Correction: The story should have said Anya Lusk checks her carbohydrates, not her calories.
It was going to be just another routine drive home as Anya Lusk cruised along I-96 to West Bloomfield earlier this month.
Then, without warning, her blood sugar dropped. Lusk, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in fourth grade, had a seizure and crashed her Dodge Intrepid into the cement median.
"I had cuts and scratches. But besides that, I was damn lucky," the psychology sophomore said.
The car crash was a jarring reminder for Lusk that she is among the nearly 600,000 Michigan residents, or about 8 percent of the state's population, living with diabetes.
Lusk has Type 1 diabetes, which is genetic and is a rarer form of the disease. More common is Type 2 diabetes, which is the result of being overweight and not exercising. About 90 to 95 percent of all diabetics have Type 2.
As waistlines have grown, so have the number of diabetes cases. In six years, the number of MSU students who have diabetes has increased by 63 percent.
Wendy Kushion, manager of the Sparrow Regional Diabetes Center in Lansing, says the increase on campus is likely caused by more college students gaining weight or skipping exercise.
"It's just rapid with Type 2," Kushion said. "In the last five years, it's really become an issue."
November is American Diabetes Month, which serves as a reminder to students, such as Zack Zurek, of how serious the disease is.
The pre-law sophomore used to take care of his grandfather, who was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in the late '90s.
"Chances are, he had it for a long time, but he didn't take care of it," Zurek said about his grandfather, who had bad health and suffered several heart attacks. "He used to try to sneak sweets and marshmallows."
Zurek injected insulin in his grandfather Petoskey's stomach each day and helped him control his disease.
"Once you have diabetes, you always have diabetes. What makes a difference is how you manage (it)," said Cory Williams, an American Diabetes Association spokesman. "It's a complete lifestyle change."
The consequences can be deadly if diabetes is left untreated, causing kidney failure, blindness, seizures and death.
Lusk, whose grandmother died from diabetes complications a few years before she was diagnosed, realized how dangerous her disease could be after her car crash. Before, she felt invincible. Now, she worries that her sugar level will drop when she's sleeping, and she double-checks it before she drives.
"It's a struggle. You have to pull your life around diabetes," she said. "It never occurred to me that one day I might not actually be able to live by myself."
One MSU graduate student has never dealt with fainting spells or major health problems since he was first diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 15 years ago.
"Some people see diabetes as a curse and a horrible thing," said 23-year-old Marc Compton. "I see it as something that made me better and stronger because it made me more aware of my body and diet."
Compton, who was a drum major in this year's MSU Marching Band, has developed a health-conscious mind-set. He makes sure he eats three healthy meals each day, regularly exercises and keeps candy nearby in case his sugar level drops.
Lusk also has adjusted to giving herself shots every day — which is what many people mistakenly think is the hardest part of living with diabetes, she said.
"It's become somewhat of a second hat," Lusk said. "I don't even think about it half the time. It's a very simple thing."
At lunch, Lusk eats a regular-sized meal in the McDonel Hall cafeteria. She carefully counts the number of calories in her food, so she can match up the correct dosage of insulin.
To avoid feeling fatigued or nauseated, she injects herself with a shot of insulin to control her sugar level.
"I can look at a food and estimate how many carbohydrates it has. I've been able to eyeball food," Lusk said. "It's a guessing game, but after doing it for a decade, you pretty much hit in the ballpark every time."
Millions of Americans suffering from diabetes must continue the daily regimen of strict diets because health officials say a cure for the disease remains far-off.
"Nothing has come out that says we have a cure for diabetes around the corner," Williams said. "A lot of the research is promising, but so far there is no cure — Type 1 or Type 2."
