Bernice Burt couldn’t swallow because there was no fluid in her mouth.At the time, she was on the way to the hospital with her husband, Leroy, to have her blood sugar tested.Her physician had sent her because her blood sugar was so high, his instruments couldn’t read it.On the short drive to the hospital last winter, she lost coordination in her hands; her fingernails were blue and her skin was shrivelled.“I didn’t know it, but I was dying,” Mrs Burt, told The Royal Gazette five months after narrowly surviving diabetes.The 53-year-old wanted to share her story with others with the hopes that it might bring about greater awareness of diabetes, and help others going through a seemingly impossible situation.She was diagnosed with Type Two diabetes in February 2008, after asthma medication pushed her sugar levels to 300 mg/dl.A normal blood sugar reading is between 73 mg/dl and 99 mg/dl. For the next two years or so she kept her diabetes in check by watching her diet, but in 2011 a series of terrible things happened in her life.“My nephew died in January 2010,” she said. “On January 28 my mother had a heart attack. On May 28, my foster son, Dekimo Martin, was killed. During the summer of 2010 my sister was diagnosed with a tumour on her brain.”The stress she was under took its toll on her body. That autumn she started to notice some blurriness of vision.She was sent back and forth between eye doctors and specialists. Finally, in November, she went to her physician and he tested her blood sugar.“He did some tests and established that my sugar was unreadable,” said Mrs Burt. “He said I needed to go to the hospital right away.”At the hospital they found that her blood sugar was 1,200 mg/dl enough to put someone in a diabetic coma.She was admitted to intensive care for two days and then was put on a general ward. Her blood sugar and blood pressure had to be monitored several times a day.Her vision became extremely blurry and she could only see figures of people and objects in the room.“I had definitely not led an unhealthy lifestyle before that,” she said. “People wondered, how could this have happened to me. I ate protein and vegetables and fruits, and things like that. What really caused it was the stress in my life.”After being in the hospital a few days, she was told by a diabetic specialist that when she left the hospital, she would have to give herself daily insulin injections.“I would have to administer it myself,” she said. “This news devastated me. I would have to do it four times a day, for breakfast, lunch, dinner and bedtime.“I was not allowed to leave the hospital, until I was administering the insulin myself.”She was allowed to leave on December 6.“The first time I found it very uncomfortable,” she said. “I didn’t really like the idea of sticking a needle into my flesh.“Just the thought of sticking the needle there and pushing the button upset me, but after I did it a few times I knew it was not that bad. This is what it took to save my life, so I did it.”Back at home, away from the care of doctors and nurses, she felt very alone.Before she left the hospital her vision had cleared up, but when she was ready to go home, it was blurry again.“It happened because my sugar was regulating itself,” she said. “I felt very uncomfortable being at home by myself. I had to do things for myself.“I tried to walk, and almost fell down because I couldn’t see properly. Even when it came to putting on my clothes, I couldn’t find anything to wear because I could not see properly.”Normally, she was a person who always liked to look her best. Mrs Burt didn’t comb her hair for two weeks and wore the same clothes over and over because she couldn’t see well enough to coordinate.Slowly, her vision and general health improved. She is now able to drive again, and she is back working full-time at the Ministry of Education.“In February, I went to the Diabetic Centre,” said Mrs Burt. “They talked about everything I needed to know such as portion control and healthy eating. I owe a lot of my healing to that place.”On February 18, she was allowed to come off insulin, a major milestone in her recovery. Shortly after that, the eye doctor determined she had no lasting eye damage.The fluid and pressure in her eyes was fine. Other tests found that she had no internal organ damage. Diabetes can damage your lungs, liver and heart. She was able to walk, and exercise.“I started to live my life normally,” she said. “I started to feel good about myself. I was able to drive. I was able to feel better. There was just this overwhelming feeling of feeling great.”She wants other people to know not to take how they feel for granted. She wants people to know the telltale signs of diabetes.“If they are feeling thirsty,” she said. “If they are feeling dizzy. If they are going to the bathroom frequently. If they have blurry vision, don’t take those things lightly. They should get those things checked.“These symptoms could be the start of what I went through. At the hospital they called me a miracle because they did not know how I lived through that.“Someone with a sugar of 1,200 is supposed to have gone into a coma and died. The doctors said I was a miracle patient. They look at me and shake their head and say, ‘how did she do that?’.”She gives a lot of credit for her recovery to her immediate family her son Javon, nephew Hammed and her husband.She also credits her strong faith in God and the support she received from her church family at New Creation Worship Centre.“I have God in my life and he gets me through everything that I do on a daily basis. That is what has gotten me through this whole ordeal, by praying and asking God for guidance; for strength and deliverance.“I have learned so much from going through this experience. I learned that you can not take things for granted.”In an effort to turn the experience into something positive that could help others, Mrs Burt wrote a testimonial and read it out in church.She also wants to be available to anyone else who may be going through something similar. She also hopes to write a book.“I feel people need to be aware of what diabetes is about,” she said. “It is not just a word, it is an actual situation that people go through in their lives.”Mrs Burt is happy to talk to anyone who is currently dealing with diabetes. Call her on 334-8583 or 236-8185.