Local Betes: Garrett

Todays local diabetic is Garrett, he quite the athlete. He didn't let diabetes keep him down and become fearful of doing the things he loves. Here is his story:

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes or Hyperglycemia at the end of 7th grade.  It was a very sudden change in myself physiologically speaking.  I was perfectly healthy perfectly normal and then 2 days later I felt like I had been hit by a mac truck and all I wanted to do was sleep.  My grandmother had type 1 diabetes and was diagnosed with it in the late 1940's.  So my father having a background with his mother having diabetes tested my blood at our home and the meter said "Hi."  I went to the the dr's office the next morning and got admitted with a blood glucose level of 780.  From the next year I was on insulin shots with cocktail of long acting and short acting insulin.  I moved to California in 2000 after having diabetes for a year and became a patient at Valley children's Hospital and got my first pump that year.  I have now been on a insulin pump for the past 12 years and would never go back to shots.  The ease and comfort that I can pump in or correct at anytime my body feels it needs is a blessing.  

I still have diabetes and people ask me all the time "Do you have it bad?  Because you don't act look or act like you do."  I always try to explain that you can't have it bad or good so to speak you have a choice how you want to handle it. You can either take care of your body or you can hurt it by choosing to not taking care of it.  When I was first diagnosed I promised myself that diabetes would never stop me from every participating in sports or recreational activities.  Nor would it ever stop me from eating any foods I wanted to eat.  I also never wanted to use my diabetes as an excuse for not doing something I should.  So from that day on I have never let it every dictate any of my actions and was very secretive about having diabetes.  I continued participating in three sports football, wrestling, and golf i was in all the way through high school.  I competed at the highest level in wrestling and did a very diligent weight loss plan to get my body down to around 4% body fat to compete on a state championship team.  That process was incredibly hard but rewarding process.  

Throughout all of this I have chosen daily that i want to be as healthy as i can be.  God gives us things that cause us to cling to him and put our trust in Him. For me this is that. I have to trust that HE allowed this into my life to bring glory to him and Him alone.