Samantha Walsh
Samantha Walsh has lived with type 1 diabetes for over five years since 2017. After her T1D diagnosis, she was eager to give back to the diabetes community. She is the Community and Partner Manager for T1D Exchange and helps to manage the Online Community and recruit for the T1D Exchange Registry. Prior to T1D Exchange, Samantha fundraised at Joslin Diabetes Center. She graduated from the University of Massachusetts with a Bachelors degree in sociology and early childhood education.
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How many people in your family — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, siblings, spouse, etc. — live with type 2 diabetes? Share who in the comments! Cancel reply
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Out of 30 family members, 1 person has T2. My sibling.
No T2D at all, I am the only one with T1D and no gestational that I heard of. Lots of HCP’s in the family – and they kept beaucoup records.
Both grandparents, my uncle and my father recently diagnosed
Step dad
My maternal grandmother, my brother, my step dad
Just me, with type 1! But my married into family has 2. My wonderful mother in law and her sister
I answered 0, because my paternal grandmother had it, but is no longer living. She got no treatment, had terrible retinopathy that left her blind in 1 eye. She was on insulin at the end of her life.
The one person in my family that I know to have T2D is my mother-in-law, but I had a feeling the question was asking about immediate family.
I answered 2 though that’s not precisely accurate at the moment. I have a first cousin with Type 2 (that’s precise!) and my younger brother is “occasionally” Type 2 which depends on whether he keeps control of his weight. He’s been careful about his weight so he’s apparently diabetes-free, though perhaps it’s always lurking. He doesn’t want to end up having to change his life the way I did so he’s doing a better job of taking care of himself. I wish I had that choice!
My dad was diagnosed T2 but I have since wondered whether he might have been adult onset T1 like me.
I have no living relatives living with diabetes 2 I have numerous relatives who are deceased that I had t2d 5 relatives
An aunt, her mother-a great aunt, and two cousins. All of them are on my mother’s side of the family. None on my father’s side.
I am type 1 with insulin resistance, diagnosed 53 years of type 1. I am a type 1 with a type 2 symptom. This very common with type 1 diabetics. I think I inherited a gene from those relatives. When I gained weight in the late 1990s, it probably triggered the gene that made me insulin resistant. I use Metformin to control the resistance and insulin to control my type 1. Life goes on. 🙂
I remember my maternal grandmother saying that she had “diabetes” when she was very old. It must have been type 2 diabetes. My maternal grandfather had “diabetes” just before he died. He was a slim, active man. I’m guessing it was type 1 diabetes. But, I will never know. They both passed away many years ago. Otherwise, I am unaware of anyone with type 2 diabetes. I had a cousin, and her son who both had type 1 diabetes. They too are gone now.
Mr maternal uncle as well as my mother were both diagnosed with T2. They are no longer living, deaths not related to T2.
Mother, Father, youngest brother, 3 of my maternal Uncles, 1 maternal Aunt.
Both types run on my maternal side of the family.
5 or more. Four of five of my children (2 have PCOS) have Type 2 (so did husband). Mother’s side, of 16 children, I know of perhaps 5 who ended up with Type 2 (mother did not).
My Grandfather and my aunt had it. My Grandfather’s younger brother, my Great Uncle, was already in his 50s or 60s when I learned he had to take insulin. Not sure what age he was diagnosed at and they did not classify diabetes as Type 1 or 2 in 1964 as far as I remember. I had just turned 15. Two years later, I was diagnosed as a “juvenile diabetic”, which was the name back then.
I have two brothers and a paternal uncle with Type 2 diabetes.
Just hubs.
No relatives currently, but both of my grandmothers had type-2
Both grandmothers are now deceased
One 1st cousin and several overweight 2nd cousins and their overweight children with less than ideal eating habits and life style choices have been diagnosed with T2 diabetes.
Myself, my brother and my 2 sons. All T1ds.
So far, I’m the lucky one who has Diabetes for the last 55 years.
They are now deceased, but one grandparent on each side, and my mother did.
My paternal grandmother took insulin shots in her 50s. I am unsure if it was Type 1 or Type 2. My dad told me Type 2 since she was diagnosed later in life, but she took shots after diagnosis, so I’m unsure. My husband is recently diagnosed with typical Type 2.
I know of at least 3, my father, my uncle, and my cousin.