IOWA CITY, Iowa (KWQC) – November is National Diabetes Awareness month and University of Iowa soccer player and type one diabetic, Delaney Holtey is bringing awareness to the disease through a series of articles she wrote about her experiences with type one diabetes and offering advice to the next generation of type one diabetics.
“I think you should take pride in having it [type one diabetes],” Holtey said. “It’s something that you were given and you might as well make the most of it and make other people feel like they can too.”
According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, close to 1.45 million Americans have been diagnosed with type one diabetes.
“I was diagnosed at the age of seven,” Holtey said in an interview with TV6. “It was February 21 2011. Most of what I know, is what I’ve been told. I was very, very sick. I’d lost significant weight, just your typical signs that people should look out for.”
Now almost twelve years after being diagnosed, Delany is using her experiences with type one diabetes to help others who are impacted by the disease through a series of articles she wrote for Girls Soccer Network.
“I’ve had this little idea for a long time,” Holtey said. “And I kind of want to share. I want that seven year old little girl out there not sure what to do with herself, to be confident that she can move forward and be okay. There’s no reason for anyone to let diabetes control and limit them in life.”
Juggling diabetes and being a student athlete can be a lot, but Delany says she’s always held herself to a high standard when it comes to taking care of it all.
“I still demanded the same of myself when I got here [University of Iowa],” she said. “But just trying to figure out what system works for me here. That was probably the biggest transition into college athletics as a type one diabetic is trying to have everyone be on the same page. I don’t want to sit out of anything, because that impacts not only my performance, but I want to be there for my team performing for them too.”
Delaney had one more piece of advice that she wanted to offer outside of her articles that she wrote.
“So the days you want to quit, keep pushing through. It’ll be hard. There are hard days. Yesterday was one of those days for me. No one’s perfect, even if you want to be and, you know, just have some grace for yourself as well.”
If you’d like to read her articles and learn more about type one diabetes, click the link above or visit the link here: https://girlssoccernetwork.com/author/delaney-holtey/
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