Happy 16th birthday to our support forum!

[pjgtech]

Wow, 16 years! Its been a great resource ad support network for me, so thank you very, very much. 😎

 

[PhoebeC]

The forum's first member, in fact, joined a couple of weeks before the official launch I think @PhoebeC is probably the longest member of the forum still around, I think she also joined before the official launch 🙂 I joined on November 15th, which was the date I received my copy of Balance announcing the launch 🙂

I also joined due to balance.

As still a teenager and the internet not being anything like it is today, all books I could find in the libraries about type 2, and either a local t2 group or a group for t1 children I was completely on my own and felt in the dark. This forum has been my light and finding quality friends like @Northerner who is a complete legend of a man.

And meeting a few of you face to face. Amazing!

This forum has saved my life and sanity more times than I can count. I don’t think I could have survived my pregnancy without the knowledge and support in some of my darkest moments.

Happy 16th birthday to this wonderful community!

 

[eggyg]

Happy belated birthday to us.

I joined in November 2010, lost and weird. Diagnosed as Type 2 even though I’d had a distal pancreatectomy three years earlier. I knew nothing. My DSN said I was diabetic because I was overweight! Yes, I was, about half a stone! I wrote a post and I got replies from two members @martindt1606, who still posts occasionally, and @twinnie who I haven’t seen for many years. I cried, I wasn’t the only one. I’ve just looked back at my first post. 9th December 2010. It’s made me a bit emotional to be honest. I was so lost and lonely. I’m so, so grateful to this forum. I’ve met so many wonderful people of all flavours, Type 1, Type 2, Mody, and at last, another Type 3c @zippyjojo who actually lives just 20 miles away from me and we had the exact same operation! We’ve become good friends and meet up on occasion and WhatsApp each other. Everything I know has come from the wonderful people on this forum. Here’s to the next 16 years, and beyond.
PS when’s the Sweet Sixteen party?😛

 

[eggyg]

Just realised you’ve been with me through Mr Eggy’s five heart attacks, he’d already had one back in 2007 just before my op, my three daughters’ weddings and another five grandchildren, already had two who are coming up to 18! Countless holidays where you’ve all had to put up with 100s of photos. It really is just like one big happy family. I’m glad I don’t have to buy you all Christmas presents!

 

[Anna DUK]

@PhoebeC and @eggyg, you've both brought tears to my eyes this morning. Such touching memories and reflections on how it all began. It's great you are still part of this forum as regular users where you continue to share, and also support others. Thank you for your contributions!

 

[martindt1606]

Happy belated birthday to us.

I joined in November 2010, lost and weird. Diagnosed as Type 2 even though I’d had a distal pancreatectomy three years earlier. I knew nothing. My DSN said I was diabetic because I was overweight! Yes, I was, about half a stone! I wrote a post and I got replies from two members @martindt1606, who still posts occasionally, and @twinnie who I haven’t seen for many years. I cried, I wasn’t the only one. I’ve just looked back at my first post. 9th December 2010. It’s made me a bit emotional to be honest. I was so lost and lonely. I’m so, so grateful to this forum. I’ve met so many wonderful people of all flavours, Type 1, Type 2, Mody, and at last, another Type 3c @zippyjojo who actually lives just 20 miles away from me and we had the exact same operation! We’ve become good friends and meet up on occasion and WhatsApp each other. Everything I know has come from the wonderful people on this forum. Here’s to the next 16 years, and beyond.
PS when’s the Sweet Sixteen party?😛

Thanks for the shout out. Back in November 2010 I was still very much a naive novice at this game having had a Total Pancreatectomy in early May 2010. @Northerner played a big part in my education helping to fill the time (and my knowledge gaps) between clinic appointments with a diabetes team who had never encountered someone without a Pancreas. Shows the strength of this forum that all these years later we are still posting and supporting.

 

[nonethewiser]

The forum's first member, in fact, joined a couple of weeks before the official launch I think @PhoebeC is probably the longest member of the forum still around, I think she also joined before the official launch 🙂 I joined on November 15th, which was the date I received my copy of Balance announcing the launch 🙂

Liked John, thought he always spoke sense & had some good crack about him.

If not mistaken wasn't his parrot called Rosie?

 

[eggyg]

Thanks for the shout out. Back in November 2010 I was still very much a naive novice at this game having had a Total Pancreatectomy in early May 2010. @Northerner played a big part in my education helping to fill the time (and my knowledge gaps) between clinic appointments with a diabetes team who had never encountered someone without a Pancreas. Shows the strength of this forum that all these years later we are still posting and supporting.

Thanks for being the first to respond to my first post. I’ll never forget.

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Belated Birthday wishes to the Forum and more pertinently to all those who keep it working, keep it so supportive and keep it on a relaxed and even keel.

I'm still very grateful to @everydayupsanddowns for pointing out to me that there was this "third" Type of Diabetes and from that I realised just how complex and potentially confusing Diabetes can be. The Internet has come a long way in the last 16 years and we can find out more today than might have been possible then. But there is also so much misleading and blatantly wrong stuff out there that the Forum can, no DOES, play a huge part in helping newcomers receive a balanced and constructive perspective on how to manage their D.

@martindt1606, your comment about D teams in 2010 having never met someone without a Pancreas resonated with me in 2020 and just occasionally is still the case today. No doubt the finer processes of this Forum will have changed in the last 16 years; but with so many Newbies arriving here in the last couple of years confused and often frightened from the lack of information or support they hadn't received after their diagnosis there clearly is still a place for the Forum to fill the massive gaps, aided and underpinned by DUK.

So well done DUK and even more so well done and congratulations to those who quietly just make this work. THANK YOU..

 

[Northerner]

Liked John, thought he always spoke sense & had some good crack about him.

If not mistaken wasn't his parrot called Rosie?

Yes, that's right 🙂 I had some great conversations with John at Forum Meets, and he had a very interesting life - some great tales about Rosie and her antics