Diabetes Mellitus

Patient Narrative on Type 1 Diabetes: Sally

Diabetes affects both the patient and their entire family – including their plans for a future family!  Meet Sally McKinstry as she describes what living with Type I diabetes has been like since her diagnosis at the age of 16 y.o.

This patient interview with Sally was conducted by Lorraine Gilman & Dr. David Kojwang, BCIT Basic Health Sciences Dept. Licensed under All rights reserved

Sally describes the effects of “brittle diabetes” (i.e. difficult to control Type I diabetes due to the huge swings in blood sugar) on her body and her transplant which gave her a new view on life.

This patient interview with Sally was conducted by Lorraine Gilman & Dr. David Kojwang, BCIT Basic Health Sciences Dept. Licensed under All rights reserved.  Please note that the dialysis machines depicted are examples of machinery found in health care settings at the time of Sally’s need for peritoneal dialysis.

Meet Sally’s family as they describe how Sally’s diabetes influenced their lives.

These patient interviews with Bill and Katie were conducted by Dr. Jennifer Kong in 2022, BCIT Basic Health Sciences Dept. Licensed under All rights reserved

In 2019, Sally developed an aggressive cancer – unrelated to diabetes –  which she and her family lived with during the COVID lockdown.  Sally McKinstry died of this cancer in 2021.  The McKinstry family strives to continue telling her story for the benefit of those living with diabetes and those who care for them.

Bill McKinstry is speaking to 3 BCIT students who are listening and learning from him
Figure 7.8 Bill McKinstry shares his knowledge with BCIT students Adam Vuong (Medical Radiography), Sahib Pruthi (Bachelors of Nursing), and Madeline Angus (Medical Radiography)

Media Attributions

License

Icon for the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Pathology Copyright © 2022 by Jennifer Kong and Helen Dyck is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book