If you are a diabetic and are considering going to camp or are going and nervous about it, I encourage you to GO! You will learn a lot and have a great time! Who knows, you might even want to go back next year.

Spending time with other kids who also have diabetes made me feel normal. It was amazing how many others shared my insecurities about being diabetic and who were also having the same control problems. I learned so much about how to manage my diabetes with diet, exercise and insulin. The tricks I learned at camp continue to help me to this day (almost 14 years later).

I had never heard of such a place, and the last thing on my summer wish list was to go to a camp in the middle of nowhere, full of kids I didn’t know, who all had this weird disease. But, no matter how much I begged, my parents were intent on making me go. Turns out that this was the beginning of the best time of my life.

It was the summer after 5th grade. My parents suggested that I go to a camp for kids with diabetes (that means they told me I was going) to learn more about my disease, how to control it and meet new friends. Yeah, right!

I remember turning 10, being diagnosed with something called diabetes and then being shipped off to some weird summer camp, I thought things couldn’t get worse!