Sweet Invisible Body: Reflections on a Life with Diabetes

An uncommonly intelligent and honest look at how living with a disease can affect every aspect of a person's life.

Diabetes is one of the strangest and most insidious of all diseases: a diabetic can give the appearance of robust health and often lead a long and active life, but within moments can be catastrophically ill, even dead. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, where over 16 million people have the disease. The related statistics are staggering: diabetes makes an individual two to four times more likely to have heart disease or a stroke and it is the leading cause among adults, of blindness, renal disease, and lower-limb amputations. Lisa Roney was diagnosed with diabetes in 1972, just before her twelfth birthday. Sweet Invisible Body is her candid and exquisitely written account of living with a disease that directly impacts the choices she makes in every aspect of her life every day, from food and exercise to career and family. Moreover, and most remarkable, is Roney's willingness to intelligently explore and reveal the usually hidden consequences of living with a disease such as diabetes: how it erodes self-esteem, induces feelings of vulnerability, influences sexual choices, and leads to a heightened awareness of mortality. Full of wisdom, humor, and practical advice, Sweet Invisible Body will be welcomed by diabetics and their friends and families who have never had a spokesperson as articulate, honest, and insightful as Lisa Roney.

Lisa Roney is currently working toward a Ph.D. in literature at Penn State. Her first short story, "Nothing by Comparison," was published in Harper's in August 1996. This is her first book.