hey this is a speech i wrote for my school's speech contest.. i hope you like it! (yes, i will send it to him)
I Have It Too
Dear Mr. Jonas,
I have it too. And no, I don’t mean strikingly good looks or problems with my fans chasing after me. I have more in common with you than you might think if you took one look at me. I have type one diabetes; you have type one diabetes. Mr. Jonas, I have it too.
In April 2009, it all began. I was diagnosed with diabetes when my blood sugar was over four hundred. I knew so little about this disease and the only logical thing to do was to cry. But I wasn’t sad or scared. I was unsure and I didn’t know what was going to happen for the first time in my life. I only knew a handful of things about diabetes; most of them learned from you. I knew that your blood sugar was over seven hundred when you got diabetes and normal blood sugar is about one hundred. I knew about insulin pumps; you and the only other diabetic at my school both have one. I also knew that if you kept good care of your diabetes, you’d be fine and healthy. But how do you take good care of something like diabetes? I didn’t even know what diabetes was. It was only ten months ago and I didn’t know much. Looking back, I’ve come a long way.
As I was going to the hospital, I had a picture of you raising your hand when you announced that you, yourself, had diabetes in my pocket. That was two years before I was diagnosed, and little did I know that by the simple gesture of raising your hand, you became my hero, my mentor, my inspiration. The only glimmer of hope I had during my entire hospital stay was that you, Nick Jonas, had gone through what I was going through and you turned out pretty darn well. Mr. Jonas, thank you for having it too.
While I was staying at Children’s Hospital, all I wanted to do was leave and get home to my brother and dog. But once it was time for me to go and I knew all about diabetes and how to take care of myself, I didn’t want to go home. So what if I was returning to my own life? What was going to happen? In a way, I found my answer to these questions in you. When you were diagnosed with diabetes, you promised yourself that it would never slow you down. I then promised myself the exact same thing. This disease wasn’t gonna get the best of me; I would never let it do that. Diabetes will never slow me down, Mr. Jonas.
The next week brought me tears, confusion, and frustration. Did you ever feel like that? All I wanted was support, but no one knew what I was going through. I found myself becoming angry at my family and friends for making the littlest remarks such as “Ha, more sugar for me!” and “Hey, you’re not fat”. None of them seemed to understand exactly what I was going through, that I didn’t get diabetes because of my weight, and that humor was not the way to console me. I was shying away from the things that I normally loved because I was scared and to tell you the truth, I didn’t want to be living my own life. Looking back, all I wanted was you to come and save me from this and tell me that it was going to be alright. But fairytales and superheroes don’t exist, and you never came. I had to get through this on my own and knowing that you were out there somewhere in the world living with your diabetes helped me to get through those days when the only thing that would make me happy was a miracle and a Jonas Brother walking through my door.
Mr. Jonas, I don’t know you and chances are, I never will. I’ve developed a sense of reality that I’ve never had. Before this whole thing with diabetes started, I thought that nothing bad would ever happen to me and that I was going to marry a Jonas Brother or a werewolf. I wish I had a sense of reality before I this all happened because then it would be easier for me now. I never will know you, Mr. Jonas, but I feel like I do because you understand the one thing about me that so many others never will. I know that many other people with diabetes feel this way, too.
I’m not sure why, but I am going to call you Mr. Jonas instead of Nick because it seems unreal that you are going through exactly what I am going through.
On July 17th, last summer, I met you and your brothers at the world tour concert. It was exactly two months and twenty days after I was diagnosed and almost three years before that, I had met you and your brothers at my very first Jonas Brothers concert.
All I remember from that night is what you said to me. I don’t remember what I ate or even what I wore. Once you found out that I was a newly diagnosed diabetic, you gave me a long and inspirational speech. I remember most of it, but my favorite part was when you said “I’m going through what you’re going through, so we’re in this together. Just don’t let it slow you down. We can’t break our promises, can we?” You referred to the fact that we both promised ourselves that diabetes was never going to slow us down. That made my smiles a thousand times bigger and brighter than it was. To know that you are on my side means the world ten times over to me.
After the concert last summer, I went through a really rough patch. My blood sugars were beyond bad, I felt out of place, and I just didn’t know what to do. The only thing that kept me going was your song, A Little Bit Longer, which you wrote about your diabetes. Those times brought back my feelings that I wish I knew you, but once again my newfound sense of reality told me that I just had to keep living my life as if I had never gotten diabetes. Part of how I did that was by getting an insulin pump. By doing this, I got some of my life back. I don’t know how many life-changing and important decisions I’ve made, but this one tops the list. Diabetes wasn’t holding me back so much anymore.
On January 12th, you came to Boston on tour with your solo side project, Nick Jonas and the Administration. I was at the concert that night and it was the place I needed to be. This day defined my life as a diabetic. It hadn’t really hit me before: you have it too. This was the day that I accepted that I, Katherine, have diabetes. I realized that I needed to start living my life even though I have other things to manage and worry about. I realized that I was breaking my promise to myself and diabetes was slowing me down. But not anymore, Mr. Jonas.
At the Jonas Brothers concert this past summer, I knew that you and I both had diabetes in common, but it didn’t hit me that you, my idol and favorite Jonas Brother, have the exact same disease that I do. But at this concert, it actually occurred to me that you and I are one in the same. Suddenly everything that I had done seemed worth it for this, for the fact that I could now go out into the world and live my life without feeling like diabetes was dragging me down. And it’s all because of you, Mr. Jonas.
Looking back, ten months is a long time. Ten months is around three hundred and ten days, the life span of a typical goldfish, or how long it’s been since I got diabetes. It feels like a century to me. If ten months ago, I had never been diagnosed with diabetes, I would be a very different person. My life would not be the same and to tell you the truth, I’m thankful for diabetes, Mr. Jonas.
I guess what I’m trying to say is thank you. Thank you for going public with the fact that you have diabetes so that I have the courage to tell everyone that I, too, have diabetes. Thank you for inspiring me so that I may inspire others. Thank you for writing A Little Bit Longer so that I could get through the tough times before and ahead. Thank you for taking a few minutes out of your day to talk to me last July. Mr. Jonas, thanks for having it too. Having diabetes isn’t so bad because of you. Thank you for reading this letter and listening to what I have to say. Thank you for all that you do. Mr. Jonas, I have it too.
Yours truly, Katie I.