COMING INTO
For Leslie, a 15-year-old from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and her single mother Sarah Reader, the past two years have brought major health challenges and life changes. It all started in 2020 when Leslie was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just 14 years old.
FOCUS
COMING INTO
For Leslie, a 15-year-old from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and her single mother Sarah Reader, the past two years have brought major health challenges and life changes. It all started in 2020 when Leslie was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just 14 years old.
FOCUS
COMING INTO
For Leslie, a 15-year-old from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and her single mother Sarah Reader, the past two years have brought major health challenges and life changes. It all started in 2020 when Leslie was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just 14 years old.
FOCUS
COMING INTO
For Leslie, a 15-year-old from Bowling Green, Kentucky, and her single mother Sarah Reader, the past two years have brought major health challenges and life changes. It all started in 2020 when Leslie was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just 14 years old.
FOCUS
By: Rhiannon Johnston
Leslie always recognizes her mother's laughter as she returns from work at the local laundromat. Although it’s hard to see, the familiar scent of her living room acts as Leslie's safe space. But amidst these everyday comforts, the sharp, high-pitched beeps of her blood sugar alarm intrude. At only 15 years old, Leslie Reader has faced more than her fair share of challenges.
Meet Leslie Reader, a spunky 15-year-old girl born and raised by her mother Sarah Reader. The duo lives in a small townhouse in Bowling Green, Kentucky with their 10-year-old blind dog Renzo. For a majority of their lives the mother-daughter duo has experienced everything together. From the high and lows, it's each other that keep them motivated.
However, one of the lowest points in the duo’s lives was when Sarah began to notice changes in her daughter two years ago.
Meet Leslie Reader, a spunky 15-year-old girl born and raised by her mother Sarah Reader. The duo lives in a small townhouse in Bowling Green, Kentucky with their 10-year-old blind dog Renzo. For a majority of their lives the mother-daughter duo has experienced everything together. From the high and lows, it's each other that keep them motivated.
However, one of the lowest points in the duo’s lives was when Sarah began to notice changes in her daughter two years ago.
"I started becoming really, really, really skinny. You see the bones in my face. You could see my ribs,"
-Leslie Reader
-Leslie Reader
Leslie in 2020 when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. She was extremely underweight for her age and was experiencing increased thirst and dehydration. Photos courtesy of Leslie Reader.
After beginning to notice scary signs of weight loss, extreme hunger, and increased thirst, Leslie Reader was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic in 2020. It was after this diagnosis that her life began to drastically change.
Since her diagnosis as a type 1, Leslie has been managing her condition with daily insulin injections. However, in early 2022, she experienced an episode of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Sarah, Leslie’s mother, found her daughter unconscious, with her insulin bag scattered on the floor and her blood sugar levels dangerously high, above 600.
Since her diagnosis as a type 1, Leslie has been managing her condition with daily insulin injections. However, in early 2022, she experienced an episode of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA). Sarah, Leslie’s mother, found her daughter unconscious, with her insulin bag scattered on the floor and her blood sugar levels dangerously high, above 600.
Following this ordeal, Leslie was informed by her doctor that she had developed cataracts in both eyes, further complicating her health journey.
“He was like, she’s got cataracts. She’s got bad cataracts.”
-Sarah Reader.
Fast forward to the present, Sarah's life revolves around caring for Leslie while balancing a full-time job at The Laundry Basket, a local laundromat. The constant worry for her daughter weighs heavily on Sarah.
Sarah Reader, a manager at The Laundry Basket in Bowling Green, Kentucky, attempts to clean up a mess of suds leaking from one of the washing machines. “This happens all the time when customers put too much soap in the machines. It’s just something you have to deal with,” said Sarah.
On her breaks, Sarah Reader, a manager at The Laundry Basket laundromat in Bowling Green, Kentucky, enjoys smoking a cigarette while watching people walk by the laundromat on Morgantown Road. She often takes this time to think about Leslie, hoping she is doing "ok" at home while Sarah is at work until late at night. "I open the store and close it almost every day," said Sarah.
On the other hand, Leslie's daily routine revolves around managing her diabetes while also attempting to navigate the world blind.
Treating her diabetes is a meticulous process that involves frequent blood sugar checks and insulin administration. Dealing with her cataracts means navigating her home alone while her mom is away at work. Any miscalculation relating to her insulin or her navigation around the house could jeopardize her health, adding to her mother, Sarah's, already mounting stress.
Leslie Reader injects herself with her daily Humalong insulin vial. Since her diagnosis, it has been a struggle for her to cope with pricking herself with insulin before every meal. While many diabetics now own a personal insulin pump called a Dexcom which automatically delivers them insulin when prompted, Leslie dislikes the feel of the pump, “I hate how it feels it makes me feel icky,” Leslie says. Instead, Leslie prefers to deliver her insulin the manual way- pricking her finger for blood first to check her blood sugar numbers, then inserting a small needle of insulin into her body to treat those numbers. This is her daily life.
After going several months completely blind, and staying home from school, on February 27th, 2024, Leslie finally underwent cataract surgery on her left eye at a specialist in Lexington.
“I got up to look in the mirror and looked at my face. And I’m like, Oh my gosh, I’m beautiful.”
-Leslie Reader
With her sight partially restored, Leslie and Sarah focused on reintegrating Leslie into a somewhat more “normal life.”
Leslie reaches for a Dr. Pepper Zero Sugar in the morning before school on March 15th. "I love Zero Sugar drinks because they have no sugar so I can drink as many as I want," said Leslie. For most diabetics, they are advised to stay away from sugary sodas as they can spike blood sugar at a rapid pace. However, that does not stop Leslie from keeping a whole pack of Zero Sugar Dr. Pepper in her fridge at all times. She even owns her own Zero Sugar Dr. Pepper t-shirt.
On March 5th, Sarah walked Leslie up to the front entrance to attend her first day of freshman year at Greenwood High School in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Leslie began her freshman year at Greenwood High School on March 5, 2024. Following her diabetic ketoacidosis in June and subsequent development of cataracts in both eyes, Leslie’s mother, Sarah Reader, opted to homeschool Leslie until her vision improved. Leslie underwent her first cataract surgery in Lexington on February 27th, 2024 to restore vision in her left eye. With partial vision regained, Sarah deemed it appropriate for Leslie to return to school.
As Leslie has regained half of her sight back, she has been able to finally enjoy the things she had to give up when she lost her sight- like doing her makeup.
As a freshman in high school, Leslie takes pride in her appearance and believes that personal style is the ultimate form of expression. While she had cataracts in both her eyes, she was unable to apply eyeliner or any makeup near her eyes. Now that she has half her vision back, almost every morning before school, Leslie wakes up early to put an outfit together and always finishes off the look with a statement eyeliner look.
Leslie applies her makeup early in the morning before a school day on March 15. Her signature make-up look includes a black smokey eyeliner look with blush and some eyeshadow and foundation. When Leslie had cataracts in both her eyes, she was unable to wear makeup but since her right eye cataract removal, the doctors have allowed her to wear as much as she wants as long as she is careful around her eyes. "I love wearing eyeliner it's like my signature look," Said Leslie.
Although Leslie has begun to appreciate all the things, she can do now with her sight restored, there are still moments of struggle for the teen.
Oftentimes, Leslie just doesn’t feel like she wants to inject herself with insulin before she eats, and her mother must remind her,
Before dinner on March 26, Leslie has difficulty finding the motivation to take her insulin. Sarah attempts to help her by prepping the vial and urging her to take her insulin so she can survive.
“You don’t want to die, do you?”
-Sarah Reader
-Sarah Reader
Often unwilling, Leslie ends up obliging even though she often gets tired of the constant pricking and injections.
The transition back into school halfway through freshman year at Greenwood High School has also been a struggle for Leslie as she often has to take time out of class to go to the nurse’s office to check her blood sugar when her numbers get too high or right before she injects her insulin before lunch. Sometimes she feels that she is “missing out” on the normal high school experience as she joined halfway through the school year and has to take time out of her day to treat her insulin.
The transition back into school halfway through freshman year at Greenwood High School has also been a struggle for Leslie as she often has to take time out of class to go to the nurse’s office to check her blood sugar when her numbers get too high or right before she injects her insulin before lunch. Sometimes she feels that she is “missing out” on the normal high school experience as she joined halfway through the school year and has to take time out of her day to treat her insulin.
Leslie's OneTouch blood sugar reader, reads a high blood sugar number of 244 during school on Tuesday, April 9. The typical blood sugar range for type 1 diabetics is between 80-130. After reading a high number of 244, Leslie must now treat for this number by inserting the correct number of units of insulin to bring her blood sugar back down to a normal number.
Leslie treats for her high blood sugar number of 244 in the nurses office of Greenwood High School on Tuesday, April 9. Leslie frequently visits the nurses office during school so the nurse can be present as she pricks he finger and inserts her insulin. "I honestly don't love the nurse's office because it takes time out of my school day and its a far walk from all my classes, I get tired pretty easily," Leslie said.
However, at the end of the day, Leslie’s life is slowly “coming into focus” more each day. With her mom Sarah and her boyfriend by her side and her second cataract removal surgery coming up at the end of April 2024, Leslie is taking things as they come and making the most out of even the hard moments.
Sarah Reader is a recently single mother. After divorcing her husband a few years ago, Sarah and Leslie were left to deal with Leslie’s recent diagnosis alone. Living in a small townhouse in Bowling , Kentucky with each other and their 10-year-old dog, Renzo, Sarah pays for their home and Leslie’s insulin by working at a local laundromat down the road called The Laundry Basket. “I do it all for her,” Sarah said.
“All my experiences have made me stronger, even if
it's a shit show,”
-Leslie Reader
it's a shit show,”
-Leslie Reader
