(PROFILES
Daily Living
with Diabetes
Let diabetes motivate you
to make some changes: Get
involved, be active, and make a
difference in the lives of
others. See how diabetes
spurred these readers to
act. If you’d like to share your
story, we’d love to hear it. Look
below to see how you can be
featured in a future issue.
by SARAH E. SINCLAIR
❉Tell us your story. Are you successfully
managing your diabetes and feeling good
about life? Tell us! Send a letter to Better
Homes and Gardens® Diabetic Living®
magazine, LN 220, 1716 Locust Street, Des
Moines, IA 50309-3023. Or e-mail us at
mystory@diabeticlivingonline.com. You
might be featured in a future issue.
D iana McDonald, 42, fights
diabetes with a kick—
literally. This grandmother
from Lampasas, Texas,
holds a black belt in tae
kwon do and a red belt
in karate. And when she’s not
breaking bricks, she’s sitting on her
community’s diabetic coalition board,
serving as an assistant scoutmaster
for a Boy Scout troop, or running the
local women’s Republican club. With
700 hours of volunteer activities in
one year, Diana was recognized with
the President’s Volunteer Service
Award. She also runs a cleaning
business and teaches the youngest of
her five children at home.
After losing both grandmothers
to diabetes, then being diagnosed
with gestational diabetes at age 18,
Diana managed to stave off type 2
diabetes for a long time. “I was able
to control my numbers naturally
for nearly 25 years with hard work,”
she says. “When I began taking
medication, I was determined that my
life would not change.” Fortunately,
Diana was already eating healthfully
and exercising daily, so her lifestyle
changed very little. “I appreciate
every single day,” Diana says. “I
get up early and have coffee on
the porch because I know from my
grandmothers how short life can be.”
