Sharon Wattenberg

Brooklyn, New York

I lost at least 5 relatives due to diabetes related illness including my parents, my only sibling, a cousin, uncles, an aunt and grandparent. Their illnesses included dialysis, neuropathy, heart attacks, blindness and amputation just to name a few.

My father was the first to go at age 48 when I was just 16, my mother 20 years later and then finally my sister's loss left me devastated. The doctor was talking amputation at the time of her death at 52.

In 2004 at the age of 53 I was fast becoming another family statistic as I too was an (insulin dependent) diabetic on the path to terrible health. Fortunately, something clicked during that one visit at the cardiologist's office in August 2004.

Now, I have already outlived 3 of them. Life is good and way too short. I choose to live back then and not to die. I will do for me, what my family couldn't do for themselves. I'm still am and will always be a work in progress. And that is progress!