Going For the Gold With Diabetes

Filed in archive Inspiration on February 22, 2006

Champion swimmer Gary Hall has won ten Olympic medals and the respect of a nation. Even more amazing is the way he accomplished these while enduring Type 1 Diabetes. He is living proof that diabetes does not have to hold you back: all your goals and dreams are possible.

From the
Times Leader:

"When I was first diagnosed in 1999, I was told I wouldn't be able to continue my swimming career at the level I was used to competing," Hall says. "Then I was referred to a great endocrinologist and a crack team of specialists - a diabetes nurse educator, dietitian and exercise physiologist - medical professionals who put together a program that enabled me to control my diabetes and get back into training."

Hall went on to win medals in the 2000 and 2004 Summer Games, including consecutive gold medals in the 50-meter freestyle, an event for which he still holds the world's record.Even more important, Gary reminds us that we can't listen to other people, even 'experts.' It's up to us to decide the directions our lives will take.