​Lucy Barney, T'it'q'et Nation, is a grandmother, a retired nurse, and an avid crafter of beadwork, embroidery and sewing. She is also a person who has been living with type 2 diabetes for 10 years.

Prior to her own diagnosis, Lucy had dedicated her career as a nurse to improving diabetes care after watching her mother live with diabetes and eventually passing from complications.

“When I was a young girl, my mother developed type 2 diabetes and I didn't understand why because she walked miles every day to work," recalls Lucy.

After her mother's passing, Lucy began working as a unit clerk in the hospital and started a family of her own. She then attended nursing school and decided to dedicate her work to improving wholistic diabetes care. “Every project I did, I incorporated spirituality and diabetes into everything – and also wholistic wellness, wholistic care, I brought in the spirit of Indigenous people in all of the schoolwork that I did," shares Lucy.

Eventually, the stress of working, raising a young family and attending nursing school full-time began to take its toll. While Lucy was working fulltime as an Indigenous Lead, she was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

'It became this puzzle to me; why did I develop Type 2 diabetes?'

Lucy began to reflect on her own experience of diabetes. She had always been physically active and only began to eat from the western diet as an adult. “It wasn't until the introduction of, what we call city food, that started our path to diabetes. The stress of, you know, the Indian Act and the residential schools that outlawed our Traditional ways of being," shares Lucy. Chronic stress impacts how the body uses blood sugar, which can increase the chances of developing type 2 diabetes.

When Lucy began to experience her own episodes of severe anxiety, she went to see the school First Nations liaison, who handed her some smudge and told her to go find a quiet spot on campus.

“So, what came in clear focus was that my mother passed away 13 years prior, and I had denied her death; with the practice of smudging and prayer helped alleviate some of the anxiety. And finally, [the smudge] is what lifted my spirits so much that I could let her go and rest in peace and move forward in life as a mom, nurse and advocate."

First Nations people in BC experience significantly higher rates of type 2 diabetes than non-First Nations people. Prior to contact, First Nations communities did not experience diabetes as their worldviews and lives, based on balance and wholistic wellness, had not yet been oppressed by colonial forces.

'When you're finally diagnosed, you could do something about it; you can learn what diabetes is because it's not a death sentence.'

Moving forward in her personal and professional diabetes journey, Lucy became an advocate for wholistic approaches that include traditional practices and ceremony.

“It's incorporating prayer and incorporating our Traditional ways of being and hunting, fishing, being in ceremony," Lucy explains. “You know, dancing is, one of the most important things for us, because it uplifts our spirit. Humour is medicine so it is also important to bring in our humour."

'Just share, because then you can support each other.'

For anyone living with and managing diabetes, Lucy emphasizes the importance of being in community. Whether it's asking your nurses or doctors questions about your diabetes wellness plan, sharing your diagnosis with family and friends or asking questions about ceremony. Lucy has one message: “Don't be afraid because they're there and they want to be asked those questions because otherwise they won't know what to share with you. And if you don't understand, ask them to say it in a different way."

To learn more about diabetes, please visit our website here.