My Life with Diabetes

Raphaelle was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in August 2014 at the age of six. She was born in Virginia, USA and first moved to Cairns, Australia with her mother and brother at age two in September 2011. She attended school in Barbados in 2015 and in 2016 she returned to Cairns, where she has been continuing her education. She has been an ardent student of art at the Cairns Regional Art Gallery and an up and coming dancer who has become used to choreographing her own solo performances at school events. At Trinity Anglican School she is active in swimming, athletics and chess. As a member of Turning Point Dance Studio she practices and performs ballet, tap, jazz and a wide range of rhythms such as Latin, African, Indian and Caribbean. Her dream is to dance with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York, to create great works of art and perhaps write a few books along the way. Her first effort at writing a book began at the age of seven when she came home and said, "I am going to win the school Tall Tale prize." This was a school competition which required students to write a story about any subject. She chose the topic of her challenges with diabetes.