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I like exploring, enjoying the scenery and finding my personal limits - I'm not the best at the activities I do, I'm just the kid who refuses to quit.
NC State grad student and outdoor enthusiast Jimmy Dodson
On Oct. 20, Dodson participated in the Death Valley (Calif.) Ride to Cure Diabetes.
By Dave Pond, Web Communication
Fisheries & Wildlife Sciences graduate student Jimmy Dodson is an adventure sports junkie. Between fieldwork, teaching summer classes and managing his personal courseload, Dodson has spent the last year ice climbing in New Hampshire, high-altitude mountaineering in Ecuador and cycling more than 3,500 miles at various on- and off-road events.
He's also a Type 1 diabetic whose accomplishments have helped put a new face on a chronic disease that affects millions of Americans.
Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas does not produce insulin to properly control blood sugar levels. Formerly known as juvenile diabetes, an increasing number of 20-30 year olds are being diagnosed with the disorder as well.
Dodson's battle began as a 19-year-old sophomore at NC State, when he visited the Student Health Center for what he thought was the flu. After reviewing his symptoms, the nurse practitioner checked Dodson's blood sugar, which was literally off the charts - reading "HIGH" on the center's glucometer.
A non-diabetic person's blood glucose range usually falls between 70 and 110 mg/dL, and the normally accepted diabetic range is 80 to 120. "HIGH" meant that Dodson's was at least 600 - a potentially dire situation.
"She was floored - since I was still awake, walking and talking - and told me that I wasn't going anywhere without going to the hospital first," he said. "They did some blood tests at Rex, and it was 808 - the doctors said they'd never seen someone come in conscious at 808."
With that, drastic lifestyle changes were in order. Primarily a team-sport athlete to that point in his life, Dodson put competition on hold for two years as he attacked the disorder with the same fervor that he had previously put into athletics.
"There was a steep learning curve there," he said. "I had heard of diabetes, but I didn't know anything about it, or what the basis was for how things worked."
It proved to be a lesson in physiology, as Dodson had to relearn virtually everything about his body and how insulin and the foods he ate factored into the equation. Meanwhile, he had a growing interest in adventure sports, fostered by the NC State's physical education department's burgeoning outdoor leadership course stream.
"Terry Dash is a friend of mine and knew I was diabetic," Dodson said. "I had already taken the beginner rock climbing course in the gym, and when I was in his intermediate class, I told him I wanted to do this type of thing outside and get into more than just climbing."
With a solid handle on his diabetes, Dodson jumped at the chance to see how outside forces would affect his blood-sugar levels, and joined Dash on a 10-day winter mountaineering trip to New Hampshire.
"I really fell in love with ice climbing on that trip," Dodson said. "We spent three days winter backpacking, three days ice climbing and three days on Mt. Washington in sub-freezing temperatures, learning how to eat, dress and move around to keep yourself warm.
"It was a great opportunity to learn to recognize all of the physical characteristics," he said. "Since then, I've spent almost two weeks every winter in New Hampshire, sometimes with Terry and some with friends who I have taken with me and taught how to ice climb."
Due to his ability to manage diabetes in such extreme sporting conditions, a friend recommended that Dodson apply for the LifeScan Award for Athletic Achievement, given at the Diabetes Exercise and Sports Association's (DESA) annual meeting. In 2005, Dodson was named one of three winners of a $5,000 grant which, naturally, went toward a new adventure - high-altitude mountaineering.
"It was supposed to be a 12-day trip to Ecuador, but I only did 10 because I got the flu 16,000 feet above sea level," he said. "During the process, I was able to learn what altitude did to my body and how my diabetes was affected by it.
"I knew how to manage food and temperature through activity and exercise, but altitude is a whole other animal - your body reacts as if it is sick at altitude."
When diabetics are sick, they require more insulin, so Dodson had to learn how to judge the exact amount he needed to compensate for higher altitudes.
"Out of those 10 days, we spent six above 14,000 feet," he said. "Through that experience, I learned that I could determine how acclimated I was to the new environment just by watching where my glucose levels were."
Looking for other opportunities to challenge himself and put his newfound knowledge to the test, Dodson took an offer from a friend to participate in a 100-mile mountain bike race in Colorado, where approximately 85% of the course is more than 10,000 feet above sea level. An avid outdoorsman prior to his diagnosis, Dodson found a new passion to compete with ice climbing.
In October alone, Dodson logged more than 1,000 miles on his bike, riding in charity events and races across the country as a member of Team Type1Rider, which promotes diabetes awareness and education while providing support and encouragement for all diabetic cyclists.
"Being active helps normalize my glucose levels more easily," he said. " Besides, who doesn't enjoy being outdoors?
"I like exploring, enjoying the scenery and finding my personal limits - I'm not the best at the activities I do, I'm just the kid who refuses to quit," Dodson said. "I enjoy endurance-type activities like 100-mile rides th
e most, because in a way, they symbolizes life as a diabetic - everyone has good and bad days, but it's a long-term effort."
Dodson's cycling jersey, emblazoned with "DIABETIC" across the back, is a symbol of pride and not of warning - event organizers know that diabetics are routinely some of the best-prepared competitors in the field.
"A lot of the people on medical staffs and race coordinators say that year in and year out, it's not the diabetics that they have to worry about because we are monitoring ourselves so much, we know how we feel and can often recognize any warning signs," he said. "We also know not to get into an event like that without preparing ourselves for it.
"They have the most trouble with the non-diabetics - they get dehydrated because they are not taking in enough fluids or not eating right."
Like many Type 1 diabetics, Dodson favors his insulin pump over the regimen of shots he once had to self-administer. It's the only indicator of his disease, so whether he's in the classroom or in the wilderness, he is careful to ensure that others are aware of his condition.
"When we are having our safety meetings at the beginning of summer school, everybody let's each other know if they have a condition or are taking medication," he said. "At that point, most of the people are complete strangers, but it's really important to do - not just for diabetics but for anyone, since we are outside so much.
"I talk to them about my diabetes, how I manage it and tell them that if you see me looking funny, it's OK to ask how I'm doing, and to ask me if I've checked my blood sugar," he said. "People are going to look at you with a bit of a wary eye at first, but the more you are willing to tell the folks around you, the less you'll be kept at arm's length and the more it becomes that they will just look out for you."
Looking back, Dodson said he didn't know where he'd be - or if he'd even be here - if he never took advantage of student health services, and he encouraged other students to utilize the resources if the need is there.
"One of the things I've learned since becoming diabetic is that there's no reason not to tell someone how I felt, because there may be something else going on," he said. "Had that nurse practitioner not really listened to what I said, there's no telling in the course of the next 24 hours what would have happened to me. So, there's a big thanks from me to them on that standpoint."
As his studies progress at NC State, Dodson continues to help raise awareness through DESA, T1R and Children with Diabetes (CWD), talking other diabetics and their families facing experiences similar to those he tackled since his diagnosis in 1995. In July, he spent a week with 1,000 children at Friends for Life, a CWD conference held in Orlando, FL, and will serve on a DESA athlete's discussion panel later this month here in the Triangle.
"It was funny to me to run around with a bunch of little kids and have them ask me how much insulin I was taking for whatever snack I had in front of me, or ask about my insulin-to-carb ratio," he said "I'm like, 'You're four years old!'
"Some of the kids have it completely dialed in like many adults do," Dodson said. "I think by themselves they showing people that diabetes is not a handicap, and they are changing the perception of Type 1 diabetics. It was a real treat watching them play."
