• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Diabetes Role Models

Grateful

Grateful

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,399
Location
Kent, United Kingdom
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
This is a place to profile people you have personally known (not "famous people with diabetes").

I will kick this off with Sally (not her real name). She was born in about 1910 and was the drama/speech teacher at my school in the UK. She must have been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in early adulthood and was thus one of the earliest people whose lives were saved by insulin.

By the time I was at school in the early 1970s, Sally was rotund, her face was deathly white, her eyes were half-closed and she was on her way to going blind, she could walk only with a stick and among the travails along the way, she'd had a double mastectomy. As schoolkids do, we made fun of her strange appearance.

Sally was however one of the best teachers I've ever had. In particular she had a mastery of stagecraft and I've lost track of the number of her students who ended up becoming professional actors or theater professionals. (She excelled in other respects too, but I will leave those out to avoid direct identification.)

She had a wonderful sense of humor and an infectious laugh. She was part of the school's institutional memory, in fact she was an institution herself, she had been there for so long.

I am not exactly sure how old she was when she passed away, but she must have been in her early 80s -- far, far beyond what you would have expected for a Type 1 diabetic born so long ago.

I think of her often now. I never expected her to become a role model for when I was diagnosed with T2D, but life is strange sometimes.
 
Last edited:
You made me think of my father's sister Marie. She was born in the early 1920s maybe late 1910s and like your Sally must have been one of the first to benefit from insulin. She also lived well into her 80s by which time she was blind but a brave lady. Her husband had been a coal miner in the Swansea Valley and passed away in his 60s with something a lot of miners had, emphysema. She continued to receive a coal allowance till her death and there was an occasion when she could hear someone stealing her coal, although blind, she went out and attacked the bloke with her coal shovel. I remember visiting her with a girl friend and she immediately offered to make some tea, I said I'd do it and discovered that the teapot was full of fungal looking things and probably hadn't been used for years. I said nothing and cleaned the teapot till it shone . . . . inside and out. Believe it or not she fell down an empty grave while attending the funeral of another aunt, she broke her hip and never really recovered.

I can even remember going and watching her TV in the 1950s, a funny box with a little screen. Strange how memories come back so easy, 50 years is easier than 50 minutes LOL
 
My Diabetes role models have to come from this page! I have no family or friends with any type of Diabetes! And there are so many role models, I love this forum so much and visit every day, for inspiration and motivation. Now I’m getting a bit more confident and experienced I try to help others where I can.
 
Maybe not exactly role model. More heroes.
And that is the people who successfully manage type 2 through diet.

Having type 1, I have been asked multiple times “is that the really bad one?” I usually explain there’s not a good type.
Some people may be afraid of injections but as I am not, it’s not a huge issue. I can continue with my life eating and doing pretty much the same as I did before I had diabetes.

But people with type 2 have a choice. Those who take the diet path are not taking the simple path. They are taking the path overhung with bracken-like temptation with nettle-like nay sayers pushing up from below. You guys have massive self control, dedication and I am in awe of anyone who can change their lifestyle be it giving up smoking, changing careers or grabbing their health with two hands and yanking it back.
 
helensaramay said:
Maybe not exactly role model. More heroes.
And that is the people who successfully manage type 2 through diet.

Having type 1, I have been asked multiple times “is that the really bad one?” I usually explain there’s not a good type.
Some people may be afraid of injections but as I am not, it’s not a huge issue. I can continue with my life eating and doing pretty much the same as I did before I had diabetes.

But people with type 2 have a choice. Those who take the diet path are not taking the simple path. They are taking the path overhung with bracken-like temptation with nettle-like nay sayers pushing up from below. You guys have massive self control, dedication and I am in awe of anyone who can change their lifestyle be it giving up smoking, changing careers or grabbing their health with two hands and yanking it back.
Click to expand...

As a diet controlled T2 right from diagnosis, I can say I feel exactly the same but in reverse. People with T1 and T2s on insulin have such a difficult job juggling insulin doses with not just carbs but protein, illness, stress, even temperature, with the constant concern about hypos. I don't know how you do it, day in, day out, forever. My hat goes off to all of you. Sincerely.
 
helensaramay said:
You guys have massive self control, dedication and I am in awe of anyone who can change their lifestyle be it giving up smoking, changing careers or grabbing their health with two hands and yanking it back.
Click to expand...

Why @helensaramay thank you so much!

I think "awe" also describes my feelings when thinking about my Type 1 first cousin.

I will call her Andrea (not her real name). She is 59, almost exactly my age. She was diagnosed Type 1 in early adulthood.

This was a massive shock for her, but instead of retreating into her shell or something, she wrote a book that was issued by a major publisher. To mask the identifying information, I will not give the title, but it was about how women with chronic illness (not just diabetes) cope with their illnesses and have long, fulfilling lives.

I don't see her very often. But I remember years ago being impressed how she would matter-of-factly pull out a syringe in a crowded restaurant and "shoot up" with insulin! The last time I saw her, we went to Borough Market in London and bought enough food to feed a horse, and went back to a borrowed flat to cook it!

Andrea is also a big foodie. Having Type 1 has never stopped her eating pretty much whatever she likes, although obviously she must be doing some fairly careful carb/insulin planning. She lives in rural Suffolk, has her own chickens and vegetable garden, and as is her wont, is a pillar of the community.
 
Last edited:
My diabetes hero is someone I had never met until a couple of years ago. I won't give him a name.

Anyway, this chap is now 82, fit well and rides his bicycle every day around our town. He was diagnosed at 15 years old. Can you imagine the journey and changes he as experienced in those 67 years? When I asked him about his day-to-day life, he just responded, "Oh, I just get on with it."

He is on MDI and carb counts using the "old fashioned" exchanges" method, which I believe works on units of 10gr of carb = 1 carb unit. He seems to work on the basis that if it isn't broken, don't change it.

How great is that? And I reckon he'll be just getting on with it for a few more years to come.

He is immensely proud of his 50 and 60 year medals and seriously wants his 70 year medal.

About the only thing he doesn't do is answer his phone, because he's always out doing something, whether volunteering in various ways, or having a jolly decent social life! Respect %&^. What a bloke. :)

When I read on the forum of some of the challenges some members encounter, I am reminded just how fortunate I am to be able to body swerve the pharmacy and just eat fabulous food.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
As a diet controlled T2 right from diagnosis, I can say I feel exactly the same but in reverse. People with T1 and T2s on insulin have such a difficult job juggling insulin doses with not just carbs but protein, illness, stress, even temperature, with the constant concern about hypos. I don't know how you do it, day in, day out, forever. My hat goes off to all of you. Sincerely.
Click to expand...

I totally agree.
 
Here's another one. I will call him John, but that is not his real name.

Here in America, John was a Phys Ed teacher at a local high-school and is the father of a childhood friend of my wife's.

John was and is fit and trim.

He is now almost 90 years old. Somewhere around retirement-time 25 years ago, he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

John controls the condition entirely with diet.

Now, with the proviso that I don't know anything more about John's history than what is stated above (and think it would be intrusive to ask), I think that is pretty impressive, and immensely encouraging for us T2s who are trying to do the same.
 
I do not know if this counts but my role model is my consultant at Newcastle, I have only been under his care for the last 10 years after being under north Durham care for 29 years. When i first saw him he had a a4 sheet of paper off Durham to explain 29 years of diabetes and i told him that i had enough off life and thought i was hitting my head off a wall. My appointment was for 10 mins but i was in for 1 hour and told to come back next week. I went back the following week and he had more information, i told him that i had been on a insulin pump for 6 months and was no nearer getting good control since i got it and told him i offered the pump back to the hospital. we sat and talked again for another hour and he suggested some changes which he thought might help and said he would call me after a week and to come back the following week. He said if i was worried during the night to phone the hospital up as there was always a diabetic doctor on call. I left that room with hope and felt that he was not telling me to do this or do that, as he said its your body so you should have a say in the treatment, after a week he called things were getting better after 10 mins and a few adjustments he said i will see you next week. When i got off the phone i had a smile on my face and my father had tears in his eyes, i said whats wrong, he said that was the first time in over 5 years of seeing a diabetic doctor that he had seen me smile. The next visit my father came with me he wanted to meet the man who had given his son hope and a smile, my BS were starting to settle down and as i was near the time to go on to the transplant list. The doctor said that i had a choice to make either stay with him and have a 30 min ride or go back to Durham for a 5 min ride, i nearly jumped out off the chair and said please let me stay here as you have given me confidence and hope which i had not have for years. My father who is in a wheelchair said he has no choice its you and the way you have given me some of my son back that i thought was gone. A few years ago we were talking in clinic and the doctor said Durham said you were a difficult person to deal with, he said they must have got the wrong person. He pushed for me to have a SPK traansplant and even now he has told me any problem give me a ring. this consultant is my hero, friend and a really nice person who puts his diabetic before himself. I did see him in the transplant ward at 10 at night he was not on call just doing some work and popped in to see how i was doing, which i said without your help we would not be here and talking. So he is my role model to be the best human being i can and always try to help people who are worse off than yourself.
 
Most of the people on here who I have learnt so much off.
 
leahkian said:
I do not know if this counts but my role model is my consultant at Newcastle, I have only been under his care for the last 10 years after being under north Durham care for 29 years.
Click to expand...

Absolutely brilliant. Inspirational story.

And now I will admit one infinitessimally tiny thing. I copied your post into a word processor and inserted paragraphs every few sentences. Otherwise I would have found it impossible to read.

My goodness I feel churlish for criticizing anything you do!
 
I have a friend who is a lifelong type 1. He lives alone on his farm, which he runs himself, and he is in his mid fifties. He has had more troubles than most people and his life is constantly hard. A physically small man, he works harder than anyone I know and is unfailingly cheerful. If even a tiny portion of his spirit and determination could be shared, what medicine it would be! I have helped him out at times over the years and a day doing what he does is a real eye opener. He always asks how I am getting on, despite his battles being far worse than mine. My hero!
 
Back
Top