My hero is not like most heroes.  She doesn’t wear a cape, doesn’t have super powers, and doesn’t fly around the city fighting crime.  That doesn’t make her any less of a hero to me, though.

Her name is Sydney Herrmann. She was born on June 14th, 2000 and grew up an almost normal childhood.  She would go to the park, dress up as a fairy, and watch television shows such as Sesame Street and Dora.  

Once she reached the age 12, things weren’t as normal for her. She started feeling weird. Whenever she looked for answers, everything was okay. 

Her vision was blurry, but the eye doctor didn’t see anything wrong. She was drinking a lot of water and using the bathroom a lot, but it was the summer and our family was very active. 

Eventually, Sydney was put into a hospital, and got diagnosed with Type One Diabetes. Our whole family thought she was just sick, and didn’t know it would turn into a lifelong illness. 

Type One Diabetes is a disease that affects how the body uses glucose.  Glucose is a sugar that is the body’s main source of food.  It’s what gives you energy and helps you move.

 In Type One Diabetes, your pancreas can’t make insulin.  Insulin is what helps the glucose get into the body’s cells.  There is no cure yet for this disease, so she has to live with it everyday.

To deal with her Type One Diabetes, Sydney had to start giving herself shots of insulin before every meal.  She has to regularly check her blood sugar to know how much to dose for whatever food she is eating.

Every time she goes out, she carries a bag of snacks and emergency things just in case her blood sugar drops too much.  

Throughout all of this she was super brave.  When her whole world felt as if it was collapsing on her, she picked herself up and pushed through it.

She was faced with many challenges, but never let it get the best of her. She knew her life changed forever, and that it would never go back to the way it was.

Sydney persevered through it and didn’t let it get the best of her.  When many would give up on everything, she didn’t.  She worked hard in school, did extracurriculars, and always had on a smiling face.  

After she was diagnosed, she came back to her middle school and faced a lot of questions. Her classmates were wondering why she had a bag with snacks and why she had been missing for a week. Sydney knew that her classmates didn’t know diabetes like she did. 

Her classmates thought of it as cake, soda, and not taking care of yourself. While Sydney was scared, she didn’t let it stop her from being honest. She knew that they would find out eventually, and decided to tell her classmates on her own terms. 

Seventh grade health classes learn about diabetes along with other chronic illnesses. After the classes would take a day or two learning about the disease, she would come into class and talk about her experiences.