James’s Story

Hi 👋 I’m @jamesmansf - I’m a co-founder of @typeonerun and I’m on the @beyondtype1 leadership council - for about 10 years after diagnosis my struggle with type 1 was alone. Support groups didn’t appeal to me and I didn’t feel comfortable asking for donations for JDRF events all the time. During this period I tried to give back by participating in clinical trials to do my part for future treatment for T1Ds.

When Beyond Type 1 came on the scene it changed everything for me. Suddenly they reframed type 1 in a way that seemed positive and cool to me. I began to discover the online community. At the same time I was getting more heavily into running as a way to manage the pscychological and physical effects of T1D.

During one clinical trial I met @betacellpodcast who was training for the same marathon as me. I saw what he was doing for the T1D community in Los Angeles and we quickly became friends. He freelances heavily and I am a business owner, and both of us dabble with marketing and design, so it made sense for us to apply our backgrounds and passions to incorporate our running group, “Type One Run” as a non-profit. Our goal was simply to provide a way for people to spread and grow T1D community everywhere in the world, free, with as few barriers to entry as possible, not just online but in real life. We’ve seen the very real psychological, social, and physical benefits of community, but also the barriers caused by stigma, socioeconomics, and exclusivity. We still have a long way to go and a lot to figure out, but personally I’ve been excited, overwhelmed, and inspired by how people around the world have joined in. Where I am today with type 1 is so far from where I was when I walked out of the hospital in San Francisco in 2006 in a daze.

James Mansfield