On a family camping outing at the age of three years old, I was diagnosed with type one diabetes. It was a tough transition at first and I had to start going to a lot more doctors appointments. Each month I would switch off between seeing my endocrinologist, Dr. Elisabeth Quinn, and my diabetes nurse, Susan Crowll. I always looked foward to seeing Susan more. She has always been positive with me and given me advice on how to live my life healthy and happily. Things were not easy and my parents and Dr. Quinn were always hard on me, criticising me on every choice I made. Susan was a diabetic herself and understood what I was going through, she never put the blame on me.

As I got older, my mom passed down the responsibilities of handling my diabetes to me. My next appointment was with Dr. Quinn, my sugars were not as good as they usually were. Dr. Quinn had wanted to punish me because if I kept up this behavior it would have grave effects on my health. She told my parents I should not be with my friends as much because I need to be with my mom for her to remind me. I was upset they were punishing me for something that other teenagers didn’t have to worry about. Since they had enraged me, I thought it would be best to get back at them, and stop checking my blood sugars at all.

The next appointment was with Susan; she had gotten a bad report from Dr. Quinn and had seen that my blood sugars had gotten even worse. When me, her, and my mom sat down and talked, she noticed the tension. To my surprise Susan asked my mom to leave the room and told me she wanted to talk. She explained to me that rebelling against my parents and Dr. Quinn was only hurting myself. She explained to me that although diabetes was tough to handle I was lucky enough to be able to still live a healthy, normal, and happy life if I just took care of myself. She explained the negative health consequences that could follow if I didn’t make diabetes my top priority, without trying to scare me. We made a deal together that I would try my hardest to remember all checks and dosages, for my benefit, and not to please anyone else.

I have known Susan for fourteen years now. She has gone beyond the expectations of a normal nurse. She has given me hope, motivation and her personal and professional advice. She has always been there for me if I ever felt discouraged, no matter what time of the night I called her. Susan has inspired me to try to become a nurse when I am older and help children the way she has helped me along the years.