Hi everyone! My name is Mary Heather and I’m a singer/songwriter living in Nashville, Tennessee. I also happen to be a Type One Diabetic. If you watched my Instagram takeover then you probably already know a little about my life, but I wanted to take some time to tell you more about me! Let me start off by saying I haven’t always had the relationship with my diabetes that I do now. In fact, if you told 16-year-old me that I would be taking over a diabetic Instagram account and talking to thousands of people about my life with diabetes I probably wouldn’t have believed you! I was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes in June of 1999, shortly after my 4th birthday. In the beginning, I was very open with others about my disease. I would show my friends how I tested my blood sugar and took shots, and I was always happy to answer any questions they had for me. I spent summers at Camp Sweeney and made all my friends jealous with stories of the best camp ever. My family and I were very involved in organizations like JDRF, and over the years we raised over 150,000 dollars for them through our family “Walk to Cure Diabetes” campaign. However, as I entered my teenage years things took a turn. I started to resent the extra attention diabetes often brought me. Comments from my peers began to make me feel embarrassed and ashamed. I found myself talking about my diabetes less and less. I didn’t want to test or take shots in front of people. Eventually, those bad habits progressed into never testing at all and hardly ever taking insulin. I basically pretended that I didn’t have diabetes. I reached an all-time low in my senior year of high school when I went through some pretty severe bullying from people I had considered to be my friends. I’ll never forget going to an endocrinologist appointment that year and being told that I would need to be admitted into the hospital immediately because my A1C was 14. My parents and doctor begged me to do better, and I knew I had to. I made up my mind that my health was the most important thing in my life and that I had to put it first. I started channeling my feelings of isolation and frustration into music and songwriting instead of self-destructive behaviors. It definitely was not an overnight change, but I was slowly but surely making progress. When I started using the Dexcom CGM in college, my control got even better and I was starting to feel even more like myself again. (It’s amazing how much not having constant high blood sugars will improve your mood haha). Flash forward to now-- I moved to Nashville back in January 2018 to pursue a career in songwriting and I absolutely love being here. I’m so thankful to have a job where I get to be creative every day and reach other people through my music. I have the best control I’ve had in years and I am in such a better place both mentally and with diabetes. I now embrace my diabetes and look at it as an important part of my story. Diabetes doesn’t define me, but it has played a huge role in shaping me into the person I am today. To anyone else who is struggling with managing diabetes, I hope my story might inspire you to take control of your health and know that it gets better. Stay strong!
Chasing your dreams with T1D in Nashville, Mary Heather Hickman shares her story.
