My Xbox user name is Glucose for a reason.

This is a passion project of mine. You've likely seen me blog about diabetes for many many years. You may have enjoyed my diabetes hacks like lighting up my keyboard keys to show me my blood sugar, or some of the early work Ben West and I did to bridge Dexcom's cloud with the NightScout open source diabetes management system.

Recently Xbox announced new avatars! They look amazing and the launch was great. They now have avatars in wheelchairs, ones with artificial limbs, and a wide variety of hair and skin tones. This is fantastic as it allows kids (and adults!) to be seen and be represented in their medium of choice, video games.

I was stoked and immediately searched the store for "diabetes." No results. No pumps, sensors, emotes, needles, nothing. So I decided to fix it.

NOW AVAILABLE: Go and buy the Nightscout Diabetes CGM avatar on the Xbox Store now!

I called two friends - my friends at the Nightscout Foundation, dedicated to open source and open data for people with diabetes, as well as my friends at Konsole Kingz, digital avatar creators extraordinaire with over 200 items in the Xbox store from kicks to jerseys and tattoos.

And we did it! We've added our first diabetes avatar top with some clever coding from Konsole Kingz, it is categorized as a top but gives your avatar not only a Nightscout T-Shirt with your choice of colors, but also a CGM (Continuous Glucose Meter) on your arm!

For most diabetics, CGMs are the hardware implants we put in weekly to tell us our blood sugar with minimal finger sticks. They are the most outwardly obvious physical manifestation of our diabetes and we're constantly asked about them. In 2017, Miss USA contestant Krista Ferguson made news by showing her CGM rather than hiding it. This kind of visible representation matters to kids with diabetes - it tells them (and us) that we're OK.

You can find the Nightscout CGM accessory in a nuimber of ways. You can get it online at the Xbox Avatar shop, and when you've bought it, it'll be in the Purchased Tab of the Xbox Avatar Editor, under Closet | Tops.

You can even edit your Xbox Avatar on Windows 10 without an Xbox! Go pick up the Xbox Avatar Editor and install it (on both your PC and Xbox if you like) and you can experiment with shirt and logo color as well.

Consider this a beta release. We are working on improving resolution and quality, but what we really what to know is this - Do you want more Diabetes Xbox Avatar accessories? Insulin pumps on your belt? An emote to check your blood sugar with a finger stick?

If this idea is a good one and is as special to you and your family (and the gamers in your life with diabetes) please SHARE it. Share it on social media, tell your friends at the news. Profits from this avatar item will go to the Nightscout Foundation!

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