Heather at the start of the ride with her dog Becca in the trailer.
The Tour de Cure (American Diabetes Association bike ride) has become an annual event for our family. Heather (daughter) is Type 1 and leads an enthusiastic team of riders each year. I use the event as a soap box for talking about diabetes. This was my pitch last year trying to explain the disease and Heather's decision to get a service dog:
My daughter Heather has had Type 1 diabetes since she was 19. (She’s over 40 now!) She’s a very smart young woman and she learned quickly how to “manage” the disease. She understands the chemistry and the math of it. She is on an insulin pump and uses a cgm (continuous glucose monitor). These numbers feed into a computer program and she works hard to maintain a balance; keep from going high, manage the lows. This requires daily vigilance. Understanding food and it’s affect on your blood sugar is one thing, but, how do you calculate for unexpected illness, job stress, normal emotional highs and lows, and athletic exertion? It’s hard, very hard.
Heather was awarded a service dog, Becca, from an organization called Can Do Canines. Becca can detect when Heather’s blood sugar is going low and she’ll alert her by pawing at her. She’s a smart dog; a very gentle black lab. People’s reactions to hearing about Becca have been educational for me. “Can’t she control her blood sugar? They have pumps, you know.” or “She must have it very bad.” Yes, everyone who has Type 1 diabetes has it “very bad.” Their pancreas does not produce insulin, a hormone that allows sugar to enter the cells and produce energy. Without daily attention, people with diabetes will rapidly develop complications and will not live long.
There is no cure at this point. It is a lifelong sentence. But, Heather has chosen two actions that testify to her courage and determination to not let diabetes stop her from doing what she wants to do. First, it took courage to get a service dog. She debated a long time. Because, she knew that if she got a service dog she would be required to talk about it all the time. You see, diabetes can be disguised most of the time. Now, Becca, wearing her red service vest, goes with Heather to work every day. When Heather travels for work, Becca is with her. One of the only times that Heather leaves Becca at home is when she’s on her bike. In the last couple years Heather has become a biking fanatic (oops, that’s athlete). She writes for the blog of Team WILD (We Inspire Life with Diabetes). Team Wild helped to train Heather for her first 100-mile ride at the Tour de Cure in Minneapolis last year. This year Heather will ride a shorter distance and pull Becca in a dog trailer.
Everyone who is diabetic wears a red jersey for the ride. People along the route yell “Go, Red Rider!” as each red jersey passes. It’s quite moving. My daughter is a Red Rider and I’m her proud Mom.
This year's message (2014) took a more personal turn:
Each year brings new insights into this relentless disease. And this year’s twist is that last summer I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. What a wakeup call!
As you may know, my daughter Heather has Type 1 diabetes. Compared to the life-and-death risks of Type 1, managing Type 2 is easy. I stll have some insulin working in my system. The good thing about this new health challenge is that it has made me a more consciencous consumer of food, a more faithful exerciser (although warmer weather will help!), and a lighter weight person.
(Future posts about the Tour de Cure or diabetes will reference this post so that I don't need to repeat background information.)
One of the things I love about the ride is that I get to see old friends and get to know Heather's Minneapolis friends. We start with a pre-ride dinner on Friday night at Heather's house. The ride is Saturday morning with a party at the park after. Then, after we take showers (and nap) the team meets for dinner at The Chatterbox Cafe.
I'm hoping some of my Madison friends with Minneapolis and diabetes connections will join us next year.
The Charles family. Sharon (in middle) was at UW Library School with me.
Andrea (on the right) came the longest distance from Miami where she's a PT and cross fit junkie!
Michael and Susie and Joshua (who got to ride in a trailer, too).
Many of us wore green nail polish to match the Pancremaniac gear
designed by Treden Wagoner (hand on left).
As the red jersey's gather in their place of honor at the head of the pack I get very emotional realizing that this very visible event is nothing like the normal lives of these people who on most days hide their daily grind to survive.
The back of the shirt says: I ride with Diabetes; the sleeves say: I ride to thrive and I am not alone
Me with Heather and Becca (2013)
