Darren VanHouten
Animas Corporation
TCOYD Newsletter, Vol. 29, 2009

The Summer Olympics Games come around every four years. But for the athletes who dream of winning gold, preparing for them is a day-by-day journey filled with grueling training regimens and equally tough competitions. For an athlete with type 1 diabetes, that journey can be even more difficult—and rewarding.

When people meet Adam Kuehl, the first thing they usually notice is that he is BIG. At 6’3” and 250 lbs, Adam certainly stands out in a crowd. “I was always a big kid,” said Adam. “They wouldn’t even let me play organized football until middle school because they thought I would hurt the smaller boys.” Adam’s size and the countless hours he spent playing with his younger brother David allowed him to excel in sports. His sports of choice early on were football and throwing the discus, both of which were a good fit because of his size and arm strength. And for a while, everything seemed to be going well for him. Until one hot and humid day after football practice at Evans Middle School outside Atlanta, Georgia.

“It was like any other day,” Adam explained. “I was exhausted and ready to get home to dinner and then jump in the community pool. Except mom and pops never picked me up. It was one of our close family friends who got me from practice instead.”

They told Adam that his brother, David, was in the hospital and that something was wrong.

“I remember being told that night that David might have diabetes, and thinking to myself, ‘He has what?’” Adam said.

Nobody in Adam’s family knew much about diabetes, much less how it would impact David’s life. After speaking with the doctors and doing some of their own research, the family began to understand some of the potential risks and standards of care options that were available at the time for people with diabetes. They also learned that diabetes can often run in the family. “I was in 7th grade and had recently celebrated my 13th birthday when I was told I had diabetes,” Adam said, “about five months after David was diagnosed.” Still relatively young, Adam wasn’t quite sure what it would mean to have diabetes. He just knew he wanted to continue to lead a normal life and stay very active.

“I did what most people do when they first get diagnosed with diabetes. I started to take insulin shots,” explained Adam. “Of course I didn’t like the needles and shots, or the feeling that I was somehow different than all my friends. But, I managed to stay healthy and kept playing sports which wasn’t so bad,” continued Adam.

By high school, Adam wasn’t just playing sports, he was dominating in them. Gradually though, playing both sides of the line in football (quarterback and defensive tackle) caused some worsening back injuries. He stopped participating in football altogether his Junior year in high school. After a few months of rehabilitation, he took to throwing discus full-time and quickly knew that was the sport for him.

“I took 2nd place in the state and 5th in the U.S. during my Junior year indoor track season,” said Adam. “I figured that if I could continue to improve, I might be able to land a scholarship for college, and who knows, maybe even throw in the Olympics.”

The first part of Adam’s plan was realized when he was asked to join the track-and-field program at the University of Arizona. At Arizona, he was a three-time NCAA Discus All-American, a two-time NCAA Shot-Put All-American, and the 2006 NCAA Discus Runner-Up. It was during his final years at Arizona that he also began rethinking how he wanted to manage his diabetes.

“I was tired of taking the multiple shots every day, and carrying around the needles and insulin wherever I went,” said Adam. “I wanted something easier— something that would help keep my focus on training and not diabetes. So with the support of my family and girlfriend, I decided to get on an Animas 2020 insulin pump.”

Adam hasn’t looked back since. “Even though a clinical manager trained me extensively when I first got the pump, that first night was by far the most difficult,” he said. “I remember lying in bed thinking, ‘What if the pump doesn’t work or gives me the wrong amount of insulin?’ I must have gone to sleep at some point, because I remember waking up in the morning and thinking, ‘Wow. This is pretty cool.’ I felt great. I felt free of the needles!”

After that first morning, Adam quickly realized that he made the right choice for his type of lifestyle. Because the pump was waterproof, he could continue to enjoy his posttraining trips to the pool. Because it could deliver a minute dose of insulin, he could carefully control his insulin intake. And because it had a large color screen, he had no trouble reading his levels day or night. Most importantly, Adam could see that the pump was helping him maintain better A1C levels.

“My [A1C] levels while I was taking the multiple daily injections were in the mid-7’s,” he said. “Now, they hover around 6.4, which is the lowest I think they have ever been.”

Adam is now on the latest Animas system, OneTouch Ping, which among other advances uses a meter-remote that can command the pump to deliver insulin without the need to expose or even touch the pump.

“People think I’m texting someone or dialing a cell phone,” laughs Adam, “but I’m really using the meter-remote to help deliver my insulin.”

With the management of his diabetes under control, and with a good showing at the Olympic Trials for the recent Beijing games (he was an alternate), Adam recently accepted an invitation to train fulltime at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, to prepare for the London Summer Olympic Games in 2012.

“I have thought about the Olympics since I was in high school,” said Adam, “and now there is a real chance that I will get there. When I do, I won’t only be competing for me, my family, and my country. I’ll be competing for all those people who have diabetes and have wondered, ‘What will become of me now?’ I want them to see me on that podium and say, ‘I can do anything I put my mind and my heart to, just like everyone else!’”

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