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Jay Cutler has Type 1 Diabetes

Arkady Renko
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Bob in SC Rookie

Bob in SC

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As a father of two children with Type 1 diabetes and a board member of the local chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It is possible to get Type 1 up to the age of 40. Being a Type 1 diabetic is not as bad as it used to be, they have better and more accurate blood glucose monitors and the newer long acting insulins like Lantus and Levimer allow diabetics to lead a more normal life with only taking shots of the fast acting insulin when they need to eat. The insulin pump is another device that helps better manage blood glucose levels but these can't be worn during sporting events. Jay should be just fine with the help of his endocronologist and the team doctors.

 

 

Thank you for one of the few intelligent posts on this serious topic. I hope your children live long, healthy lives.

Pyrite Gal Veteran

Pyrite Gal

Posted
Posted
As a father of two children with Type 1 diabetes and a board member of the local chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. It is possible to get Type 1 up to the age of 40. Being a Type 1 diabetic is not as bad as it used to be, they have better and more accurate blood glucose monitors and the newer long acting insulins like Lantus and Levimer allow diabetics to lead a more normal life with only taking shots of the fast acting insulin when they need to eat. The insulin pump is another device that helps better manage blood glucose levels but these can't be worn during sporting events. Jay should be just fine with the help of his endocronologist and the team doctors.

Great post sir! The Buffalo story I know of an athlete who found out about, managed his diabetes and then exceled as a pro is former Buffalo Bison and then longtime MLB player Dave Hollins. He used to work out at Body Blocks downtown when he was in town with the Bisons (I think he was from Orchard Park originally) on his trips up and down to the MLB.

 

His trainer, Bob Bateson (an accomplished college LB with Corltland St. who got brief tryouts with the Bills, Dolphins, etc and was a player a couple of years in NFL Europe) worked with him in his up and down days and like many workouts it was the usual struggle. Bob had to go to the airport and wrestle Hollins off a plane when he got word of an incredibly high blood sugar.

 

The great thing is that Hollins became a better and more accomplished athlete after his diagnosis. One they knew what was going on and could manage it through Hollins taking his blood sugar more consistently and learning how particular sugar levels felt so he could stabilize them while working out like a demon, Hollins got things under control.

 

Like many MLB players he bounced around, but was able to hit over .300 on a somewhat consistent basis and maintained a journeyman MLB career for at least 5 years after diagnosis. He was good enough that he was able to catch on fairly consistently with Cleveland and Toronto which allowed him to maintain a close relationship with Body Block and Bob as the place he worked out (either traveling to Buffalo from 2-3 hours away when his schedule allowed or even more consistently when he ended up at Cleveland's AAA Bison franchise when he was in th minors or on rehab.

 

He certainly demonstrated to me that it is certainly doable to operate as a professional athlete (even with the instability of the typical journeyman status as it is incredibly rare for an athlete to stay with one team throughout their career and it is not rare at all for a player to maintain a career by playing for multiple teams.

 

In the end, none of us gets out of this life alive. However, thanks to increased knowledge, modern medicine, and most important diligent efforts by the diabetes "victim" this disease though critically in need of a cure is not a death sentence for a person, or even a condemnation to a life without sports.

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