I was 5 when I was diagnosed with diabetes. Being the only diabetic in my family, the learning curve was steep. With the help of an amazing medical team, my family figured out how to manage the around-the-clock demands of an auto-immune disease. We developed a tightly monitored system involving constant finger pokes, multiple check-ins with the school nurse each day, and carrying a JDRF backpack full of set change materials wherever we went.