It was the sixth cup of lemonade in an hour when I noticed the weird looks; the numerous times my mother heard the sink in the middle of the night; how each golf tournament began well until my body gave out. I brushed it all off my shoulder for months until it was obvious that my body was eating itself alive. I stepped on the scale to see that, despite my enormous appetite, a skinny boy like me lost over fifteen pounds. All I can remember from that point was the dark purple color on the test strips indicating my body's extreme levels of ketones. As a nurse, my mom was able to identify this as a sign of diabetic ketoacidosis. The weight of her words pressed down on me as I stared at the test strips in disbelief. On the way to the hospital, I anxiously stared out the window, trying to distract myself from the chronic illness that Google practically diagnosed me with when I typed in my symptoms. When I arrived at the ER, my finger was poked and my blood sugar reading was off the charts. It took a few hours to soak up, but after sitting in the hospital bed for days, I realized that, as of October 22nd, 2023, I was, and always will be, a type 1 diabetic. Each day in the hospital, I faced a sprawling whiteboard with information on how to stay alive with this illness. The nurses came in and out like a revolving door, each bringing new complex puzzle pieces to my new reality. When I finally left the hospital, the world was moving forward without me; every thought of mine was tangled with diabetes. Living with this chronic condition brought countless challenges, and the engineer in me couldn’t resist the urge to find solutions. Fast forward a few months, I began my journey to make a difference in the type 1 community. I was determined to design my own products to make life as a diabetic easier and safer. I started designing by taking measurements of my insulin pump controller and sketching each idea. Then, I launched Fusion 360 and made my aspirations come to life. One week and six iterations later, I successfully solved one of my many problems related to diabetes. I can’t count the number of times I’ve lost the controller for my insulin pump, so I invented a case with a built-in holder for an Apple AirTag tracker. I launched my online Etsy shop, and when I made my first sale, it felt incredible; it meant that my solution was helping another diabetic. I enjoyed the process of designing and developing my own product, so I created another product: a glucose tablet container keychain made to equip diabetics with emergency glucose to prevent hypoglycemia on the go. Four months into my business, I developed four products and shipped them to over 300 cities in 13 countries. Knowing that my work reached so many people who shared my struggles filled me with a profound sense of purpose. Without my diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, I wouldn’t have discovered my passion for engineering, design, and entrepreneurship. More importantly, I wouldn’t be able to empathize with the millions dealing with this illness worldwide. As life continues to bring me lemons, I will continue to make lemonade by creating solutions for others who need them. I hope to continue making lemonade for others, turning my obstacles into opportunities, and showing that with perseverance and innovation, any challenge can become a triumph of opportunity.