EXCLUSIVE VID: Brec Bassinger Shares Her Journey with Type 1 Diabetes

“You are not alone.”

At just eight years old, Brec Bassinger learned that she has diabetes, a disease that impacts how her body uses glucose, the body’s main source of fuel. After you eat, glucose from the food enters your bloodstream and your pancreas produces a hormone called insulin, which helps the glucose get to your cells and become energy. For people with Type 1 diabetes, their pancreas can’t produce insulin, which causes health problems. 

With November being National Diabetes Month, and today being World Diabetes Day, Brec is sharing the details behind her diagnosis. “My grandma, mom and I had taken a trip, so it was just the three of us together in a hotel room,” she explains.

“I wasn’t acting like myself, I was drinking so much water, and I’d lost a lot of weight very quickly. I was very moody, and that was very unlike me. My mom went online and everything pointed to Type 1 diabetes, so we went to the doctor and pretty much knew what the result was going to be.” Her mom’s prediction was correct, and Brec spent five days in the hospital. 

Over a decade later, Brec’s not only learned to manage her diabetes, she’s also become an advocate for spreading awareness and informing others about the disease.

Brec is an ambassador for JDRF, an organization that funds Type 1 diabetes research. “I think it’s really important to find a diabetes friend or community,” she says. “It really helps to know that other people are going through the same struggles and and thinking about diabetes like you are. I really like the mantra: You are not alone.” 

Watch Brec share her incredible story, in her own words, below: