A Diabetes Tale of Survival and Triumph

[Rachel A]

An amazing story! Susanne Francis recalls her life, from wartime Germany to California today

 

http://www.diabetesforecast.org/2014/05-may/a-diabetes-tale-of-survival.html

 

"I was born in Senftenberg, Germany, in 1931. When my parents got divorced, my mother and I moved to a small town to live with my grandparents. During World War II, all trade with neighboring food-producing countries ceased. For everybody, being chronically hungry and losing a lot of weight were common. I also had urinary frequency, and my grandmother, a very down-to-earth person, one day said to my mother, “I think the girl has sugar.” Two days before Christmas 1945, my grandma took me to our family physician and her “diagnosis” was confirmed. A serious problem was the fact that insulin was available only in limited amounts at the local hospital emergency room and intensive care unit. I was admitted to the hospital, put on a starvation diet, and given scant instructions on how to manage without insulin at home. There existed no local diabetes society or Diabetes Forecast that could have taught me how to properly care for myself and how to handle my food intake....