After years of rejecting his family's love of running, Casey Boren "got talked into" a mini-triathlon and found his passion. He trained for and successfully finished an IRONMAN triathlon at the age of 35 but was almost immediately after diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. He talks to Stacey about learning to train with T1D and how he not only finished more IRONMAN races, but competed at the World Championship in Hawaii. Casey and other elite athletes with type 1 started the Diabetes Sports Project last year. It's a way to inspire and share stories in order to help others live active healthy lives with diabetes.
You can vote for Casey this week in the Runner's World Cover Search contest. He is one of 100 semifinalists and needs your vote by 8/21/16. (Vote here)
Stacey also talks to 16-year-old Canadian soccer phenom Michael Thornton. He and his family moved to Spain in 2013 to allow Michael to compete among the best in the world. He talks about learning the language and managing diabetes in a completely new environment. Diagnosed at age six, Michael and his family are back in Canada. Stacey caught up to him at this summer's Friends for Life conference in Florida.
Bigfoot Biomedical came on the scene in 2014 determined to change the way companies look at diabetes technology. They've moved forward quickly and are now starting their first clinical trial for their "Smartloop" automated insulin delivery system. Stacey talks to Bigfoot Chief Engineer Lane Desborough about what this system is, what the trial is testing, and how you can find out if you're eligible to enroll.
Desborough is also the co-creator of Nightscout, the free, open source CGM remote monitoring system and is credited with coining the term "We are not waiting." Like all four founders of Bigfoot, Desborough has a child with type 1 diabetes.
This week, the American Association of Diabetes Educators holds its annual conference. Do you have a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE)? We'll talk about the help they provide and how to get the most out of your relationship. AADE President Hope Warshaw shares her message to people with diabetes and to educators.
Hope is also the author of many books including Eat out Eat Well, the Guide to Healthy Eating in Any Restaurant and Diabetes Meal Planning Made Easy. She is a registered dietitian, a certified diabetes educator and a sought-after consultant.
This year’s AADE conference will see something new, a live Twitter chat hosted by DSMA. Diabetes Social Media Advocacy is a powerhouse when it comes to connected people within the diabetes online community. Stacey talks about DSMA and more with advocate and blogger Scott Johnson.
Many parents of young children with type 1 diabetes have found childcare very difficult to navigate. But rarely are children with type 1 excluded, in writing, from daycare, camp and before and after school programs. That’s the case right now, though, in the US Military. An Army policy dictates that T1D kids can’t be cared for in those programs. Recently, the American Diabetes Association joined a lawsuit to try and change that. Stacey talks to Sarah Fech-Baughman, the director of litigation for the American Diabetes Association. Find out more about this case, what you can do if you have trouble finding childcare and Sarah’s unique connection to type 1.
Imagine a social media network where what we say about our lives with diabetes actually drives research. It’s out there, and it’s called Glu. Outreach manager Anna Floreen explains what Glu, and the T1D Exchange are, and how they help researchers focus on what really matters to people living with diabetes and their loved ones. Anna was diagnosed with type 1 at the age of 6. She found great support at camp and recently took part in one of the Bionic Pancreas trials. She tells Stacey how surprised she was at how much of the mental burden of diabetes was lifted, and how difficult it was at the end of the trial to give that up.
This summer, Nichole Nichols reached out to her state lawmakers for help navigating the system for her T1D daughter and other families having issues with Medicaid/Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) . Instead of guidance, she got a pretty rude response. Rep. Jeffrey Guice emailing "I'm sorry for your problem. Have you thought about buying supplies with the money you earn?" Nicki responded by publishing the email on social media and the diabetes community, then the national media, picked up the story. Rep. Guice apologized and Nicki received support directly from Medicaid and her state (but not from Guice). However, she says what happened next at the legislature was even worse.
In this episode, Stacey also talks about the new UK Prime Minister, Theresa May, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes three years ago.
Country star George Canyon was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 14. At the time, all he wanted to do was be a pilot and serve his country. His dream had to change, but he never gave up on flying. Just this week, and due in part to George's efforts, Canada changed their regulations, allowing people with T1D to become private pilots. George was the runner up in the 2004 version of the TV show Nashville Star, he’s had several huge albums since and a big career before, but he’s also been to medical school and has spoken out about diabetes since he was diagnosed. Stacey spoke with him at the Children with Diabetes Friends for Life Conference, where he performed for a very appreciative crowd.
Rodney Miller is a power lifter and strongman competitor who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 4. Rodney’s story is all the more remarkable because he says he was always small for his age and only walked into a gym about 8 years ago. Stacey talks to him about the reasons behind his move to fitness and toward the extreme (like lifting cars!). Rodney also founded Bolus & Barbells, an event for people with diabetes who enjoy lifting and barbell sports. In this episode, you'll hear from many people who took part in Bolus & Barbells and wanted to express their gratitude to Rodney.
Stacey also talks about The Podcast Awards, Children with Diabetes Friends for Life conference and more!
Her videos bring humor, instruction and support to thousands of people with diabetes. Diabetic Danica, as she's known, has more than 14-thousand subscribers on her very popular YouTube channel. But she wasn’t always in a place to help others. When diagnosed at age 11, Danica needed a lot of help herself. We’ll talk about how she got from that scared 11 year old, to being a registered nurse and all those subscribers today.
In our community connection this week, we find out about Type 1 Diabetes Day at the Georgia State Capitol. Trip Stoner, who was diagnosed with T1D as an adult, talks about her effort to educate state lawmakers. She's joined by Dr. Jonathan Ownby from Atlanta Diabetes Associates.
Stacey also talks about next week's Children with Diabetes Friends for Life Conference and a new post by Scott Hanselman called, "The Promising State of Diabetes Technology in 2016."
Amanda Jo has been a professional entertainer since childhood. She's done everything from sing the national anthem at huge stadiums to performing opera and stage musicals. Amanda Jo was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a teenager, just after she had decided to follow her passion into country music. Now a singer-songwriter in Nashville, she collaborated last summer with American Idol’s Adam Lasher, who also has type 1, on The Needle Free Song, a diabetes anthem. We’ll talk about how that song came about, how it took a while for Amanda Jo to feel comfortable talking about her diabetes and how she manages type 1 on the road and even on stage.
Stacey also talks about Father's Day and how studies show that children whose fathers are more involved in their T1D management have better health outcomes.