Jake's Story

I Knew something was wrong When I started Peeing six times a night...

It was 2015, and I had just started my first year at Eastern Illinois University. But something was definitely wrong, and it wasn't my nerves. I couldn't stop drinking water and peeing. And I quickly lost 15 pounds. When Halloween came around, my doctor told me my blood sugar was so high it didn't even register on the glucometer. After rushing to the hospital, the diagnosis was clear: Type I diabetes.

It quickly settled in that this was permanent, and everything was going to have to change.  I learned how to carb count give insulin shots and how to balance my blood sugar and insulin levels when working out.

I'm a huge sports fan, and with time to kill in the hospital over the fall, I set to work on my fantasy football lineup. But then I started wondering whether any athletes still compete after getting diagnosed with T1d - and was I surprised to read how many people have not let T1d stop them from competing at the highest level. Even more inspiring, many of these athletes continue their work off the field to support T1d.

Fast forward to today. Five years after my diagnosis, I know more about Type 1 than I ever wanted to. I'm using a minimed insulin pump, and and a Dexcom G6 I currently am a coach with my old high school cross country team. And am currently pursuing a masters in teaching degree from Liberty University Online so I can stay close to my endocrinologist and continue to coach Next fall I will also A special education assistant at my old middle school where I hope to gain valuable experience to help me in the teaching profession.

And all the while I keep meeting and finding T1ds who are doing more than I ever imagined anyone could do with the disease. They are musicians, politicians, athletes, actors, artists - you name it - and they have not let T1d stop them from achieving their dreams. All the while, they go through the same struggle we type 1 diabetics go through every day.

They are T1d's just like me.  

If someone asked me a year ago what my goal in life was I would have quickly said work in sports. That still may happen. But today I've put up this site to collect stories of T1d success and build a community to inspire and empower anyone who's T1d.

Jake Kaufman