The Glucose Guru: Oh Canada.....

Wow! Just when I think I've got a boatload of great stories about diabetic athletes from DTC (Diabetes Training Camp) and i couldn't possibly get anymore, I meet another handful of inspiring athletes, all doing what i do everyday - live without limits when it comes to their diabetes. I don't have room in my head for all of them. (Wow, I walked right into that one, I can imagine all of the jokes from here).

So I left Trifest early so I could make it to the Children with Diabetes in Toronto. I was sad to leave the team early, but boy was I glad to be with CWD. The confernece focused on Insulin Pump Therapy and best practices surrounding it. And to emphasize the idea that pumping can be done successfully there were a plethora of athletes there. It was hard to keep track of them all, but here's a little run down on who was there:

John Chick - Boy was he abig boy. And for good reason. He's a football player for the Canadian Football League, on the defensive line for the Saskatchewan Roughriders to be more specific. His team won the Grey Cup in 2007
Jonny White and Tom Baxter. I had met these great guys at last years conference. They're the founders of C2C Adventure, Cycling Africa for Diabetes. They had biked across the African continent together!
Mike Fisher is a World Cup bronze medalist and a member of the National Adapted Snowboarding team. He really related well with the kids, because, well, sonwboaarding is the coolest thing ever.
Chris Jarvis is a member of the Canadian Rowing Team from 2002 and counting; he's competed in the Athens Olympic Games, and has won two World Cups and the Pan Am Games. He and i ran together at the Boston Marathon several years ago (he does those in his 'spare time').
Leanne Stanley is an outrigger canoeist who competes at the World Championship level. She has been paddling for over 10 years and says that she is stronger and fitter now than before she had diabetes. (How do you like that one....stronger and fitter now than before she had diabetes!!!!) and.....
Chase Pelletier is a competitive go-kart racer going into his 3rd year of high level kart racing. He won the Canadian Rookie Karting Championship hosted in Hamilton, Ontario in 2007 and dreams of someday being in Formula One and standing on the top box in Monaco.