Category: General

For a while I have wanted to create a place where people with type 2 diabetes come together in a effort to help each other and share their experiences. This desire came after I realized we need to have a stronger presence in the Diabetes Online Community, and also because I have been inspired by other group efforts mostly targeted for the type 1 community. Then I read an article on the Sanofi blog “Discuss Diabetes” where Bob Fenton talks about people with type 2 diabetes being invisible in the DOC. We do not want to be invisible, we are here, we have something to say!

I only know a few type 2 diabetes bloggers, but I admire them and respect them immensely, and I knew I needed them to make this work. So I reached out to my good friends and fellow T2’s to ask them if they would be interested in having some sort of collaborative website. And here we are, still working on it and setting things up, but I wanted to make June 1, 2013 the date of the official launch of The Type 2 Experience, a collaboration blog where want to connect to other people with type 2 diabetes and discuss what life is really like living with this condition in order to demystify some of the information given by the media, because I personally feel it is our duty as diabetes advocates.

I am excited! My most sincere thanks to Mike, Kate, Bob, Lizmari, Sue and Rachel who have agreed to work on this project with me.

Two years ago, I had fallen on physical and emotional hard times. First my body failed me, unrelated to diabetes; then my marriage fell into the category of “irrevocably broken”. Somehow, I gathered the strength to join Team WILD, and it helped that Mari offered a small discount in return for a little publicity.

I met Mari that summer, as she also invited me to have dinner one evening with those attending Camp WILD that summer in the same city where I work, completely understanding the financial burden that going to camp would have been at that transitional point.

I came away from the 3-month program with a 20-lb weight loss and a significant gain in self-confidence. Over the past couple years, I managed to meet a handful of new people who boosted me up when I needed it the most, to lift me up where I am now. But the first one was Mari, and I am forever grateful.