Diabetes and the NCAA Tournament...athletes can live with it too!

Diabetes is a condition that affects all walks of life, young and old, people of all backgrounds, and even.... athletes. With the brackets and the NCAA tournament the talk of everyones lips, it is little known that Georgetown guard Austin Freeman was diagnosed with diabetes last season when he missed a home game loss to Notre Dame with what was originally thought to be a stomach virus. The "virus" continued to plague him, and he was just not getting better... and that's when the doctors knew it was something much more. This condition is not expected to affect his career; many athletes lead successful college and pro careers with diabetes. They just have to take careful consideration when training and playing with the conditions that diabetes presents, which is something all diabetics have to face whether a trained athlete or not. He will have to carefully monitor his blood sugars and make sure that he has enough hydration when on the court. Diabetics are not able to convert sugar to energy because the body can't properly use the insulin it produces, or, the pancreas just quits making insulin. In his case, he is a type 1 diabetic, and in his case, he no longer produces insulin. This means he needs daily insulin injections or the constant delivery of insulin through an insulin pump.

But the important thing is that one can live with diabetes with a lifestyle change, as demonstrated by Austin Freeman; it can be done.