diabetes is one word, but covers two diseases. when people mention “diabetes” they’re most likely talking about type 2 diabetes. type 2 diabetes usually develops in people because of the way they choose to live their lives – but type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks and kills off its own insulin producing cells. in fact, most people with type 1 diabetes prefer to call it “type 1” or “T1D” to differentiate themselves from others whose diabetes developed because of their lifestyle choices. people who have T1D have to regulate their blood sugar by injecting insulin into their bodies. insulin is a hormone that allows the body to metabolize glucose. to inject insulin, they can use a syringe or insulin pen (looks like a large pen with a needle. it has a multi-dose cartridge with selectable dose amounts), or a small insulin pump (about the size of a pager) they can wear 24 hours a day that feeds a pre-programmed amount of insulin through a cannula (small tube with a needle) into the subcutaneous space (under the skin) somewhere in the body. there are 5 or 6 things that affect blood sugar and we can only measure two of them, so regulating blood sugar is a delicate 24/7 balancing act that can’t be taken lightly – but that doesn’t mean it has to slow you down…

in 1983 bill carlson was the first person with T1D to finish the ironman triathlon. ever since he’s inspired others with T1D to turn stumbling blocks into stepping stones. here are some pictures i shot in san diego of a crew of triathletes and friends who have T1D who were training for an upcoming race.

the crew would stop every 30 minutes or so for a quick blood sugar check