Celebrating 65 Years of Living & Changing With Type 1 Diabetes
- 4 hours ago
- 2 min read
When Peg Olsen was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age nine, managing the condition looked dramatically different than it does today.
Her mother had to boil Peg’s urine on the stove several times a day to estimate her glucose levels. Insulin was administered using reusable glass syringes.
There were no continuous glucose monitors, smartphone apps or automated insulin-delivery systems.
This month, Peg celebrated an extraordinary milestone: 65 years of living with type 1 diabetes and the UMass Diabetes Center of Excellence honored her by telling her story on their website.
During those six-and-a-half decades, she has watched diabetes care transform. Testing became faster and more accurate. Syringes became more convenient. Insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors created new ways to understand and manage glucose levels.
Peg managed her diabetes with injections and manual testing for more than 40 years before eventually deciding to try newer technology.
Her experience is an uplifting example of adaptability. She didn’t have to embrace every new device immediately. She learned, made decisions at her own pace and adjusted when she felt ready.
Peg’s story also offers valuable perspective for anyone feeling frustrated with the daily inconveniences of diabetes.
Managing diabetes is still work. But the tools available today would have seemed almost unimaginable to a family boiling urine on a stove in 1961.
Her 65-year “diaversary” is more than a personal milestone. It is a celebration of persistence, progress and a life that continued growing alongside the technology designed to support it.
