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!