Getting Started

My Story
Hello.  I am writing this blog because my wife, Naomi, was diagnosed with Type I diabetes last Spring.  I will be writing about a few things, maybe a lot of things, but mostly I will be documenting what I learn about Type I diabetes as I raise money for Type I diabetes research throughout the next year.  By doing this my goals are to:

1. learn everything I can about Type I diabetes,
2. raise awareness about adult onset Type I diabetes, and
3. raise some money for diabetes research.

My wife is an amazing, intelligent, beautiful and healthy woman who is a psychologist, professor, wife, and mother to two adorable and energetic little boys.  She is super fit and exercises daily.  She was a multi-sport athlete in high school.  She has always eaten a healthy diet, except for a few years of Taco Bell (she will deny it!)  in grad school. She was and still is the "healthiest" member of our family.  

When my wife was pregnant with our second son she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.  She slashed her carb intake and did everything else she could do to manage her gestational diabetes.  I mean really, there were no carbs in our house. No pasta, no bread, no desserts, not a piece of candy.  But no mater what she did her blood sugar just kept going higher and higher.  At the end of the pregnancy she was taking insulin daily. She gave birth to our second son and was told to come back and see an endocrinologist six months or so later.

Gestational diabetes typically goes away after your baby is born, but some women go on to develop Type II diabetes.  So when my wife did everything she could to lose the baby weight.  She kept cutting carbs and she kept losing weight.  But when my wife met with her doctor last year we got some unbelievably bad news.  She had Type I diabetes and probably had been developing Type I throughout both her pregnancies.

Type I diabetes? Juvenile diabetes?  Isn't that what kids get?  Adults don't just develop Type I diabetes, do they?

Well they do and she did.  The news was crushing.  For me the shock was overwhelming.  I tried not to let her see this, but I was afraid.  I mean really terrified. Until that moment I hadn't ever thought of my wife's mortality.  She was so young, so alive.  In my mind she was the beautiful, young, 22 year old girl I met 14 years ago.  How could someone so obviously healthy be sick?  

She and our family have spent the last year adjusting to a new way of life, where mom has to carry around her glucose meter and insulin everywhere she goes, where mom can't have snacks between meals, and where I have to learn how to inject my wife with a special blend of glucose if she becomes unconscious.  I am not the person you want having to stick you with a needle when you pass out.

My wife is much tougher than I am.  As are I guess all people with diabetes.  She has to test her blood sugar at least 4 times a day, has to inject insulin, and has to figure out how many carbs are in everything she eats.  It is like an ever constant burden, silently lurking near. She has done an amazing job of managing her diabetes.  She is still learning how to match her carb intake with the right number of units of insulin. Its a work in progress and we don't know what the years ahead will bring, but she is amazingly consistent and persistent.

Our family is adjusting too.  We are all learning about diabetes in our own ways.  Yesterday Naomi saw our 20 month hold lift up his shirt and take a toy and poke his belly like he was injecting insulin.  So I guess for my sons diabetes will be something that has always been a part of their lives.

When something bad happens to me I tend to deny it, avoid it, run away (literally) from it.  This has worked for me because, for the most part, nothing really bad has every happened to me.  I have been blessed with wonderful family and friends, an amazing wife and children, and a great job. Her diabetes has been the worst thing that has every happened to me.  This may sound rather selfish on my part, I don't have diabetes after all. But when your wife is diagnosed with diabetes, it is like you are suddenly married to your wife and her diabetes.  I guess that is what marriage is about, the good and the bad, the change.  I have not been very effective in how I have supported her in adjusting to her diabetes.  I don't think I have been bad about it.  I have basic knowledge about diabetes, I wait around to make sure she is OK when her blood sugar is low, and am learning to count carbs.  But I haven't thrown myself into learning everything about diabetes that I can, so I can be an active partner in managing her diabetes.

So I am creating the blog to document what I learn about diabetes and to document my fund raising for diabetes research.  I hope the blog and my fundraising can also increase awareness about Type I diabetes, especially adult onset Type I diabetes

My Plan
I am going to do my best to try to post on this blog every week.  I am going to blog about what I have learned about diabetes and what I am doing to learn more about diabetes.

Everyone who knows me knows I love to run.  I have run at least a mile almost everyday (1 day I forgot to run) for the last 7 years.  I have run a bunch of races and 4 marathons.  Running a marathon is a lot like managing diabetes, without the needles.   It is painful at times, requires close monitoring of carbs/calories, and only those who are consistent and persistent succeed.  I love marathon running and training because I am not fast but I am consistent and persistent. My plan is to dedicate my training and racing to raising awareness about diabetes and money for diabetes research.  More specifically I have a goal of raising at least $5,000 for diabetes research this year.


My Running Goals
My goals are to raise $5,000 or more for diabetes research and raise awareness about diabetes, especially Type I diabetes.

My specific running goals of this year are:

1. Run a 1/2 marathon under 1 hour and 25 minutes at the Vancouver Marathon (May, 2013)
2. Run a marathon under 3 hours at the Victoria Marathon (October, 2013).  I have been so close twice.  I ran a 3 hour and 21 second marathon.
3. Finish an ultra marathon (50 km or 50 mile race) or do some other crazy running event (Nov-Dec 2013).

I Need Your Help
I am was going to do some crazy scheme like run all my races in a Mickey Mouse costume or run only in a Speedo to try to raise money with my running.  I am still open to something like that if someone reading this has a suggestion and/or makes a major donation (i look good in red Speedos)!  But instead I am hoping that people who know Naomi and our family, or who read this and are willing to support the cause, will donate money and support me in raising awareness through my blog and running.

So if you would like to support me, and more importantly Naomi, and all people who have diabetes, please donate using the link below.  I am raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation who support research to cure, treat, and prevent Type I diabetes.  I really appreciate any donation, no matter how small.  Also please help me raise awareness by telling everyone you know about this blog and what I am trying to do!


Mike's JDRF Fundraising Link

Thank You!  Mike