An Interview with Melissa-Marie Kauffman
Oct. 25, 2010
Corvallis, Ore. - Training Smarter, Not Harder: An Interview With Melissa-Marie Kauffman By Jessica Apple, The Sweet Life.
Melissa-Marie Kauffman is a third generation type 1 diabetic. In 1950, Melissa’s grandmother, a sixteen-year-old single mom, received a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. Thirty-nine years later her son, Melissa’s father, was diagnosed with type 1, too. He was forty-years-old. Melissa herself was diagnosed on Thanksgiving 2002 at the age of 13. She’d been very tired and thirsty for a week before her diagnosis. Knowing well the symptoms of diabetes, her father was immediately suspicious and wanted to check her blood sugar. Melissa refused. Denial was easy, until she felt so ill she was sleeping most of the time. When her father did finally check, Melissa’s blood sugar level was over 400.
Now, eight years later, not only is denial a thing of the past, Melissa is in fantastic shape and training for the New York City Marathon. A senior at Oregon State University, Melissa is running to raise money for The Barton Center for Diabetes Education, Inc., one of the largest, independent camping and educational programs in the country dedicated to children who live with diabetes and the people who care for them. I had the chance to ask Melissa some questions about her family, her work with The Barton Center, her marathon training, and her goals for the future.
To read the Q&A please click on this link.
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