029 - My Story
Nice to meet you, I’m David Kindness. I started type1wild to support companies and individuals in the health and medical space. This my story of living with diabetes, chronic illness, and doing my best to overcome life’s hurdles.
AS YOU MIGHT EXPECT, I was a normal kid: full of energy, choosing fun over responsibility, spending time with friends whenever I could, and (of course) eating anything and everything. It seemed like I had the metabolism of a small country at my disposal. I grew up in Washington State, and my best friend’s family lived on a lake not too far from my house. My friends and I would spend all the energy we had playing games in the yard, swimming & kayaking on the water, and pulling pranks on each other. When we finally tired ourselves out for the day, we would hang out on their big back porch, eat snacks, and tell jokes until we had to go home. It was a beautifully normal childhood - and I absolutely loved it.
THEN, WHEN I WAS 15 YEARS OLD, a “that’ll never happen to me” experience happened to me. Out of nowhere, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the same hospital that I was born in. And only six months later, another doctor looked at me compassionately and explained that I was also being diagnosed with had Celiac disease. Neither of these medical conditions would ever be cured. I can still remember crying with my mom in her yellow Volkswagen Bug on the side of the road as we drove home. I remember every aspect of that drive home. But while my brand new diagnoses pulled the rug out from under the life I had known, that isn't what affected me the most that day.
YOU SEE.. I’M A TWIN. And sixteen years earlier, when my parents (who I absolutely love), were trying to conceive my sister and I, they found themselves running into serious problems. After trying and failing for so long to have children, they worked with doctors to use in vitro fertilization - the process of fertilizing an egg outside of the mother's body, in a lab.. And it finally worked. Because of the nature of the pregnancy, and because my sister and I are twins, they also had to undergo a c-section instead of a normal birth.
WHY DOES THIS MATTER? Well, both in vitro fertilization and c-section births can result in a more dangerous pregnancy and birthing process for the mother, as well as an increased risk of birth defects and health conditions for the children. And some of these health conditions can be considered very serious. But if you were anything like I was at age 15, that knowledge was nowhere in your mind. I hadn’t given much thought to the scientific or health aspects of pregnancy or birth, either for myself or anyone else. And why would I? I was too focused on running around with my friends.
…SO BACK TO THAT CAR RIDE. Watching my incredible mom - one of the sweetest people on earth - cry in the car that day, after I received two life-altering diagnoses only six months apart, I realized something heartbreaking: she was blaming herself. That’s what affected me the most that day, and that’s what stands out in my mind all these years later. Through tears, she explained that it was her fault I had these medical conditions. She blamed herself for the challenging pregnancies, for being unable to conceive naturally, for in vitro fertilization, for the c-section. But how could it have been my parent’s fault?
MEDICAL CONDITIONS like diabetes, celiac disease, and many others often have much more far-reaching impacts than just a person’s blood sugars or a few numbers on a screen. These conditions also carry emotional impacts that affect entire families and support systems. They change people’s perceptions about themselves and about their loved ones. They create fears, apprehensions and anxieties that alter the courses of people’s lives.
DIABETES AND CELIAC DISEASE certainly altered the course of my life. But I’ve had diabetes and celiac disease (and peanut & pet allergies.. Yeah, it’s a lot) for more than 12 years now. And I can tell you that far from these conditions ruining my life, they have completely changed and improved the way I view my life. They’ve taught me that our lives - ALL of our lives - are precious, wonderful, adventurous, curious, and irreplaceable.. We only get to experience it once.
I BELIEVE WE SHOULD ALL DO WHAT OUR FUTURE SELVES WOULD WISH WE’D DONE. That’s a bit of a tongue-twister. To put it a little more simply: Do What You’ll Wish You’d Done. That’s my life motto. I believe that the lives we want for ourselves - the lives our future selves will be proud of - are out there for us, waiting to be discovered. For me, it’s photography. And maybe videography. Definitely travelling. And maybe a little public speaking? It could be a lot of things. But more than anything, my goal is to change the way the world perceives medical conditions. That’s what type1wild is for. That’s why it exists. That’s why I spend so much time staring at screens, editing photos and thinking about how to impact the way we perceive our medical conditions, and ourselves, and the world. My goal is to make my future self proud.. And hopefully to inspire you in the process.
WITH KINDNESS,
DAVID
