Sarah Howard
Sarah Howard has worked in the diabetes research field ever since she was diagnosed with T1D while in college in May 2013. Since then, she has worked for various diabetes organizations, focusing on research, advocacy, and community-building efforts for people with T1D and their loved ones. Sarah is currently the Senior Marketing Manager at T1D Exchange.
Related Stories
22 Comments
In honor of National Siblings Day, if you have T1D, did you also have a sibling growing up who had T1D? Tell us about what that was like in the comments! Cancel reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
No siblings, no aunts, no uncles, no cousins, no parents, no offspring have ever had T1D. And those people number 4 or 5 dozen. I am the sole lucky winner. Sigh! 💪( ͡❛ ‿ ͡❛҂)
My grandmother had T1D but none of her children, grandchildren or great grandchildren have had it except yours truly. My siblings were, however, the beneficiaries of a diet ruled by “Exchanges”.
I was the only sibling really “growing up”, but my youngest sister was diagnosed in her teens, when I was away at college. That was a long night! My whole family (we’re 2 of 4 kids) was pretty on top of the whole insulin thing, partly because our father was also on insulin as a T2D. I was very lucky to not be alone as a kid – even if I was the only kid in my town with T1D!
I had two out of three younger siblings with T1D, my dad also had it. It was the “normal” in our hour. Every one on the diabetes diet. In my house, my eldest of three sons has T1D and his daughter has it as well.
My younger sister has type 1 also. We didn’t know the other existed until 9 years ago.I was 7 and she was 9 at diagnosis. She is 12 years younger than I am. We both share the same sad.
I became a T1D at the age of 49 going through menopause (LADA). My brother was diagnosed with type 2 in the same year and is presently on insulin too. So we made it into later years, but we’re on the same insulins with MDI. I wear the Freestyle Libre which is so helpful for me living alone. He does not wear a CGM.
Three siblings. Each one of us has a different auto immune disease; type 1, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn’s and celiac disease.
I am (was) an identical twin. When my sister and I were 11yrs old, she developed T1D. I was told that because we were identical, I would develop it too. I became T1D when I was 16 yrs old (Nov. 1977). We took different paths in caring for ourselves. She didn’t follow health recommendations and I did. She passed away from complications in 2003, just before our 42nd birthday. To this day, I do not have any complications.
I am the only one of four children in my family to have T1D, but I have two of four children with it. My youngest two both have it and on their dad’s side of the family it is quite prevalent with one of his sisters, and several of his nieces and nephews also having it. .
My sister has the auto-antibodies but did not get type 1 diabetes.
N/A No sibling.
N/A , no siblings.
4 Brothers, all of whom have had some signs but never developed T1. One brother did have a T1 daughter.
Other- I have a sibling with T1, he is 6 years younger than I, so when he was diagnosed at 18 it was no longer our “growing up” years. (I had been diagnosed 13 years earlier).
I was dxd at 39 and my younger sister was dxd around 3 years ago at age 60 I think. I am now 67. We didn’t grow up together with it but are now both on TSlim and Dex. We talk about management quite a bit but live in different States so haven’t seen each other lately because of CoVid.
I was diagnosed Type 1 at age 19 with zero history of diabetes on either side of my family. I remember the doctor in the hospital being surprised there was no family history and saying, “Well, sometimes it just happens”. 25 years later my sister was diagnosed with Type 1 in her late 40s. So we definitely did not grow up with it together.
Both I and my beloved brother were diagnosed with t1d later in life
Sadly, he passed away from DKA 20 months ago.
Yes, my younger brother was diagnosed 10 years before I was. He never wanted anyone to know he had it & is still like that, I on the other hand could careless who know’s I am. It was nice to have someone to share the frustrations with, we still do, and “I guess what I did” who understands.
I was diagnosed at age 4 yrs, 7 mos. I knew T1 was a pain in the backside but I never realized that it was a terrible disease until one day, at 5:30 AM, eating breakfast with my Dad before school. I was 15+ years old & had T1 for 10 years. He told me that my youngest sister was diabetic & that my mother had been crying all night long. Dawned on me then that diabetes must be a really, really bad thing to have. I did not yet use the word, disease.
Thats a hard one to answer because my brother was diagnosed at 4 years old and i wasn’t diagnosed until I was 57 so, yes I had a brother with diabetes growing up, but I myself wasn’t until 4 years ago. I did however raise 2 T1D boys, both diagnosed very young.
My brother was diagnosed at age 32 and I was diagnosed at age 42. Although we didn’t grow up with T1D ourselves, our grandfather and great grandmother on our mother’s side of the family both had T1D. Believe me it was difficult to witness what they had to go through to manage their diabetes back in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
I’m the oldest of four and was the first person in my family (any generation) to be diagnosed with T1D — just before my 11th birthday and I was probably a day or two from death (DKA + cerebral edema). One of my little sisters was diagnosed almost 8 years later, also around age 11 but didn’t get nearly as sick because we knew what the signs were. My baby brother was diagnosed 9 years after that at age 16 and was totally fine at diagnosis other than drinking/peeing a lot — that was the only warning sign my mom needed to take him in, and we were able to check his blood sugar before going to the hospital and it was in the upper 200s I think. My 29-year-old sister seems to be in the clear, and I pray she stays that way!
I hate that 3 of us have T1D, but I’m so glad I was the first one to get it so I could be a resource for my younger siblings. And it’s a blessing that we all can understand what each other is going through.