My Story: Len and Diabetes

LEN: I came home from work one day in March, and I thought I had a sore throat. I get to the doctor, and he does a glucose test and he says,

you're in trouble. He says, you're a diabetic. I said, what? He said, my meter goes to 600.

He says, I can't even gauge how high you are, because you're off the meter.

I was diagnosed in '03, but I was probably diabetic long before that.

And I began the process, the journey, the fear, the anxiety, the tension, the unknown.

Basically, for 17 years, that's what I've been doing is educating myself,

anything I can go to, read, find that might help me,

because there's so much I don't know. I want to know what I can do about it, and I want to know how I can help myself.

Getting my eyes checked, the eyes were the first thing that really went when I became diabetic.

So that's one of the main things I keep track of. Well, I'm Italian, so there was a whole lot

of pasta in my life. And now there isn't. It's a sacrifice.

So I've learned to eat better. I've learned to eat healthier. You know, a good salad and a good soup is a great meal.

I mean, that's a very nice meal. I used to run. I used to run in Central Park. I used to run 40, 50 miles a week.

I would love to. I used to run in races. So you just-- what can I do in my house? So I thought, I said, oh wait, I've

got two flights of six steps and the cellar stairs. So I started going up and down the stairs. And well, you know, let me do five or six reps.

You realize, let's start at three. Well, the bike has arrived.

So we got the bike. And now, you know-- now it's like we're riding it's style.

I want to see my grandkids graduate college. I want to see them build a life. I want to be a great-grandfather. And one of the biggest things, honestly, this

is from the heart. I don't want to have physical problems where I lose pieces of me.

It's bad enough I lost my hair and some of my teeth. I ain't losing anything else. And as much as I can say I'm making the best of it,

I don't want to make the best of it. I don't want other people to have to make the best of it. I don't want them to have it. And if there's a way that they can stop the process,