University Park, Pa.- During a fun, jam-packed summer 2018 trip to Europe, current Nittany Lion junior Ava Verdeflor went through one of the biggest moments of her life. The week was planned for fun and spending time with her sister.
Yet it ended the complete opposite.
It started out first with her not feeling well. Knowing her family was sick with a small cold prior to her departure, she thought it was just that and nothing more.
"My diagnosis story is very different from the typical diagnosis story," Verdeflor said. "I was on vacation - it was just me and my sister - we went off to Europe and we were supposed to go through Madrid, Barcelona, Rome and Venice. I never made it to Rome. Before I left, I was starting to feel kind of sick. I just got home from college and a stomach bug went through my mom, my dad and my little brother. So, I was like, 'Oh, I just got the stomach bug that they had. I'll feel better by the end of it.'"
However, the pain continued to worsen. Verdeflor was brought to the hospital, where she was immediately admitted into the intensive care unit, and was greeted with a new discovery.
"It just got progressively worse to the point where I could barely walk and my stomach hurt so bad," Verdeflor said. "I felt super nauseous and very dizzy. As soon as I got into the hospital, they transferred me into the ICU and I was put in a medically-induced coma for three and a half to four days. With my blood sugar being so high, it was affecting my brain. I just remember being in the hotel and then suddenly I was tied down in a hospital bed. My first thought literally was, 'I'm being abducted by aliens.'"
Verdeflor was then transferred to the diabetics ward, where she was greeted by her mother with tubes and a ventilator attached to her after being awoken from her medically-induced coma. If the timing making it to the hospital was any later, Verdeflor might not have made it.
"Normal blood sugars are supposed to be in between 80 to 120," Verdeflor said. "That is where you want it to be. I was at 1,404. I almost died."
Verdeflor was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Since her diagnosis, and that scary experience, Verdeflor has not let her condition define her.
When first being diagnosed, Verdeflor thought she had to completely revamp her entire way of living — especially her diet. Although she had to be more cautious about some parts of her daily routine, her life did not have to do a complete 180.
"While I was there, I thought that I completely had to change my entire life," Verdeflor said. "I thought I couldn't eat carbs anymore, and no more sugar. The only difference between me as a type one diabetic and someone with a working pancreas is that I have to calculate and put in insulin myself as opposed to your pancreas, which does it for you."
As she eased herself into training, small adjustments, such as to how to go about practice, were implemented to make sure her blood sugar remains at a safe level.
"My phone has a Bluetooth monitor where it can tell me what my blood sugar is," Verdeflor said. "I have a blood sugar patch that I keep on hand, and I have to keep track of that. I have to make sure that my blood sugar is high enough before the start of practice. I have to monitor if it's going low during practice so that I can eat a snack or have something sugary to prevent it from going too low. It doesn't usually affect my practice too badly."
Although the journey has not been easy, Verdeflor says relying on her support system has helped her most through it all. By relying on them, she has seen an improvement in her health and well-being with the people she loves.
"My entire team texted me after my diagnosis, but it was hard for me to read things because my eyes were messed up and I was still recovering," Verdeflor said. "It meant a lot to me and then my coaches were super supportive. My athletic trainer, she's been working with me ever since the beginning.
"I have a huge support system here. It's my friends, my family, my coaches, my team. I joined the College Diabetes network here, the college diabetes club. I met some really cool people through that. This past summer I was a counselor at a diabetes camp, and that was life-changing because I'd never been around so many people with diabetes. It was nice being in the majority instead of the minority where I could talk to people they really understood what I was going through."
Through this whole experience, she has found a calling in life to become a diabetic educator for other people going through what she experienced. Verdeflor wants to bring awareness to the mental health side of diabetes, starting the conversation to let people know they are not alone.
"Depression and diabetes are closely linked, that's been proven," she said. "I want to make sure that it's not something that you don't talk about. It shouldn't be a taboo subject or something that you don't consider because my depression definitely influences my blood sugar sometimes or the way I deal with my diabetes. I feel like it's something that needs to be acknowledged, at least."
Verdeflor continues to show strength while overcoming challenges both on and off the mat. A poem that has helped reminds her to continue to grow, even when it's dark.
"'Sometimes when you're in a dark place/ You feel like you've been buried/ Perhaps you've been planted/ Bloom,'" Verdeflor said quoting the inspirational piece. "I love that saying. It's like don't think of the dark places in a negative way. You still have a chance to live."
