When Leighann Calentine’s daughter Quinn was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2008 at the age of three, she began sharing their story on her “mommy blog,” eventually launching D-Mom Blog to help other parents of children with diabetes. Leighann says that like others dealing with diabetes, she and her husband count carbs, carry juice boxes, and are always on call. She shares how they manage their daughter’s diabetes, first with injections and now with an insulin pump, navigate playing several sports, and tackle sending her to public school, all while making sure that Quinn is a child first and that diabetes is second.

Leighann has been quoted in Diabetes Forecast giving tips on Halloween with diabetes, is a visible health blogger and advocate, and is a frequent attendee of diabetes-related social media events.

Leighann holds an MA in anthropology and works for a Big 10 university as a paleoethnobotanist. You can often find her looking through a microscope at carbonized plant remains from archaeological sites. Her research interests include Middle Woodland gardening and plant usage in the Midwestern United States.