Transcript – Joe Eldridge
Joe
My name's Joe Eldridge, I'm the co-founder of Team Type 1 and one of the racers. In 2007, we won the Race across America and set a new world record for the fastest team across the country and I have Type 1 Diabetes.
Since I was 10 years old, played competitive soccer, baseball, and was just like every other kid having a good time.
Joyce
And, all of a sudden he started not wanting to go out. He'd come home from school, lay on the couch, complain of a headache, a stomach ache.
Dave
And then my wife got a phone call from his teacher saying that Joe was having to relieve himself from class on a pretty regular basis to go to the bathroom. And then we noticed at home, he was drinking everything so my wife made the decision, we'll take him to the doctor.
Joyce
We weren't there probably 5 minutes and the doctor said, Joe has Juvenile Diabetes. Joe sensed my alarm and he said, well, what is diabetes? And then he said, am I gonna die?
Joe
I remember my father actually telling me that things could be a lot worse. There's lots of people that are dealing with other things that they can't control and this is something that you can take care of and you have a choice here.
Dave
We had gone to see him race and we noticed that there was a kid sitting off through the parking lot with a blood meter; it was Phil Southerland.
Phil
This big guy from Auburn walked up and said, "Hey man, good job. I see you checking your blood sugar. Do you have diabetes?" And I said, "Yeah." He goes, "Yeah, so do I."
Joe
Phil had just won the SCC championship race, I had just competed in the lowest category and barely finished the race.
Phil
And Joe asked me, how do you manage your diabetes for a 4 hour bike ride? He didn't know. He didn't check his blood sugar. If you don't check, you don't know where you are and what to eat and how much insulin to give, how to perform.
Joe
We built a friendship and he realized that I wasn't doing the things that I needed to do to manage my diabetes and be successful at bike racing and so he kind of gave me some tips and some motivation.
Phil
Over time, Joe was able to lower his A1C significantly. And that – that sparked something in me.
Joe
Phil called me and said, hey, there's lots of people out there that are like old Joe that need to be like new Joe and I said, yea, you're right. That's a great idea.
Phil
The evolution of Team Type 1 has been an extremely exciting one. Starting off, it was just Joe and I. We were selling T-shirts to raise money to do a Ride to Cure. And then when Team Type 1expanded, we got a team that agreed to do the Race Across America.
Joe
Team Type 1 is a support system. Everyday we inspire one another to test more often; to make small adjustments in our routines; to be that much better.
After hearing Phil was happy with Apidra, I decided next time I went into my endocrinologist that I was gonna ask him about trying it.
Since starting Apidra, I've noticed how quickly it gets my blood sugars down. I took a few days to adjust to Apidra and I actually had to lower my Basal Rates a few times before I got the blood sugar numbers where I wanted to be. It's been working great for me ever since.
Without using all the tools together, you don't know where you need to be and what you need to do. What good is your insulin without your blood sugar monitor. You can't stop during the middle of the race to check your blood sugar so the way that I figured it out is, I'd take my blood glucose monitor with me, when I'm training and I'll stop and I'll check my blood sugar real quick and see where it's at and then after the ride, I will check it an hour to an hour and a half afterwards because I've just ridden my bike for 4 or 5 hours and hypoglycemia is a danger of exercising so it's something that you have to stay on top of.
Dave
The amazing thing about the bicycle racing, is that the guy that wins, he doesn't look at himself as "the winner". His team won because his team helped him get in position to make that move that allowed him to cross that line first. I see that happening as they help each other manage their diabetes during the race as well.
Joe
We all have Apidra in our pump. They're our title sponsor and they're making it possible for us to spread our message to millions of people out there with diabetes.
Dave
Most people who see Joe on a day-to-day basis, would never know that he has diabetes. He's just a fine young man who happens to have diabetes.
