OHIO — Ruanne Lamarine is a proud mother of five.
“Raising five kids, I always put their health and well-being above my own,” she said. “And I can’t do that because they need me here.”
It’s emotional for her to think about her health. In February, she went to a biometric screening at Cleveland Clinic Akron General’s Stow Health and Wellness Center.
The event was offered to employees of Summit County Government and that’s where she found out she has type 2 diabetes.
“I know they saved my life that day,” Lamarine said.
She said she felt run down for about a year before the diagnosis, and her symptoms kept getting worse.
“I was constantly thirsty,” she said. “I was drinking 6-8 water bottles a day and still thirsty. I lost close to 60 pounds without dieting. Just tired all the time.”
Both of her parents died of cancer. At first, Lamarine worried she too had cancer or thought maybe she was experiencing menopause.
“I knew something was wrong, but I just didn’t know what,” she said. “I never would have thought it was diabetes.”
Since the diagnosis, she’s made several lifestyle changes. Lamarine has improved her diet and increased her exercise. She enjoys spending time out in nature.
“I feel about 200 times better than I did a year ago,” Lamarine said.
At the health screening, she was strongly encouraged to go to the emergency room after her blood glucose number came in at 510, about five times higher than the normal range.
She spent the night in the hospital.
“It was very scary,” she said. “And it still makes me emotional and upset when I think about that I had it and I could have really done some damage to my body by ignoring all the symptoms for a year.”
Lamarine just turned 50 and this year, and she’s extra grateful to celebrate another birthday now that her diabetes is under control.
“I wanna be around for the next 50 so, this is a whole new chapter,” she said. “Fifty is the new 30.”
She urges others to listen to their bodies and seek medical care if you have any symptoms.
“Because you can’t help yourself if you don’t know there’s a problem,” Lamarine said.
