A poem for Diabetes Awareness Month: In memory of our fallen T1 heroes

Editor’s note: Please know if you live with diabetes or parent a child with diabetes this poem may bring up difficult emotion for you. This past week, two young people with Type 1 diabetes perished. I was moved to write a poem after learning about their deaths that occurred just days apart from one other. My heart felt broken as I mourned for their lives lost. Putting these words onto paper was a way for me to express some of the grief I was feeling. Living with Type 1 diabetes, whether one knows the individual who passed away or not is irrelevant. When one is given an exit pass and leaves our shared community too soon, we all feel the ripples left in the pond. 

I did not restrict my writing in a way to protect the feelings of the reader, but rather allowed my heart to share openly the reality of a condition I have lived with for 25 years—Type 1 diabetes. It is my hope that this poem will create awareness about the risks living with Type 1 diabetes presents. Type 1 diabetes can quickly become a fatal disease and does not discriminate based on age, race, gender, condition of health, economic status, religion, national origin or sexual orientation. We desperately need a cure for Type 1 diabetes. It is my hope you will help us find one. Thank you for reading.

h.koppdelaney / Foter / CC BY-ND

In memory of our fallen T1 heroes

Two young people

with so much life left to live

lost their fight this week

From a serious condition

known as Type 1 diabetes

This makes me feel so sad

And desperately alone

When will we find a cure?

I want to know!

25 years it’s been for me,

Living with Type 1 diabetes

With news like this I ask myself,

Will I experience this same fateful tragedy?

When is it all enough–

The T1’s whose light goes out before us

This week alone

Jessica, a 21 year old passed,

went into cardiac arrest,

Her father also had diabetes

There also was a TV anchorman

by the name of Joel

Who in going to sleep for the night

Just trying to get a little rest

Experienced a pump tubing disconnect

And perished before morning’s light

The pain that this causes the D.O.C. and myself

Is hard to describe

Fear, grief and anger all come to mind

Their early passing just gives me a surer purpose

Of why we need a cure.

That is why I promise

With each step I take

to walk a path of advocacy and awareness

For our shared condition,

Diabetes

A message to the fallen ones:

Rest in peace dear souls

I am sorry your life was taken so soon–

cut short by Type 1 diabetes.

Insulin is mere life support

Ready to take another life soon

A little too much or too little

And we join the ranks with you

You were such a bright light of hope

A source of joy and love for many

Your loved ones are now left with weeping hearts

Missing their loved ones plenty

I will keep working hard for a cure

And not forget either of you

Or any of the others who come before or after you

walking the same path,

Light taken out too soon

I will be right here to catch the tears

And work even harder

on my mission for a cure

Type 1 diabetes needs to be a thing of the past

I will make darn sure of that!

Your passing only fuels me more.

Rest in peace friends.

Rest in peace.

We will find a cure.

We will find one

In memory of you.

Here are links to a few other poems I have written. To see more poems, scroll to bottom of page and look under category, "Poems."

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