US Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. (Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty Images)
Judge Sotomayor represents another important role model for people living with diabetes. As a result of clinical advances and research progress, people with Type 1 diabetes can have full and successful lives. Role models show children with diabetes that they can achieve anything in life, even growing up to be Olympic Gold medal winners, Oscar-nominated actresses, ironman tri-athletes, leading business CEOs, and now Supreme Court nominees.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks the pancreas, making it unable to produce insulin and turn sugar into energy. Until research discovers a cure, people with Type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day. It isn’t an easy life – but every day, there are new examples that there are few, if any, limitations on what people with Type 1 diabetes can accomplish.
In fact, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 21 years old. But, that didn’t stop me from accomplishing the goals that I set for myself. Now, 23 years later, I am the mother of a wonderful young man on his way to college; I obtained bachelor, master and doctoral degrees; and, founded a Mokena, Illinois, based business. Yet, my thoughts are never far from the insulin pump that I must wear every day—or face certain death.
Ms. Sotomayor's nomination serves as another inspiration for the three million people in the U.S. with Type 1 diabetes—particularly children, who represent more than half of all new cases of Type 1 diabetes diagnosed each year.
Dr. Jean Norris
Board Secretary/Nominating Committee Chair
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Illinois
