Like her parents and countless other relatives before her, Mary Ellen has type 2 diabetes.

"I was really struggling, trying to control my blood sugar. And no matter what I did, I still could not get it under control," says Mary Ellen. "I wanted to do everything that I could to try to help reduce the risk of developing long-term diabetes-related complications."

Mary Ellen worked with her healthcare team to design a personal diet. She also had to overcome her fears of insulin. They taught her that insulin injections were not like the horror stories she had heard growing up. In fact, she had picked up a lot of myths about diabetes from her relatives.

"First, managing diabetes is possible," she said. Advances in insulin injections made it less frightening for her than it had been for her relatives.

"I asked my doctor about insulin, and I was so happy that I did. Now, I am a person who happens to have diabetes. Diabetes doesn't have me!"