"From a moment of loss to a movement for change"

PART ONE

"A life lived with diabetes- before one story became many"

Mridula Kapil Bhargava has lived with Type 1 diabetes since 1992.

Like many children diagnosed young, she simply learned to keep moving through school, through growing up, through life. Over time, diabetes kept finding its way back into her studies and work. She believed science and innovation could change lives.

She thought she understood diabetes.

She had no idea how much more there was to understand.

PART TWO

"The moment that changed everything"

In 2013, a girl Mridula knew died.

She had Type 1 diabetes. Insulin was available. Her condition was manageable.

But fear and misinformation stood between her and treatment.

She died.

She didn't die of diabetes. She died of stigma.

For Mridula, this wasn't a statistic. It was someone she knew. Someone living with the same condition she had lived with for years.

That moment changed everything.

Because the problem was suddenly larger than medicine.

PART THREE

"Not a plan. A decision to stay with the problem"

What followed wasn't a grand strategy.

It was a decision to keep showing up.

Listening to families. Learning from communities. Sitting with young people trying to navigate diagnosis and daily life.

And then, one day, bringing people together in a room.

It was small. Informal.

But people who had spent years feeling alone suddenly felt seen.

That was the beginning.

PART FOUR

"When individual stories became a collective voice"

The community kept growing.

Conversations became networks. Networks became advocacy. Advocacy became action.

In 2017, Diabetes Fighters' Trust was formally established.

What started with a few people sharing experiences became a larger movement of individuals, families, volunteers, and advocates determined to create change together.

The work was never about one person.

It had become something bigger.

PART FIVE

"Still here. Still going."

Today, DFT continues building communities, amplifying lived experiences, and creating spaces where people living with diabetes are heard and represented.

Along the way, the movement has:

• Supporting 1000+ families with diabetes education, supply access and advocacy for their rights. 

• Brought together patient advocates across India 

• Built initiatives such as REVORD, Act Now for T1D Rights, Diabetes Awareness Movement, OK TATA HORN PLEASE(for the Truck Drivers), Diasisters and the T1D Entrepreneurs Network 

• Created platforms where lived experiences help shape conversations and action 

"This story is still being written. By all of us, together."