When Sarah was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after losing her husband to heart complications from the same condition, she vowed to fight back.

Although many people travel for rest and relaxation, Sarah Bryant prefers a bit more adventure.

During a recent visit to Arizona, she ran a 5K obstacle course, which required her to climb over a wall just to get to the starting line. And while vacationing in Bali, she hiked up the side of a volcano. Both were experiences the Sarah from six years ago wouldn’t have imagined possible.

The excursions were organized by a widow’s group Sarah joined after her husband’s death in 2014.

“It’s helped me to be with people who totally understand what I’m going through,” she said.

Sarah had only been married three years when her husband had a stroke and became wheelchair bound—a result of his uncontrolled type 2 diabetes. He ultimately passed from heart issues, which is the leading cause of death for people with type 2 diabetes.

Since her mother and brother also had type 2 diabetes, Sarah was intimately familiar with the disease when she was diagnosed in 2019, after suffering severe fatigue that no amount of sleep would alleviate. While the news was like a punch in the gut, she quickly rebounded.

“I knew I was going to beat this,’” she said. “It was time to take action.”

Vowing to change her lifestyle before turning to medication, Sarah enrolled in a diabetes education class, but quickly determined the coordinator’s recommendations didn’t go far enough for her. Sarah did her own research and put together a plan.

After trying a low-carb keto diet, she adopted a whole-food, plant-based, no-oil way of eating that avoids processed foods. She experiments with whole grains like farro and protein-rich legumes, such as mung beans. In place of white sugar, she makes her own date paste from scratch.

“She’s a walking billboard of what you can do if you put your mind to it,” co-worker and close friend, Janell Bannister, said. “She shares her knowledge, and I love that about her.”

Exercise also plays a key role. Sarah had already begun strength training with a group, and she became even more focused after her type 2 diabetes diagnosis, walking two to three miles on her non-gym days and boxing on a heavy bag. When the weather doesn’t cooperate, she hops on her treadmill, which has several different programs to keep things interesting. And she jumps on a mini trampoline every morning.

“It gets everything moving and helps you start the day,” she said. “I created a lifestyle for myself that I really enjoy.”

The changes paid off. In the past, Sarah struggled with her weight, gaining and losing the same ten pounds in a seemingly never-ending cycle. Since changing her lifestyle, however, she has lost and kept off 50 pounds in less than a year. As a result, she’s the smallest she’s ever been—and she feels better than ever, too.

Sarah’s blood glucose improved almost immediately, eliminating the need for medication. And her acid reflux, which caused a severe burning sensation in her chest and throat cleared up.

“I feel good when I wake up in the mornings, I don’t get fatigued throughout the day and I seem to have a lot more energy,” she said. “I didn’t realize that I wasn’t feeling great until I started feeling great.”

According to Sarah, her biggest teacher has been her late husband, Joseph, a stark example of what can happen when people don’t take diabetes seriously. Taking care of him, she said, was hard, and she doesn’t want her family and friends to ever be burdened with caring for her.

Those long days working full-time, commuting an hour and a half each way, and caring for her husband were the hardest days of her life, she says. To motivate herself then and now, she references her favorite quote: You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.

As for her health progress, Sarah says she’s amazed at herself and proud for sticking with it.

“Diet and exercise are the greatest weapons you have to fight diabetes and there’s a whole arsenal out there.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic quashed Sarah’s plans to visit South Africa this year, she’s making plans to visit Senegal, Africa in 2021.

“We have a habit of putting limits on ourselves,” she said. “We need to push beyond them.”

Lupe has overcome uncertainty with restored confidence, removing barriers that kept her from managing her type 2 diabetes to claim her second chance at the life of her dreams.

A self-described “weirdo” who loves analyzing datasets and solving mind-bending puzzles, Lupe Barraza wears many hats. She’s a busy CPA for a large health care organization, a PhD student and a mother of six children, three of whom are still at home.

She’s also an avid runner, jogging 100 miles per month for health, fitness and stress relief.

“It makes me feel good and keeps me sane,” she said. “I’ve been down quite a road, and this is my time.”

Fitness hasn’t always been her story, but it’s a major key to her comeback.

We teamed up with Inside Edition to share Lupe’s story.

#Type2Take2 #sponsored

First married at 18, Lupe went on to have four children in quick succession. Slowly her weight crept up and her doctor told her she had prediabetes. It was tough to hear, but not a surprise. Her father and all but one of his 12 siblings had battled diabetes and suffered amputations, strokes, heart disease and chronic kidney disease as a result.

“He’s one of two survivors,” Lupe said. “I’ve seen so many of my aunts and uncles go in for amputations and it shocks their system so much that they don’t make it.”

In an effort to get healthy, Lupe started running, which helped get her numbers under control. She ran 10 marathons and two ultramarathons. At the same time, she transitioned from a stay-at-home mom to a full-time college student, earning both bachelor’s and master’s degrees—and passing the CPA—in three years.

In the process, Lupe’s marriage fell apart, and the couple divorced. Less than a year later, she married a childhood friend.

“Talk about rebound,” she said. “That relationship catapulted me into being the sickest I’ve ever been.”

Within months, Lupe realized her new husband struggled with substance abuse, and he had trouble holding a job. Always trying to keep the peace, she stopped running, neglected her diet, gained almost 80 pounds and developed type 2 diabetes. When she ate healthy foods, he mocked her and tried to make her feel guilty.

“I had to eat what he made me,” she said. “If I tried to follow a diet, that was insulting to him.”

Lupe asked her husband to leave on more than one occasion, but he refused. One weekend, he hit her and spent several months in jail. It was about that time when Lupe’s hands and feet began tingling, often painfully enough to wake her up in the middle of the night—a result of nerve damage from high blood glucose. It hurt so bad she couldn’t squeeze her hands.

“I was not well at all,” Lupe said. “But I didn’t know how to fix it. I had isolated myself from my family and friends and was very alone.”

More than the unhealthy eating habits and lack of exercise, Lupe said, stress played a huge part in her uncontrolled diabetes.

“Why wasn’t I taking care of myself” she asked. “In my culture, you don’t give up your husband. You shut up and be a good wife, and that’s what I did. But by doing that, I was killing myself.”

Ultimately, Lupe filed for divorce. On her own for the first time and determined to get healthy, Lupe worked with Dr. Naureen Agha, an American College of Physicians fellow, to formulate a plan. Medication keeps her blood sugar and high blood pressure under control. And she has recommitted to a healthier diet, opting for low-cab, low-fat meals like grilled chicken with chickpea pasta instead of fast food. And—perhaps most therapeutic—she picked back up her running shoes.

The changes have paid off: She’s down 55 pounds, and her A1C has gone from 11.5 to 5.4.

“Lupe does the work and has completely changed her life – one little bit at a time,” Agha said, describing her as one of her favorite patients. “She’s only on one medicine for diabetes now and it’s half the dose it was before.”

“Managing diabetes and heart health isn’t always as simple as eating better or exercising more. Oftentimes, we have to take a step back and ask ourselves what’s keeping us sick,” Lupe said.

Now, Lupe hits the streets nearly every morning and takes a longer run on the weekend preparing for her “comeback marathon”.

“I’m making my way back and just feeling good about myself again. I have control over my choices and I’m choosing to take care of me,” she said.

Karen knew she could thrive with type 2 diabetes if she managed it well. Then circumstances interfered with her medication plan and she suffered a stroke.

Karen Dawson has played several roles on television, film and stage roles during her career.

Acting work is famously unsteady though, so she also worked in the health care industry, first as a radiological technologist and more recently, as a phlebotomist.

Being in the health care field—and having a family history of type 2 diabetes and heart disease—Karen, was familiar with the condition when she was diagnosed in her 40s after experiencing intense stress and grief over her mother’s battle with lung cancer.

“I took care of her until she crossed over, and then everything hit me,” she said.

When Karen was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, she knew as long as she managed it well she could live a long, otherwise healthy life.

“Once you understand the disease and what it takes to live with it, it’s not that scary,” she said.

Following her diagnosis, Karen started daily walks and cut back on sugary desserts. She also took medicine to help manage her blood glucose and high blood pressure.

But in 2019, Karen’s work hours were cut and she lost her health insurance, car and apartment. As a result, she couldn’t afford her medication. She stopped taking her pills and the consequences were severe.

One night, Karen developed a severe migraine headache. When she woke up the next morning she couldn’t open her left eye. She drove herself to the hospital where she worked, but instead of starting her shift, she walked into the emergency room. After a full examination, the neurology team told her she’d had a stroke.

“I was emotionally numb,” she said. “I knew better and I never thought I’d be in this position. It was hard to accept.”

A few weeks later, an EKG showed evidence of a past heart attack. Unable to access rehabilitation therapy, she sought advice from a friend, fellow actor and home health care nurse, Carla Valentine, who suggested Karen change things up, for example, by using her left hand instead of her right to brush her teeth, or by taking a different route to the grocery store.

“It’s a way to stimulate your brain,” Valentine explained. “It’s good for anyone, especially somebody who’s had a stroke.”

“In my opinion, it worked,” Karen said.

Since her stroke, Karen has doubled down on her already healthy diet, cutting out red meat entirely, loading up on vegetables and replacing white rice with brown in her stir fries. And she stays fit by swimming in the community pool at her new apartment complex.

Most importantly, she began working a full-time job with health benefits, enabling her to fill her prescriptions, which she never misses.

Sometimes, she admits, the events of the past few years weigh on her.

“It can be difficult, but I keep a positive attitude and put one foot in front of the other,” she said.

Much to her agent’s delight, Karen recently started auditioning again. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the process is done remotely, and she usually recruits a neighbor to read for the other role. It’s not quite the same rush as doing it in person, but Karen is nothing if not flexible—and determined.

“Acting has always been my passion and I have always pursued it to the fullest,” she said. “God willing, it will take off this time.”