This is our family.

Meet our family

We're the family behind No Sugar Coating T1D.

We're Miranda, Michael, Aleecia, and Elias. We're a Michigan family sharing the honest, everyday side of life with Type 1 diabetes.

In April 2024, Elias had recently gotten over Influenza A, but something still did not feel right. He was drinking six to eight bottles of water a day and waking up over and over during the night to use the bathroom. After reading about the signs of Type 1 diabetes, I contacted his doctor.

Elias had blood work after school on April 9. Later that evening, the phone call came. We headed to C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and stayed for three days. On April 10, 2024, Elias was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at eight years old. Thankfully, he was not in DKA.

The real beginning of No Sugar Coating T1D was not a website. It started with us on TikTok because Elias wanted to share his story. We began sharing our family's journey on social media to help people understand what life with T1D really looks like.

Later, Elias asked if we could create some simple diabetes shirts and stickers together. Our first design was More Than a Number.

So much of life with diabetes revolves around numbers. Blood sugar readings. Carbs. Insulin doses. A1Cs. Time in range. But those numbers never tell the whole story, and they never define the person behind them.

Every person is more than a number.

As we kept sharing, the page grew. Families were looking for school resources, trusted links, local programs, and practical help. In our area, there was not one easy place we could find that brought all of it together. That is why we built this website: to gather what has helped us and make it easier for other families to find.

Right now, More Than a Number is our main design, along with a few other fun items. As Elias comes up with new ideas, we may add more. But this will always be a place to share his story, raise awareness, and help other families feel a little less alone.