JohnEGreen
Master
- Messages
- 13,231
- Type of diabetes
- Other
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- Tripe and Onions
I am adopted. I grew up in a closed adoption meaning that I was not allowed to know anything about myself - ethnicity, family medical history - absolutely nothing.
I have met my bio father who never knew I existed. He has type 2 diabetes. It's one of the first things he told me. I also took a direct-to-consumer genetics test via 23andMe. It showed that genetically I had a higher-than-average risk of developing diabetes.
I have long been an adoptee rights advocate for things like unsealing adoption records (in Canada half of our provinces/territories still have sealed records) and the importance of knowing one's family medical history. As a result I am very open about my diabetes (and other medical conditions) to illustrate the influence of genetics, and how wrong it is that adoptees are not allowed to know family medical history.
I have no idea who my paternal grandfather was my father was illegitimate so I don't even know what my family name would have been. Green being my paternal grandmother's maiden name and my dad would never talk of it. Being the son of a single mother in 1916 brought you into a lot of prejudice. So no idea either about family medical history on my grandfather's side of the family.
It's left a bit of a void in my life to be honest not knowing who you really are.