Audrey de Boer was six-years-old when her life changed dramatically.
Not feeling well, she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
"I felt so alone," she said outside Langley City Hall on Friday morning.
"I didn't know how this could happen."
She was there to watch acting mayor Ted Schaffer, alongside councillors Gayle Martin and Jack Arnold, as well as City staff members, raise a flag outside City Hall to mark World Diabetes Day.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which a person's pancreas stops producing insulin, a hormone that enables people to get energy from food.
It occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
De Boer must monitor her blood sugar levels anywhere from four to seven times a day and requires daily insulin injections.
Because of the disease, she lives with the constant threat of serious health complications.
De Boer, who is now 12, is one of three million Canadians with the life-altering disease. There are approximately 300 million people worldwide who have type 1 diabetes.
Later this month (Nov. 22), de Boer will speak at Parliament Hill in Ottawa as a youth ambassador for the Diabetes Association.
She will speak about the importance of funding to try and find a cure or help those with type 1 diabetes.
"Having your support means a lot to people with this disease," she said.
Shortly after her diagnoses, the Richmond girl committed herself to helping find a cure. Her team, Audrey's Angels, has raised more than $50,000 since they began.
— with Black Press files