On this episode we get to travel with Tsega. Tsega has been living with T1D for 25 years and doesn't know a life without it.

Tsega is from both the Boston area and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Her mother is from near Philadelphia and her father from Ethiopia. She spent her early childhood in both places but would travel to visit and stay with her mom's family in the US.

Ahead of her 9th birthday she came to US for about 2 weeks and a week before she was supposed to go back home to Ethiopia, she was diagnosed with T1D. This was on her 9th birthday, in the US.

When she went back home to Ethiopia the care there was so much different. She had to learn to use the tools she left the US with, in Addis. This has helped her live her life.

For the first 3 years of her having diabetes her and her mom would travel from Ethiopia to Boston and stay for

two weeks to get her medical supplies and to see her specialists so that she could continue getting the best care.

Both of her parents are educators and tried their best to help her navigate the landscape of this diagnosis. After 6-7 months after diagnosis, she went to diabetes camp for the next 4 summers, and then she became a counselor there.

This helped her with her understanding and management of her diabetes. She learned early on that finding and connecting with community has helped her the most. By the time she was 14 or 15 she was fully self-managing.

Today Tsega has been living solely in the US for 20 years now but still goes home to visit. When she does visit today,

people often ask questions about her gadgets.

Tsega speaks frequently about the sacrifices that her mom made to make sure that she had the best care. Her and her mom also were extremely engaged in Ethiopia in trying to get community engagement going around diabetes.

Tsega truly grew up traveling with diabetes.

One thing that she noticed with diabetes is that in the States she was able to be more open and talk about her diabetes

but then when she went home to Ethiopia it was treated differently from others. She seemed pitied and because of that it was treated as taboo. Even after 25 years she still gets asked should or can she eat certain things.

As Tsega says, we are aware of our own condition subconsciously, but it is mental gymnastics because diabetes is really hard, and we should give ourselves grace and credit for keeping ourselves alive.

Follow Tsega on Instagram

@tmesh

@ride4t1d