Throughout the years, I've met dozens of diabetics. We're all different. We each have our own stories to tell. Some of us were diagnosed at such a young age that we don't even remember what being "normal" is. Some of us made it into high school or college before receiving the diagnosis.

Some are well controlled and some are not. Some of us struggle with getting our numbers down, while others seem to wish it into place. Some follow every rule, some don't follow any.

Each of our stories and our unique personalities make us into the kind of diabetic that we are. Each of our bodies takes on a different role in our management from one person to the next. Each of us reacts differently to the world.

For me, I have taken my life into finding a purpose with this disease. I refuse to let it take over or be pushed behind everything else. I fight against this disease every day, from spreading awareness to managing my blood sugars.

Why do I take such a stand with my diabetes? For one, I'm a passionate and active person. Any issue that pulls on my heart is something that I take seriously. I've worked on Alzheimer's awareness, raised money for human trafficking survivors, and helped the homeless. That's just who I am. I like to make a change.

Secondly, my life has been diabetes related since before I can remember. I don't know what it's like to drink a regular soda and not worry about what my blood sugar will do. I don't remember not taking shots or wearing a pump. When your whole life has been consumed by a disease, you tend to fight hard to help others with the disease. And you tend to push for a cure so that someday you can drink a soda and not stress or go one day without insulin.

Third, I wasn't always the "diabetes advocate" that I am today. I've always had an interest and always done work with the field (like starting a diabetic club in my high school and participating in diabetes camps). But I wasn't as "on fire" as I am today. A year ago, that all changed. I got a call from a doctor saying that my kidneys might be in trouble.

When you live every day of your life in fear of complications of this disease, it becomes a reality that you can't ignore. After 15 years of diabetes, complications are always real to me, always probable. So fighting back now is one way that I can make it right in my life.

Plus, my own dad lives with this disease now. When someone you've loved all your life develops your disease, it puts a completely different spin on it all. It's not about you anymore. It's about your loved ones, your future, and your past. It's about everything in your life being affected by diabetes.

Everyone's reactions to diabetes will always be different. But I choose to react in a different way because of everything I've dealt with in the last 15 years of my life. I don't know a life without diabetes, so I choose to embrace it and let it take me somewhere that I wouldn't have gone without it. Diabetes is a part of my destiny.