Vista del Lago senior earns diabetes scholarship, spreads awareness

Vista del Lago High School senior Adelyn Gurley was awarded the Skin Grip Diabetes scholarship for the challenges she overcomes while living with Type I diabetes. According to bold.org, the Skin Grip Diabetes Scholarship is awarded to 25 high school seniors, undergraduates in a two- or four-year degree program, or graduate students with diabetes "who live fearlessly and fight to make the world a better place despite their diagnosis." Gurley was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at 8 months old. Type I diabetes means her pancreas does not make enough insulin to help blood sugar enter her cells. Blood sugar helps give people energy, so without insulin, blood sugar can't get into cells and builds up in the bloodstream, causing high blood sugar. Gurley said in her daily life, she eats breakfast, lunch and dinner and counts every carb. Then, she enters the amount of carbs into her insulin pump, which will give her the insulin she needs. "Every three days, I have to change my insulin cartridge and my site," she said. "My insulin cartridge is what holds the insulin in my pump and my site is the catheter tube that is in me 24/7. In addition to my pump entries and site changes, I also change my Continuous Glucose Monitor every 10 days." The Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) connects to her pump and her phone and shows her blood sugar. She checks it multiple times through the day to ensure her blood sugar isn't too high or low. For 17 years, Gurley and her family have been raising money to help find a cure for Type I diabetes. Soon after her diagnosis, her parents got involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a non-profit organization specializing in research and advocacy for Type I diabetes. More information can be found at https://www.jdrf.org/. "We have been volunteering and raising money for them ever since," Gurley said. In October 2006, Gurley and her family participated in their first Walk to Cure Diabetes event hosted by JDRF. Their walking team was called Grace's Gang. "Walk days have always been one of my favorite days of the year, my dad would make Grace's Gang T-shirts for our whole team to wear and we would fundraise every year for this big day," she said. Gurley said she has also spread awareness about Type I diabetes through speaking at a car auction, galas and at Vista del Lago. She will attend Samford University in Homewood, Alabama, this fall. Said Gurley, "My goal is to earn my bachelor's degree in Secondary Education to become a high school math teacher."