Younger people sometimes believe that prediabetes and type 2 diabetes are health conditions they don’t really need to worry about. But Taylor Pratt found out in high school that she was in danger of developing the disease, despite the fact that it did not run in her family. On a visit to her eye doctor, Pratt, of Letcher County, KY, got the surprising news that her right optic nerve was swollen. An A1C test (a measure of how much glucose, or sugar, is in your bloodstream) came back just shy of being officially in the prediabetes range, but still high enough that Taylor would need to make some lifestyle changes before it got worse, or even turned into full-blown type 2. “It was kind of like a shock,” Taylor said.

In this story, Taylor discusses her diagnosis; her eating habits, old and new; how much better she began to feel after she started to eat differently and exercise more; and how she wishes that more young people were taught about diabetes in school, so that maybe she could’ve stopped her own issue before it ever started.