When you grow up in a family full of athletes, it’s easy for outsiders to assume your path is set. That’s something Shelomi Sanders, a junior guard on the Alabama A&M basketball team, has felt her entire athletic career.
After starting her college career at the Jackson State, an HBCU in Mississippi, during the 2022-2023 season, Sanders then spent last year playing at the University of Colorado — where her dad, former NFL player Deion Sanders, coached football and her brothers, Shilo and Shedeur, also played football. In spring 2024, Sanders made the decision to transfer again; this time to play for Alabama A&M. For Sanders, transferring schools wasn’t just about basketball — it was about stepping into her own identity. “I just wanted to make a name for myself and just prove to everyone ‘Hey, I’m not just Shilo Sanders’s sister. I’m not just Deion Sanders’s daughter. I’m here, this is me,’” Sanders tells Her Campus.
What most people don’t see is the work it takes for Sanders to compete at the D1 level while managing a chronic autoimmune disease — and that’s part of what makes her journey as an athlete unique.
Sanders was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 13, a moment she remembers as “very scary” for her young teen self. “My whole life [was] changing,” Sanders says. “I had to learn how to be responsible very young.” Now as a college athlete, managing the condition on top of a full D1 schedule takes a level of planning most people never think about. “It’s always just a roller coaster,” Sanders says. “You’re learning things about your body every single day.”
Her mornings start before most students are even awake. “We have weights or practice [at] 6:30 [a.m.], and we have to be there, dressed, 15 minutes early,” Sanders says. From there, Sanders will watch footage of her games, go to class, put in extra work on the court outside of practice, and attend mandatory study hall. “I probably don’t get home until like 6 or 7 [at night] depending on what the day brings.”
Even on her best days, T1D can completely shift how things go. “My blood [sugar] will drop during practice, [then] I have to sit out,” she says. And while she tries to stay positive, it still gets to her. “I’m just in a mood because I want to join in with my teammates and practice, but I can’t. I have to put my health first.” The balance is tough, but she keeps pushing. “It’s a lot mentally and physically,” Sanders says. “But, you know, it’s worth it all.”
Talking more openly about her diagnosis has made Sanders aware of how many misconceptions people still have about it. She says she still hears people assume that eating too much sugar causes T1D. “That’s not really what it is,” Sanders says. For Sanders, clearing up these myths matters, because they distract from what living with T1D actually looks like. Especially with the CDC projecting a 65% rise in T1D among young people by 2060, Sanders believes her voice matters more than ever.
This is why Sanders decided to partner with Sanofi Screen For Type 1, a movement that works to raise awareness about early detection of T1D and encourage people to talk to their doctors about the importance of type 1 diabetes screening. “When I shared my story and I found that there’s other peers like me that are battling T1D, I found a community and it was really cool,” Sanders says. She wants young people to have access to information earlier than she did. “If I had the resources and the awareness when I got diagnosed, my journey would be different,” she says.
When Sanders thinks about young people going through their own health journeys, her message is simple: Don’t count yourself out. “You’re unstoppable,” Sanders says. “Don’t let anything hold you back.”