Sailing & Skittles
2009
Nineteen years living with diabetes. Five sailboats departed from Santa Barbara Harbor headed for the Channel Islands in November. The captains estimated the sail would take approximately 4 to 5 hours. That morning was beautiful, sunny, and approaching 70, typical for SB year-round.
I am having difficulty putting this experience into words. It is so close to my heart I wouldn't want to capture it in a way that communicated anything less.
I watched the video I will post below for anyone interested. Tears welled up, knowing I had an opportunity to be with these kids for part of their journey.
The kids on this adventure were ages 9-12 and there were 12 of them. They traveled to SB from all over the US. Living with type 1 diabetes, these kids just spent the last year paired with a mentor triathlete living with type 1. The triathlete spent the year training for the Arizona Ironman. This adventure was the culminating event for the mentees before they traveled to Phoenix, Arizona, to cheer on their triathlete. A few days on the islands; sailing, hiking, and kayaking. The program was Triabetes, and the kids' were called Triabuddies.
Providing experiences for children is a deep-seated value of mine. I am the Mom who takes my kids and several of their friends' skiing, kayaking, night hiking, trapezing, mountain biking, backpacking, climbing, and sunrise swims.
I didn't hesitate to spend a few days with a group of kids with type 1 on a fun adventure for a few days outdoors.
On the sail to the Channel Islands, I got somewhat seasick. I was a diabetes counselor, and my role was to support these kids. Joey was a vibrant 12-year-old from New York, and he had a lot of opinions, energy, and sass. He was approaching his teen years at full speed. I position myself on a seat, trying to keep my eyes on the horizon and nausea at bay. Joey sat down next to me with his Coke and bag of Skittles not too long after we left the harbor. Immediately I asked questions.
Me: Are you low?
Joey: Nope.
Me: Um, why are you eating sugar?
Joey: I want to.
Me: Is this because your Mom is not here?
Joey: Nope.
Me: Why then?
Joey: I told you, because I want to.
Me: Do you eat these items at home in this way?
Joey: Yep.
Me: Did you take insulin for it?
Joey: Yep.
Me: Did you check your blood sugar?
Joey: Yep
My concern was Joey's blood sugar would go super high with the carb content he was about to consume. Joey told me he ate this amount of sugar regularly and knew how to take insulin to cover it.
I was downright impressed with his blood sugar control on that sail, eating the way he did. Joey did Joey, and it worked well for him.
Once on the island, we set up our outdoor kitchen for the evening meal. The kids helped out where they could with prep, serving, and clean up. Before long, we all were wearing headlamps and getting ready to head back to our boats for the evening.
Observing these kids experience what I already knew brought pure joy to my heart (diabetes goes away when people with diabetes surround you). They danced, played guitar, flirted, laughed frequently, and wanted to stay up too late. They had the opportunity to be kids. They didn't have a parent complaining/reminding/fighting/emphasizing about how much this disease sucked in their life. They didn't have a parent trying to put them in a trophy box for how well they were doing with this "illness". They didn't have siblings jealous of the attention, positive or negative, that they received because of their disease. They didn't have doctors reminding them of what they "need" to do and how they "should" be managing their condition. They weren't filling in logbooks, downloading pumps and CGMs, over analyzing carb counts, or changing out insulin pump infusion sites. Nope, not at this moment; they had joy in just being kids.
Over the next few days, we hiked the island, kayaked in the sea caves, and laughed an incredible amount. Their parents trusted Peter. Peter Nerothin was the President of Insulindependence, the organization responsible for developing this program. Peter was right there with them on the islands, encouraging, supportive, understanding, and enjoying life.
Peter also lives with type 1 diabetes, and he adores travel, adventure, and to laugh. To the kids, he was a surfer dude who joked with them and somehow made diabetes look incredibly cool. To the parents, he was the kind-hearted man who put that hope in their kid's eyes and, as a result, in the parents' hearts.
.
I was fortunate to be involved and on the board of directors for Insulindependence for several years. To this day, when I see Skittles, I think of Joey and smile. I get curious about how he is doing and where that thirst for life has taken him now that he is in his early twenties.
2009 Triabuddies Adventure and Triabetes Ironman Arizona
Many photos captured in the video by Lisa Seaman McKendry (Lisa is a photographer and she was on the summit team for IDEA2000 )
Video captured, created and edited by Blair Ryan (another kick-ass T1D triathlete and adventurer)