About The Designer - Georgia Barnhart

Georgia was diagnosed as a "Brittle" Type 1 diabetic at 29 years old with a blood sugar of 1,136. The doctors believed it was due to her father's Agent Orange exposure during his service in the Vietnam War. She was in a coma, had two major heart attacks where her heart stopped, and she died twice. She had DKA and pancreatitis, as well as total organ failure. Her doctors told her when she was originally diagnosed that she would lose her legs within 6 months of her diagnosis. She says she looks at her husband every year on her diaversary and smacks her legs, and says "Wow! It's been a really long 6 months".

She has also faced a couple of other challenges with her legs including a diabetic ulcer and an accident, but she says she still fights through what the world dishes out in order to keep her legs and herself here on Earth. She fought for over 10 years to get a pump which her endocrinologist was finally able to get for her, as well as a CGM. She uses the Omnipod and the Dexcom G6 and they have been her literal life savers. She says “There is hope and light at the end of this long journey. We just have to be willing to keep fighting for our health and be careful about our blood sugar and especially our feet and legs."

Important Information

Did you know that Native Americans have the highest rate of prevalence of diabetes of ALL racial and ethnic groups? 1 in 2 Native American children born in the year 2000 will have Type 2 diabetes in their lifetime and 1 in 6 Native American adults have been diagnosed with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes, which is more than DOUBLE the prevalence rate of the general US population. In some Native American communities, the diabetes prevalence rate is as high as 60% among adults. Additionally, more than 16% of Native Americans have been diagnosed with diabetes, compared to just 8.7% of non-Hispanic Caucasians.  - Nicoa.org