Audrina is an active 8-year-old who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes the day after her 5th birthday.  She is an avid gymnast and has competed in multiple gymnastic competitions. At one of the most recent competitions, she started to feel ‘low’ before her first event even though Audrina and her mother try to do everything prior to meets to avoid this from happening. Audrina doesn’t like to have to stop to manage a low during gymnastics, because she wants to complete her routines and remain with her friends. She was able to bring her blood sugar up to a safe range and was able to finish the meet. Audrina was very focused and performed extremely well. And, in fact, she placed 1st place all around, 1st on floor, and 1st on vault!               

 

 

Audrina wins first place

Audrina’s family has overcome other challenges over the past three years with her diabetes. For example, sometimes diabetes can get in the way of Audrina feeling carefree. She also doesn’t like when diabetes interrupts sleepovers, sports, or school. Audrina’s mom says it has been an adjustment learning to live with diabetes. “The adjustment to diabetes was a lot at first, but I really think we’ve all wrapped our arms around learning it in order to support her the best we can.”


Audrina also loves to read and play with her brother and go outdoors. Audrina’s mom describes her daughter as “incredible, strong, kind and hard-working.” Audrina showed all of these traits during her gymnastics competition because she was able to step away for a moment to take care of her body and then able to give 100% to her events, which landed her on the first-place pedestal! Audrina’s family has also tried hard to keep a positive attitude and talk openly about Audrina’s diabetes – this highlights how type 1 diabetes in childhood is a family’s condition, not the child’s alone!