Gary Hall Jr. > Message Board > Diabetes > Page 2 of 3

Thank you for all the amazing emails! Gary has received so many great messsages to messageboard@garyhalljr.com from all over the world including swim fans, other Olympians, swim coaches, and diabetes patients.

If you would like to send Gary an email you can do so and Gary will try to personally answer your email as soon as possible.

February 8, 2004

I ask you about diabetes. I am still worrying about my short life. I want to live a long live until 80 to 90 years old. I have to know what you use pills without insule shot.

I am deaf and overweight. I started to walk last week.

What do you think help on work out swim or walk or light weight at the gym? What do you recommend?

Please let me know any time when you have free time.

Thank you,

kevin

February 6, 2004

Dear Gary Hall Jr.

My son, Joseph, age 8, was diagnosed with diabetes at age 10 months. He is an extremely bright boy with a great attitude. He has been wearing an insulin pump for the last 2 years and is very happy with the flexibility it allows him. Joseph started swimming and competing with Williamsburg Aquatic Club last year because I thought it would be a great way to keep his blood sugars down and teach him a sport he could continue his entire life. He has become a great little swimmer and occasionally will state that he wants to become an Olympian just like you! Thanks for inspiring him and others who have diabetes to know that anything is possible. If you have time in your busy training schedule, I know he would love to hear from you.

Leslie Pankey, Williamsburg, Virginia

I have just found your web page and I cannot tell you how inspired I am...My daughter Hallie was onset with Type 1 in July 2000. She was 10 at the time and she will be a full-fledged teenager in early February 2004 (NEXT WEEK!). She runs cross-country and is playing school and AAU basketball. I tried to get her into swimming (I was a pretty good competitive swimmer until college...a backstroker)...but it was not to be. We will enjoy following your successes...best wishes to you!

Elizabeth D. Hardy

January 31, 2004

Hi Gary,

Just wanted to drop you a line to say hi. Nice website, not to mention career! Honestly, I'm not a huge swimming fan, but have learned of you through the world of diabetes. I'm 32 and have lived with the disease for 30 years. It's so important to me to manage it responsibly and be a good example for anyone else with diabetes. I have been looking for others in my age range who are also very (for lack of a better term) high-maintenance with their care. From what I've read, we're of a similar mindset with maintaining exquisite control. I don't quite have the Olympics to aim for, but maintain a super-high fitness level, and am the healthiest and fittest I've ever been in my life. Somewhere along the way I told my doctor I would live forever with this disease, so I just have to prove my point to her. Hehe.

Seriously, though, I appreciate seeing news and items about you and read interviews when you discuss diabetes and health. I know what the discouragement from doctors is like, and the misinformation out there that keeps people discouraged. You're one of the bright lights that is helping people, and that's awesome. Hope to keep seeing/reading more from you along the way.

Good luck with your training for Athens. That sounds like it's gonna rock!
Cheers,
Shane Nygaard
Minneapolis, MN

How awesome of you to put your time into this website. As the mom of a swimmer with diabetes, searching and hunting the best advice have become a way of life. My 13 year old daughter has been swimming competetively since age 5. Her workouts are 2 hours long, 4-5 days per week and around 6000-7000 yards per night. Next year she will swim mornings as well. My question for you is this. Melanie really struggles on the longer races: 400, 500, 1650, as compared to shorter races. As a swimmer with diabetes, do you feel that it is more dificult to keep your muscles energized for longer races? I feel it's not only an issue of maintaining her blood sugar levels, but also of having enough "fuel" to compete well.

Now that we've found this site, we will be regular visitors. Incidentally, Melanie's olympic aspirations are fueled by her uncle, a 1980 hockey team olympian!

Many, many thanks!!

Joanne Craig

January 15, 2004

Hi Gary - my name is Caroline Young, I am nine years old and I am diabetic too! Do you normally get low after you swim? I am a competitive figure skater, but I don't get low after my practices on the ice. Well, I gotta go, I have to study for some tests I have tomorrow!

Sincerely,
Caroline Young

Gary - this is Caroline's Mom and I have another question for you - last summer Caroline was in her first national skating competition and just before her event began she got low - 74 - but it was only one hour after her last injection and so I started pumping her with glucose to try and bring it up since she was the fifth skater in her group. Her coach at this time was trying to get to the referee to try and allow her to skate last in her group which would have given her about 20 more minutes. The ref came back and said she either had to skate in order or withdraw. She pleaded with me to let her go since she had trained so hard to be ready for this competition and if she was any lower I would have said no but she did go and fell just getting to her starting position and once again in her program. Needless to say I was not happy with how she was treated and I was wondering if you have had any similar circumstances where you needed a little extra time to be ready to swim and what has happened.
PS - Caroline keeps a poster of you on her closet door and it has been there for three years!

Dear Gary,

Well I knew you were awesome because you are an amazing swimmer but now I think you're awesome because you are compassionate and caring to others needs.

My little brother, who is 16, just barely got diabetes a couple years ago and he and my family are still adjusting. My best friend, Samantha, who is a
HUGE fan of yours has a brother who is a diabetic as well.

We both swim for our college team and could only dream of seeing the Olympics. Not to
compete, we just would love to see you and the other amazing athletes do what you do! I just wanted to write you to say that Samantha and I love ya and think you are doing an amazing job! ha-ha, if you're ever in Texas let us
know! take care and go get wet!

Love,
Jamie Hoffman

December 30, 2003

Hi,

I am 7 years old. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 4. I have your poster on my bedroom wall. My mom is helping me type this.

Can we be pen pals? My mom’s email address is garelickd@hotmail.com. I play soccer and ice hockey. Is swimming fun? Should I be on a swim team, too?

Sam Garelick

Boulder, CO

Hey Gary,
I'm not a coach, so sorry for using this email, but it's the only one I knew of to get in touch with you. I'm 17 years old and I'm still a swimmer. I always wonder what elite swimmers do in training to be that good. I am interested in sprint training in particular because of how diverse the workouts can be. I'm also very interested in your workouts, because I want to swim and be active for a lot longer then just through college, but I have a history of diabetes in my family and am probably at some risk for the disease. And I know that you are dealing with diabetes, so I wondered if your workouts are altered anyway to accomodate this. So I was hoping you could post some of your own workouts both for water and dryland on your website, or send them to me via email.
Thanks,
Scott Teti

P.S. Good Luck and kick some @ss in Long Beach and Athens!!!!!

Hi Gary!

When you were in Innsbruck, Austria on 11/07/2003, you met a little girl, wearing a yellow swimmingsuit. This girl, age 5 years, is my daughter Carine. You were swimming with her some rounds in the swimming pool.

She was so happy about it. All the day and the evening long, she was talking about "swimming with the world's champion"!

Nearly one year ago, we had to go with Carina to the hospital. When doctors came they told us, Carina has diabets type 1 and we "fell down into a big, big black hole".

Now, one year later, after some hard work and study, it is much more "easy" to handle it. When we - and my daughter - see, what is possible to do, even with type 1 diabtes, we will look hopefull into future for our "big" girl.

(please forgive me for my bad english - it´s almost some days passing, i learned the language!)

Once again - thank you for all!

Jürgen and Sandra Ehrenberger
with Carina and Philipp

Dear Gary,
This is coach Shoulberg from Germantown academy writing to say Hi. I was reading your web site the other day, after the Crippen's told me about it. Am I invited to come down and learn from the great Jon Olson? (No one
remembers I had a high school boy go 20.01 in the 50 in 1980....(must have been lucky as hell)
I have a swimmer on my team who is a diabetic who really looks up to you. His address and phone number are as follows, if you have any time to write or call, he would appreciate it. He is also a sprinter and dropped 10 seconds as a freshman last year in to 100 free!!!! He started out at 1:00 and went a :50..he has a lot of talent, but battles the disease everyday.

Best of luck in your prep for Athens!
Dick Shoulberg
Richard W Shoulberg
Head Coach
Germantown Academy/GAAC

Hey Gary,

Just found out you were diagnosed with type one diabetes. I was looking at the kids site of the JDRF website and saw you as a "role model." I'm 30 and was diagnosed about a year and a half ago. It's strange, I have been a lifetime swimmer and coach. Didn't seem like a strong candidate. No one in my family has it either.

When I swim alone my blood sugars are fine but when I get in comp it goes crazy. Same thing with basketball. If I start getting into winning, it goes out the roof. If I just play for the fun of it, it's fine. You got any tricks for me that you've learned since you've had to deal with it? What are your three month average blood sugars running? Are you keeping it normal?

Good luck this summer.

Joel Thomas
Center for Survey Research
Indiana University

Click here for Gary's Response

I would like to thank you for being a huge inspiration for me both in and out of the pool. Last October at the age of 17 and at a time where I thougth I was at the peak of my swimming performace, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

I had lost almost 20 pounds and couldnt make it through practice before I was diagnosed. While I was in the hospital and a few weeks thereafter, I was in a state of depression. I wouldn't go to practice and wanted to quit, I honestly thought I would never be able to handle being a diabetic swimmer.

I kept hearing your story from every person I talked to and was eventually convinced to get back in the pool to see what could happen. I was surprised how much better i felt in the water. I started gaining weight back and building up more and more muscle until i had gained back all of my weight plus about 15 pounds.

My times have improved dramatically and I now hold team records in the 50 free for both short and long course and this summer became a YMCA All-American in the 50 LCM free. This year I will be swimming for Fordham University.

Your story has helped me to learn that obstacles like being diagnosed with diabetes are not endings, but fuel to push myself beyond the point that people thought would be the best I could possibly do.

So thank you again for being the perfect example and an awesome inspiration for not only a sprinter like me, but also for anyone trying to reach a goal with obstacles in their way.

Thank You,
Sean Durnan. Fordham University.

Gary's Reply

Dear Gary,

I know you have probably heard this a million times before, but you have been a major hope for so many people, including myself. You may not think so, but what you have accomplished is not only great, it's heroic. I was
diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 15 in '98 on the Fourth of July (needless to say this holiday has added meaning, and it has been an up and down roller coaster ride physically, mentally, and emotionally. My sport is
tennis. I am pursuing my dream of becoming a pro tennis player. I played college tennis for two years, but didn't feel I was making any progress towards where my heart truely wanted to be. I stopped school (for now. I will finish) and am in the process of training for the upcoming season. I
was wondering what your training routine was specifically, and how you were able to monitor yourself best. I was also wondering if anxiety played any part in how your glucose reacted, or how your body reacted. ( I ask this because i also have a problem with muscle cramping and glucose control early in matches and i feel that it may have something to do with stress. You may not have any advise for that, but i was just curious). Also, did you eat a lot of the same meals every day? It is all very hard for me to deal with right now, and i am in the process of possibly going from injections to the
pump. Any advise or direction you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
best of luck!

sincerely, Michael Findling -- September 22, 2003
Michigan

Gary's Reply

I'm 15 years old, and I'm a big fan of yours!!:)I'm also a diabetic of 6 years, and I gotta say that you really inspire me by still swimming fast and having a good attitude even though you're a diabetic.

I know how hard it can be. My goal
is to be the first female diabetic Olympic swimmer; I'm shooting for the 2012 Olympics. It makes me feel a lot better to know that there's someone else out there who's conquering diabetes and swimming fast!

Love and Best Wishes,
Jessie. August 28, 2003

- Suzanne Makinson

My son was recently diagnosed with diabetes and a very good soccer player. A friend sent us and email about you and it has been very inspirational. Thanks for being a hero!
Sincerely,
The Prichards

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