Episode 36: Crystal's Gonna Change the World

I had so many title changes for this episode but this one stick because today, Crystal is changing the world! Crystal's journey begins in Southern California. She was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes at 18, right before high school graduation. This new diagnosis of T1D changed her life and aided in her career path so that she could change what she saw in the health care system. Before her diagnosis her government teacher called her the bathroom girl because this class was right after lunch and she would always need to go to the bathroom, not knowing that she was living with T1D. Ahead of being diagnosed her mom thought that she might have had a form ED due to the number of times she used the bathroom after eating She played on the high school basketball team but couldn't hang with the team because she was feeling weak and tired. Finally, she went to the hospital after feeling so weak and her parents noticing the change in her body and paleness in her skin. There she was diagnosed with T1D and then would spend a few days in the ICU in DKA, When discharged from hospital she went to a pharmacy, and they told her that her insulin pens weren't covered. That moment told her that this was going to be a hard journey. Early on she mourned her old life and was really depressed and questioned the 'why's' of this new diagnosis. Crystal recalls that during her high school graduation party feeling sad having to leave to inject insulin. It was equally hard for her to tell her teachers she had diabetes and felt ashamed. In this conversation we speak greatly about the need for diversity in the diabetes spaces such as conferences. It's really isolating being 1 of 300 in an event. Crystal graduated college in 3 years from UC Davis with her BS in Global Disease Biology where she did research projects on T1d young adults. Recently she was accepted to Stanford U PA School and is the first person in her family to pursue medicine and go to grad school. In college she got involved with CDN (College Diabetes Network) and linked with CWD (Children With Diabetes) Being at conferences and meeting other diabetics gave her confidence and even helped in lowering her A1C 3 points Join T1D exchange to aide in T1D trials and clinical research moving forward with my link Mentions trialnet.org Subtle Asian diabetics CWD