Dylan diagnosed himself with type 1 diabetes when he was 13 years old. He saw a Diabetes Canada ad in the newspaper and told his mom he thought he had diabetes. Naturally, his mom didn’t believe him, but the next day he walked to the doctor’s office after school.
“I remember the nurse coming back in after doing a preliminary test and asking where my parents were, then I went from the doctor’s office to the children's hospital where I stayed for a week to learn about insulin and carb counting, and how to be a person living with diabetes. The diagnosis changed my life, I had to learn become my own care provider, and it is the reason I am now an Assistant Professor of Nutrition and Chronic Disease at The University of Manitoba and I work in the area of diabetes (both type 1 and 2) as well as chronic kidney diseases and other chronic conditions.”
Dylan is really proud of the life that he has built, in spite of living with diabetes, he has a wonderful family and loves having the opportunity to be able to make an impact as a respected health researcher and professor.
Regardless of his independence and his education, he like so many others still faces challenges.
“Diabetes is a chronic disease that eats up time and energy, it is a constant in life that demands attention and time and adds layers of complications to all the other things you do in life, and you can't really ignore it or it will find a way to demand even more of your time. So, finding the time (and energy) for all the things I want to do is the main challenge with diabetes.”
Dylan is excited to be chairing the Winnipeg Pump Couture committee this year and looking forward to getting back on the runway as a model in the Pump Couture Fashion Show. It’s a really unique and fun way to raise awareness about diabetes and to help raise funds to send kids to D-Camps.
He didn’t attend D-Camps as a child, living in Newfoundland he doesn’t think there was the opportunity back then, but if there was, he wished he had known about them.
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