joslin), so I got those & it amazed me how good it felt to show off that I have been diabetic for so many years & survived with minimal complications. Now, I do just a day of gratitude for all I have & renew my commitment to changing daily habits to improve my control, adding one more specific small goal. I also reward myself with a diabetic specific “gift”, like a new pump belt, or stickers for CGM sensors, etc.
I’ve never ever celebrated my diabetes anniversary and i do remember that day very well. The thing that I would really love to celebrate is the day that I’m finally done with living with this dreaded disease. I truly hope and wish that that day may arrive some day soon 🙏🙏
No, I don’t, I was 13. Years old, I am 75 now. it has not been fun.
I don’t remember the exact date of my diagnosis, only that it happened in August (the month before I started first grade). My birthday’s in September, so it just carries a little extra weight. Birthday celebrations for me aren’t so much about having lived another year as they are about having survived another year.
We don’t celebrate the day that my son got Type 1 Diabetes with him, it was on St Patrick’s Day his favorite lucky day. He does not feel that it deserves a celebration. We plan to celebrate the day that somewhere in the World, they find a cure and he can be part of that. In the mean time, we try not to have Type 1 be the focus of his life, though it is all day every day and we know that it is heavy on his mind and thoughts, since diagnosed at 9, 2 years ago.
My daughter remembers that day she makes me a low carb dinner for me and thanks me for trying to take care of my self so we can do this again next year
I’ve never thought of celebrating but I might do that – I do feel a sense of accomplishment and feel proud of how I’ve handled the journey.
I do not celebrate living with diabetes, but I am ever so grateful for the headway that has been made since it’s cause’s discovery. Of all the conditions I have thyroid, then diabetes bothers my quality of life the least. I would keep them if I could get rid of at least one other. I remind myself of the most important thing I have: support of my family, LOVE.
I devote too many hours now to management of diabetes. LOL! I prefer to just leave acknowledgement of the diagnosis date in the past.
I typically buy myself a gift for my diaversary.