GOING FOR platinum
At 77, Larry Mervin has lived with type 1 for almost 70 years with zero complications
Recipient of two Kellion Victory Medals – silver and gold – Larry Mervin is just three years away from his Platinum Medal, representing living with type 1 diabetes for 70 years. And there’s no stopping this senior.
“In the early days, I was told by many well-meaning people that I wouldn’t be around in three years,” recalls Larry, who was diagnosed at the age of 10. “Diagnosed with diabetes, you’re dead in three years. Which was absolute rubbish.”
Growing up, Larry was very active, and this continued well into adulthood – playing sport every chance he could, including winning four NSW Badminton Championships. “I always loved a challenge,” he laughs. “I said to the doctor at RPA (Royal Prince Alfred Hospital) one day, ‘So listen doc, what’s the chance of me playing rugby league?’ and he said, ‘Oh my god, NO. If you break a leg, you’ll get infections.’ I laughed and told him I’d been playing it for three years. I just kept doing things like that; I wouldn’t tell him until after
I was already doing it.”
When diagnosed, Larry was advised to listen to what his body told him. “If your body tells you it’s not well, you’ve got to find out why you’re not well [and] what’s happening with your diabetes; adjust that, and then you can do what you want to do,” he explains. “[Following that advice] I’ve never had a problem – it’s been about 25-30 years since I last had a low. I’ve been a diabetic since I was 10, I’m 77 now, and I’ve still got my fingers, toes, arms and legs, my eyesight’s good, and I can drive a car without glasses, without a problem!”
But it hasn’t always been a breeze for Larry. “I fought for everything I did,” he says. “[When I was young,] I was in the RPA outpatients department where the diabetic clinic was. They’d call somebody’s name, the nurse would come out, hand them a big plastic bottle and say, ‘Now would you go into the toilet there, give us a specimen and put it on the table here.’ And I would think what the hell are these people doing! [When] they called my name, I went up to the counter and said, ‘Don’t you realise what you’re doing to these people? Look at the faces of these people. You’re calling each one of those people up here, individually as a person, handing them a specimen bottle in front of everybody and saying go urinate in that and come put your urine on the table. That’s degrading! Disgusting!’ And I complained about it formally. The next time I went,
they’d just call your name, take you inside [a room] and then give you the specimen bottle.”
That wasn’t the only time he spoke up as someone living with diabetes. When Larry finished school, he joined the then Postmaster-General’s Department (PMG) for an apprenticeship as a telephone technician. “I just happened to mention to one of the other guys in the group that I was a diabetic,” he recalls, after working there for three months. “Then this guy came up to me and asked if I was diabetic, then said, ‘Well you can’t work for the PMG.’ They’re all superannuants, and to have superannuation you have to pass a medical, and diabetics aren’t accepted, and I [received] a formal dismissal notice.” Larry told the then head of RPA’s diabetic clinic, Sister Edena Pryke, who got the story into the papers. Following this, the law was changed so you could no longer discriminate against people with diabetes.
After this, Larry started another apprenticeship, passed his medical and didn’t tell anyone about his diabetes until he finished. “Once I had [my] trade papers, they couldn’t stop me,” he says. “I could work anywhere I liked, no problem.” He then changed his career again to first aid and occupational health and safety, where he saved many lives, both on and off the job.
Today, Larry is one of more than 400 volunteers at Westmead Children’s Hospital. “[When] I retired, I decided I still wanted to be involved with people – because I’m a people person and I love working with families and kids. So I went to the hospital and I’ve been there 16 years, and I said to Jill, the lady in charge [of volunteers], I’ll do this till I drop. I just love doing it.”
Talking to many people over the years about diabetes and his accomplishments with type 1, one of his proudest achievements is his family. “I’ve got five kids and 15 grandchildren, and none of them, thank god, are diabetic!” he says. “But they’re all very aware of diabetes and well educated.
“I’ve had a very rewarding, but very traumatic life,” Larry says. “I’m not 100 per cent by any means, but you can do anything you want to do, if you are living the right type of life. Do as much exercise as you want, listen to what doctors and what your body tells you. If your body tells you ‘danger’, don’t do it. Make sure you get your body right first. It can be hard to get used to, but once you get in the rhythm of it, you can do it quite comfortably.”
You’ve gotta fight the fight, and find the confidence
to live a normal life