How could Elisa's diabetes also affect her body's ability to grow and repair cells?

Yes.

Explanation:

Diabetes is a result of your body’s inability to produce or use insulin. Insulin is a hormone that allows your body to turn glucose, or sugar, into energy. If your body has difficulty metabolizing glucose, it can lead to high blood sugar levels. This can affect your body’s ability to heal wounds.

In people with diabetes, wounds tend to heal more slowly and progress more quickly, so it’s important to know what to look out for.

Although cuts, grazes, scratches, and blisters can occur anywhere on the body, the feet are one of the most common places of injury. A small wound on the foot can quickly develop into a foot ulcer.

High glucose levels can stiffen the blood vessels, making it harder for blood to flow. This means that nutrients and oxygen can't reach cells, which makes it harder to repair wounds. As the blood sugar increases and can not get into the bodies cells it has the effect of drawing water out of the cells and shrinks them up making them even less healthy