Langley athlete finds her stride after type 1 diabetes diagnosis

Four years ago, when Aubree Selinger was 11, she noticed something felt…different.

It started one morning after she had slept over at a friend’s place. Aubree went to the bathroom to wash her hands before breakfast.

“I almost fell over,” the Langley athlete recalls. “I could barely get up. I looked in the bathroom mirror, and I was sooo white. I was shaking, and I was so lightheaded that I felt like I was going to fall over.”

This was unusual for super-fit Aubree, who had already reached competitive levels as a gymnast and was now playing hockey.

Her mother, Beth, had noticed mood swings and unusual fatigue in her daughter over the previous weeks. Aubree’s parents brought her to Langley Memorial Hospital for a series of tests.

“We found out through a blood test that she had type 1 diabetes,” says Beth, a bank manager in Langley. For most cases of type 1 diabetes, two abnormal blood tests are needed to confirm the diagnosis, according to Diabetes Canada.

Langley Memorial became the family’s anchor during those first days while medical staff stabilized Aubree before transferring her to Abbotsford for continued care. During that time, Aubree and Beth learned to test blood sugar, understand the impact of diet, and face a new family reality.

Aubree’s diagnosis carried added weight, given her family’s earlier loss to the disease. Not long before, her Uncle Joel had died at 46 from complications related to diabetes. The tragedy scarred her grandparents, who naturally transferred their anxiety to their granddaughter’s diagnosis. But with time, Aubree and her parents assured them that, thanks to advances in research, treatment and management, her life would be much different.

Today, Aubree is comfortable acting as an educator to her hockey teammates, coaches and peers. She uses her platform to connect with other young diabetics online, creating a community around the message that diabetes is not a disability, but a condition that requires management, not limitation.

“I don’t think it was ever in my mindset that I couldn’t do anything,” Aubree says.

Now 15, she plays competitive rep hockey as the only girl on her team while juggling the demands of her position as a centre and managing type 1 diabetes.

“Adrenaline normally crashes your blood sugar, but for some reason, I’m a weird case where adrenaline makes me go super high,” Aubree explains. “So my blood sugar, as soon as I get excited or nervous, just spikes. It’s easier for me to keep my numbers steadier when I’m not doing high-performance exercise.”

She has developed specific strategies to manage these challenges. “Every morning when I wake up, I shoot pucks because it keeps my blood more steady than if I wake up and go downstairs and drink juice. You just learn all the tricks.”

Beth has learned not to hover over Aubree during practices and high-intensity games.

“Knowing that she’s very independent, we have trust that she can manage and listen to her body.”

Her maturity has earned recognition from Omnipod Canada, a company that has engineered a tubeless delivery system, where she serves as a sponsored advocate. At diabetes conferences, she is often the only minor among adults, sharing insights that benefit both patients and manufacturers.

“I feel like I’ve been a grown-up since I was 11,” Aubree says. “I’ve been juggling more than everybody else my age.”