Jerry Mathers Actor, Living well with diabetes

Having diabetes came as a big shock to me. When I finished “Leave it to Beaver”, I went to a regular high school. I did a little acting…Lassie, My Three Sons…but I pretty much withdrew from the acting profession. I came back to it later in life, and appeared on a new show called “The New Leave it to Beaver” which I did for 10 years…102 episodes…and those were long hours. I had a fairly young family at the time, two daughters and a son. And, I’d be away from the house for 12-14 hours a day. So when I finished that show I said…”You know, I’m gonna retire now, this is the good life.” I started eating way too much, and not doing a lot of exercise. I put on about 45 or 50 pounds. When I was getting ready to turn 50, a good friend who is a doctor cajoled me into get checked. I finally went in, and she asked me if I wanted to see my kids get married and hold my grandbabies. I said…of course! That’s when she told me that if I didn’t do something about my high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, I’d be dead in three to five years.

Most people would have had some symptoms, but I absolutely didn’t. I knew I was overweight and tired, but I looked around and saw a lot of people like that, and said it can’t be that bad…but it was!

I like to use my celebrity to go out and tell other people about the danger of diabetes. I was so lucky that my doctor cared about me. I care about my fans that much. People that have diabetes have to take care of it. There are so many people that have been diagnosed with diabetes, who say “it’s not bothering me”. We just have to get to those people and tell them to start treating it because by the time it becomes a problem for you, it could be too late.

If you find out that you have diabetes, you have to treat it aggressively. You’ll have a much better quality of life the earlier you treat it. And it can be a long and productive life. You have to take control of the diabetes. You can’t let it take control of you!