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Sean Phillips grew up in Starke,
Florida, just outside Gainesville. He's pictured here
(left) with his father, Richard (right) and grandfather,
Dr. Carlos Hernandez (middle), a retired family physician.
Sean was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on his 14th
birthday and was cared for by the team of pediatric
diabetologists at Shands Diabetes Center of Excellence
in Gainesville.
Sean is still at Shands, but now
he is a second year medical student in the College of
Medicine at University of Florida! Says his mother,
Maggie, "Sean's experiences as a teenager with Dr. Janet
Silverstein and the summer diabetes camps and his care
by Dr. Schatz and the pediatricians have greatly influenced
his choice of careers. We are so lucky to live near
and benefit from the great doctors and care at Shands!"
"I've always felt that
having Type I diabetes is like a night out at the movies,
believe it or not. There are the obvious similarities:
If you eat too much sweets or junk food, you are going
to make yourself very sick in a short amount of time,
and if you drink too much of a soda that is loaded down
with sugar, you will be running for the bathroom every
15 minutes or so (missing out on the good parts of the
movie or life in general, depending on which one you
are talking about!). Moderation is certainly something
that is very important in preventing those things from
happening. While you are watching the movie, you may
feel nervous, excited, bored, frustrated, sad, happy,
or scared; having diabetes has also caused me to experience
all of these emotions at one point or another in my
life, and in both cases, ALL of these feelings are perfectly
normal!"
"One important similarity
for me, though, is the fact that you are usually NOT
the only person at the theater, and it is important
to remember that if you are a person with diabetes you
are NOT the only one! You are not strange or different,
and you are certainly not alone. I've had diabetes for
almost ten years now, and I cannot think of one instance
in which the condition has kept me from achieving any
goal that I have pursued."
"In fact, I can actually
think of more ways that diabetes has helped me instead
of hindering me: I eat a healthier diet than I did before
being diagnosed, I exercise more often, and I take better
care of myself overall, just to name a few. My experience
with diabetes has taught me that it will change certain
aspects of your life but it will not change who you
are, and it will never lessen you in any way. There
are plenty of successful individuals in business, sports,
movies, etc. who also have diabetes, so remember that
diabetes should never keep you from living your life
and always striving to do your best."
-Sean Phillips
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