In soccer — and in life — control is everything. When you have possession, you make the decisions that shape the outcome. The same goes for your health.

It's a lesson soccer player-now-teacher and coach Gibran Juarez learned quickly after being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 9 years old. Faced with learning to live with a new diagnosis and classmates poking fun that he was “different,” Juarez didn't just want to take charge of his health; he needed to.

“Diabetes is a lot like soccer,” Juarez says. “We need to have possession, or control of the game. Just like in diabetes, we need to have possession or monitor our glucose.”

With the support of his doctor, a strong network, and Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre 3 Plus sensor, he discovered how to make progress along his health journey. Now, age 36, Juarez is helping others feel empowered to do the same.

Managing Diabetes with Confidence

Children’s lives get busier and busier. Whether they’re jumping to and from band lessons or traveling to soccer tournaments, kids, and their families, can end up juggling a lot of activities. And it can make managing a condition like diabetes on top of that feel overwhelming.

 “Testing my glucose was very difficult, especially in middle school and high school when I was more involved in activities,” Juarez recalls. “I often forgot. I was not testing my glucose, and I was not giving myself the proper insulin dosage.”

Living with diabetes requires constant care — care made easier¹ for people including Juarez by monitoring their glucose in real time with innovative continuous glucose monitoring technology, such as Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre systems.

Juarez learned about Libre from his endocrinologist, and now shares how his monitoring has changed: “I feel more educated because now I get to see what works and what doesn’t work in my lifestyle, with my foods, and the insulin dosages I take.”

Glucose is an essential source of energy your body receives by breaking down carbohydrates. Our bodies tell the pancreas whether or not to release insulin to manage those rising glucose levels². But for people living with diabetes, the pancreas either doesn’t produce any or enough insulin, or the body develops insulin resitance³. That's why glucose monitoring is so important.

“I feel more educated because now I get to make sure my glucose levels stay steady,” Juarez says. “It provides a sense of peace because it's giving you an update every minute of the day.”

Plus, his family and doctors get to stay in the know, too. With the help of Abbott’s LibreLinkUp^† and LibreView^‡ companion apps, Juarez is able to share⁴ his glucose level information with them.

“My brother and girlfriend like that they get notifications because they care about me and want to make sure I'm okay,” Juarez says. “For example, if my glucose goes low, and I dismiss the alarm because either I'm teaching, coaching or playing soccer, they will call me as soon as possible and say, ‘Hey, your glucose is low. Are you okay?’”

Continuous glucose monitors track and display your glucose levels in real-time, so you can manage your diabetes and make more informed choices*⁵ accordingly, such as the foods you eat, the activities you do and the medications you take.

Juarez is also empowering others to kick diabetes stigma.

Passing Judgment: How Diabetes Stigma Affects People

Being a kid is also when many people start realizing they are different, especially when it comes to having a medical condition. When we say stigma, we mean the judgment, bias and negative attitudes toward people living with diabetes, which can have profound negative effects on a person’s mental and emotional wellbeing.

Juarez’s first memory of experiencing stigma was during his fifth-grade physical education class. “It was time to make teams for dodgeball, and some classmates said, ‘You can’t play with us. You’re contagious,’” Juarez recalls. It only continued during his middle school years. “There was a lot of teasing that I was going to contaminate people, and I was so afraid of being different.”

He’s not the only one who has experienced stigma. In an Abbott-led survey of more than 2,600 people living with diabetes across eight countries, nearly 70% said they believe there is stigma associated with their condition6.

As a result, 40% said they have skipped or missed a healthcare appointment due to feeling stigmatized6.

Gibran recalls hiding his diagnosis from his school nurse because he was afraid of being treated differently by the other kids. “I was so afraid and ashamed of living with diabetes. And, for a year and a half, I would hide it. I would go to the restroom before lunch to test my blood sugar and take my [insulin] injection.”

Community can help. Abbott’s survey also found that nearly 70% of respondents said they believe supportive comments from others can significantly boost their motivation to manage their condition6.

After these experiences, Gibran’s endocrinologist recommended he go to diabetes camp to meet other kids with diabetes and learn more about the condition.

“As a kid, it gave me hope learning that there are others living with diabetes, and that they’re no different from you or me,” Juarez says. Fast forward, Juarez says he wanted to become a teacher to give back and inspire kids to feel more confident than he did growing up.

"There’s always someone that needs help or support,” Juarez says. Be that person if you can. “Be a superhero and love yourself too because you are amazing. You can change the world. You just have to live, love life and put a smile on your face.”

The views expressed should not be used for medical diagnosis or treatment or as a substitute for professional medical advice. Individual symptoms, situations and circumstances may vary.

* Study was performed with the outside US version of the FreeStyle Libre 14 day system. Data is applicable to FreeStyle Libre 2 and 3 systems, as feature sets are similar as FreeStyle Libre 14 day system, excluding alarms.

†The LibreLinkUp app is only compatible with certain mobile device and operating systems. Please check www.librelinkup.com for more information about device compatibility before using the app. Use of the LibreLinkUp app requires registration with LibreView. LibreLinkUp is not intended to be used for dosing decisions. The user should follow instructions on the continuous glucose monitoring system. LibreLinkUp is not intended to replace self-monitoring practices as advised by a physician.

‡The LibreView data management software is intended for use by both patients and healthcare professionals to assist people with diabetes and their healthcare professionals in the review, analysis and evaluation of historical glucose meter data to support effective diabetes management. The LibreView software is not intended to provide treatment decisions or to be used as a substitute for professional healthcare advice.

References

¹ American Diabetes Association, Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM): Benefits, Accessibility & How It Works, accessed July 1, 2025.
² American Diabetes Association, Blood Glucose and Insulin, accessed June 25, 2025.
³ American Diabetes Association, Understanding Insulin Resistance, accessed July 29, 2025.
⁴ The user's device must have internet connectivity for glucose data to automatically upload to LibreView and to transfer to connected LibreLinkUp app users.
⁵ Fokkert, Marion, et al. "Improved Well-Being and Decreased Disease Burden After 1-Year Use of Flash Glucose Monitoring (FLARE-NL4)." BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care 7, no. 1 (2019): e000809. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjdrc-2019-000809.
⁶ Data on file. Research conducted by Savanta on behalf of Abbott between May and August 2024 was executed in three distinct phases among people with diabetes across Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the U.S.