First came a diabetes diagnosis. Then, tech-driven change.

Melody Ahn says that she’s always been the “mom” of her friend group, a natural caregiver whose compassion guided her work as a preschool teacher and nanny. Some of the children she’s cared for even gave her a nickname that captures her warmth: “Mel Mel.” 

As a self-described “busybody,” she recalls that when her doctor first told her she was at risk of prediabetes that she brushed it off. “I felt fine, I felt healthy, and because I was pretty active, I didn’t think I needed to make that many changes,” she said.  

She was a preschool teacher, constantly on the move, and believed her active lifestyle would keep her from developing prediabetes.  

When Everything Changed

But in June of 2024, while on a video conference call, Ahn noticed she was having trouble typing and taking notes. “I didn't even panic then. I just thought maybe it was a muscle thing in my arm,” Ahn said. 

After discussing her symptoms with a nurse friend, however, she went to urgent care. Staff immediately took her back, checked her blood pressure and found it was dangerously high, so an ambulance was called to take her to ER.  

“Over the course of a few days, they ran several tests to confirm that I had a stroke,” she said. “And once they confirmed that I had the stroke, they wanted to figure out the reason behind it. In that process, I found out that I had high blood pressure, a heart defect — which was a hole in my heart — and that I had Type 2 diabetes.” 

She left the hospital with a blood glucose meter and more information than she could absorb. “At the hospital, I was flooded with information about how I had to live my life going forward to avoid another stroke,” she said. “I didn't have time to think about anything. I just did what they told me to do because that's all I knew at the time.”  

From there, Ahn said her biggest challenge was figuring out how to manage her medication. 

Finding support from a trusted source

As it turns out, the family who lovingly named her “Mel Mel” became a crucial source of support when she was in need. The father, Jeff Maggard, works in Abbott’s Diabetes Care business. A few weeks after returning home from the hospital and feeling overwhelmed, Ahn visited the Maggard family to share what she was going through. 

Jeff sprung into action. He introduced Ahn to the FreeStyle Libre 3 continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) system, and, as he walked her through how it worked, Ahn began to feel reassured and hopeful again. 

“Through Jeff’s guidance, I came to understand that my life was not over because of my diabetes diagnosis, and that I had more control than I thought,” Ahn said. 

With her doctor’s support, Ahn got on the Libre 3 Plus sensor, which she said transformed her day-to-day life with the real-time insights that helped her understand how to adjust her diet and medications. 

“The biggest thing that the Libre 3 Plus sensor has allowed me to do is still eat the foods that I love and be able to maintain a healthy and stable glucose level,” she added. 

Looking back on her experience, Ahn is grateful to Jeff and his family for their continued support and making it easy for her to talk about her journey with diabetes. 

Her advice for other newly diagnosed people is this: “Diabetes is definitely something that you don't have to be embarrassed about, and managing it is really about little changes.”  

Today, Ahn is busy at work and at play, present for her friends and family, and, most importantly, feeling confident in her diabetes care.  

“I am feeling the healthiest I've probably ever felt in my life,” she said. “And I'm happy I have learned to set better boundaries and not to just spread myself so thin. I really learned to prioritize my health. In doing that, it's allowed me to create a different space for myself.”  

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.