Lori Rode

Lori grew up in the Pacific Northwest, interrupted by a brief stay on the Island of Guam. After studying cultural anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University, she returned to Portland, Oregon, where she worked for several retail stores and a few government agencies.

She has worked for the local transit agency for five years, as an ADA paratransit eligibility specialist. She says, “That means I spend a lot of time talking on the phone with people with disabilities, helping them find solutions to their transportation needs.”

She has been an avid walker, having finished two Portland Marathons as a walker and participated on Rainier-To-Pacific relay walking teams.

Even as a child, Lori knew that many of her relatives had diabetes type 2. “I expected to get diabetes in my lifetime,” she says, “but I didn’t expect to get it in my thirties.” She was thirty-three at diagnosis. Five years later, she met and married Dave, also a person with diabetes type 2. Currently her parents, all their siblings, and both surviving grandparents live with diabetes type 2. “We talk about diabetes a lot at family gatherings,” she reports, “and my grandmother is happy to encourage us on to insulin use.”

Lori spends her time knitting and listening to audiobooks. She has volunteered for the local animal shelter and for her church. She looks for the ideal exercise solution for her life, but hasn’t found it yet. She has a tendency to “eat like a vegan” as she says, and advocates vegetarian eating as another dietary option for people with diabetes.

She and Dave live with three cats and one dog. She admits that the household menu is “sometimes much discussed.” She blogs about knitting at Knit Decision and about diabetes at Very Old, Very Healthy Diabetic.