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Diabetic teen

Angie Ramos and best friend Maria Orozco read boys’ MySpace profiles at Angie’s home in East Los Angeles. When Angie, a busy Roosevelt High School student with a 4.0 grade-point average, was initially told that she had Type 2 diabetes, she reacted with shock and angst. Type 2 is the most common form of the disease, but until 1997, it was considered rare in people under 40. Now she has learned to cope with the disease and is doing well.

Angie Ramos and best friend Maria Orozco read boys’ MySpace profiles at Angie’s home in East Los Angeles. When Angie, a busy Roosevelt High School student with a 4.0 grade-point average, was initially told that she had Type 2 diabetes, she reacted with shock and angst. Type 2 is the most common form of the disease, but until 1997, it was considered rare in people under 40.

Now she has learned to cope with the disease and is doing well.  (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

diabetes

Angie Ramos hesitantly hands her blood-sugar report to Dr. Daina Dreimane in February. The 17-year-old from East Los Angeles was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes as a junior. She told the doctor that she had stopped testing her blood for a week.  (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

diabetes

Angie hugs Maria after spending an afternoon together. At first, Angie’s doctor ordered her to take pills and have three shots of insulin a day to control her disease. Early on, Angie was angry about the disease. “What’s the point?” she would say. “I’m going to die anyway.” But she started watching what she ate, walking and losing weight.  (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

diabetes

Angie checks the insulin level in a syringe before injecting herself. Type 2 diabetes often develops in immigrants or in subsequent generations who eat high-fat diets and lead sedentary lives.  (Gina Ferazzi / LAT)

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