There are more deaths in the United States because of diabetes, than breast cancer and AIDS combined.

It's a shocking statistic.

In the final part of our special series, "Living With Diabetes," we introduce you to one brave woman who shares her personal battle with the disease.

More than ten years ago, Jacquelyn Peterson found out she had type two diabetes.

She found out she had diabetes in the worst possible circumstance, after she had parts of her feet amputated.

"I told my husband I didn't think I could get up off the bed. At the time I was eating dozen custard filled donuts a day besides my food I was drinking a lot of soda a lot of water besides regular food," Peterson says.

"He took me to the emergency room," she says, "I already had an infection in my foot, but not being able to see clearly I knew it was sore."

Causing Jacquelyn to lose parts of her feet, because diabetes can cause a loss in circulation, and infections.

Her podiatrist, Doctor Chism knows she's not alone.

"That's kind of what you would consider a failure there should have been something done to prevent this but its not all up to the doctor most of the diabetes and that's the key is up to the patient," says Dr. Jeff Chism, a Podiatrist, "You look at the skin quality you look at the touch the sensation you look at the color you can check for hair growth you can check for a lot of things that all add up to whether or not somebody is getting enough blood supply down there."

He showed us what could happen if an infection is left untreated.

"Sometimes if you have an infection in one of the toes it could be something as little as a nail that gets infected ingrown," he says, "Infection could spread up into the foot and then you might lose the bones all the way from here up so your talking about this portion of your foot and if that got even worse than that all the way."

She has a message for those reading her story.

"It's not a good thing, believe you me it's kind of a struggle," Peterson says, "My message is to pay attention to your body if you have something that seems to be wrong."

Jacquelyn now gets her feet checked at least three times a year, and is on medication to control her type two diabetes.

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