Beloit, Wisconsin, resident Vonnie Adams threw a big party recently. The occasion? To celebrate living and thriving despite being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes fifty years ago. Adams is now seventy-two years old and decided, hey, after living with the disease for all these years she deserved to celebrate. Hence the party, which she planned herself and which was attended on Saturday by a happy crowd of family and friends numbering about 140. Now this is cute: Adams didn't tell invitees what the occasion was on the invitations, only saying it was a 50th anniversary celebration. Upon turning up at the shindig they discovered it was a chance for Adams to celebrate her having triumphed over the difficulties that diabetes have caused her, and also a chance to acknowledge all the people who have assisted her on her journey. Adams is pictured at right holding a framed photo of one of those special helpers: Ken Gold, her doctor of twenty-five years, who was unable to make it to the event. Gold, she says, not only helped her stay in shape over the years but also became one of her best friends. Amazing - we could all use a doctor like that, huh?

The diagnosis came on Valentine's Day, 1957, Adams recalled in an interview with the Beloit Daily News. At the time she was a senior in college and twenty-two years of age. Symptoms like thirst and fatigue she put down to the flu. By the time she saw a doctor she was very ill - barely conscious, in fact. But it didn't get her down: "I made up my mind right away that my lifestyle would be greatly altered. Things I did, eating, exercise. I knew right at the get-go that I wasn't going to let it control my life. I was going to control the diabetes, the diabetes wasn't going to control me." Now that's what you call an attitude worth envying. Despite now having lost her sight to diabetes-related complications, Adams retains her incredible positive attitude. To read more, visit the Beloit Daily News.