Why Diabetes is the Best Thing that Ever Happened to Me
I’ll be the first to say that having a chronic illness isn’t the coolest thing in the world. Especially being a type 1 diabetic for the past 25 years. There have been hours, even days that I’ve lost over the course of my life because of this disease.
Not ideal.
But I maintain it’s still the best thing that’s ever happened to me.
I got VERY lucky. I understood, from an earlier age than most, the terrible things that would happen to me should I leave my disease unchecked. Kidney failure, amputations, blindness, death. It was drilled in to me when I was a kid, which helped me stay true to what good diabetics do. However, when I finished college (and after my competitive hockey career ended), I’d noticed that those heathy habits had gone by the wayside.
I was overweight. My A1C was elevated. I was not in a great place. Not what people wanted to see in a future physician. Seriously though, who’s going to listen to a fat, unhealthy doctor? Nobody.
When I got out of college, I was by myself for the first time. I had no one to blame but myself for the awful state of my health. At that point, I remembered all of the terrible things that would happen to me if I let my diabetes and my health continue on this path. Kidney failure, amputations, blindness, death. It scared the hell out of me. Again, and again, and again.
Fast forward 7 years and my health is restored. No longer overweight, diabetes well under control, as healthy as I, or anyone else, has ever been. The byproduct? Developing an addiction to health and fitness. I can no longer live without it, and that’s the best addiction I could ask for.
None of what I am today would have happened without diabetes. I likely wouldn’t have become a physician, I likely would not have developed this addiction to health and fitness, and there are thousands of people out there that wouldn’t look to me for information, motivation or inspiration to improve their lives for the healthier. Because diabetes has transformed me into someone that can help people, diabetes is the best thing that ever happened to me.
