When Anastasia Chehak was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at 19 years of age, she had no idea the impact it would make on her life and career path. She had lost a lot of weight, but says doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her.
“I couldn’t put on any weight, despite eating a high calorie diet. And I was getting up to go to the bathroom 2 to 3 times a night. I thought that was normal. Doctors told me my blood sugars were normal, but I knew something wasn’t right,” she remembers.
She recalls that she then caught the flu, and slipped into a coma. Doctors again tested her blood sugar. This time, it was through the roof, at 1650. The hospital staff determined Anastasia had Type 1 diabetes. She recalled those days recently, “I was just relieved I finally had a diagnosis for why I was feeling so bad. Now I had an answer and could do something about it.”
Anastasia dove head first into researching everything she could about diabetes. It became her passion and life’s work. Instead of pursuing her dream of architecture, she shifted to the field of clinical dietetics. She became a registered and licensed dietician, and then one of the first Certified Diabetes Educators in the nation. The more she learned, the more she wanted to help others just like her:
“I always felt that this happened to me so I could help others.”
She spent two years with OU College of Pharmacy, Medicine, and Dermatology to develop a treatment for the specific skin health needs of diabetics. She knew well how a diabetic’s skin could suffer. Her natural formulas led to a breakthrough -- an FDA approved product that helps relieve the pain of diabetic neuropathy and restore peripheral nerve function. Thousands have used her “Anastasia Diabetic Pure Skin Therapy” line for everything from nerve pain and arthritis to eczema and psoriasis. She says, “I am just grateful that I can just help them.”
For 20 years, Anastasia Chehak (R.D., L.D., C.D.E.) has quietly run her business from offices in Nichols Hills, providing guidance and education to countless patients, but has felt the need to do more.
Recently, Anastasia took her message to the airwaves, launching a half hour radio talk show called, “The Voice of Diabetes with ANASTASIA” that airs on KOKC 1520AM on Saturday mornings from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. The program is designed to educate and empower diabetics and their loved ones as well as to open their eyes to various resources available in the community.
“I want listeners to know there is hope. There is a complete universe of resources out there always leading to better diabetes management. A lot of people don’t have the right information out there,” Chehak told The City Sentinel.
Admirers say Chehak offers living proof that one can live well with diabetes while giving back to others. Some now contend she is the “Dr. Laura” of the Diabetes world. She offers frank discussions about anything related to diabetes and tries to teach listeners how to manage it the right way. She opens up her radio program to other experts and health advocates also trying to make a difference in the diabetes world.
Past guests have included Dr. Timothy Lyons from the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center, the local Executive Directors of both the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), noted endocrinologist Dr. Peter Lodewick, M.D., Senator Tom Coburn, M.D., and U.S. Representative Mary Fallin.
Chehak said the radio program is “a new, positive view on diabetes. We all need to work together to make it happen.”
For more information about Anastasia, go to:
www.voiceofdiabetes.com
www.amlab.com
Article submitted by Adrianna Iwasinski, freelance writer and AMLAB employee to "The City Sentinel" in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
