Dame gets shot, talks hurdles
Olympian shares struggle of caring for her diabetic young son during the pandemic
It’s almost like you have been run over by a bus and have got a newborn baby again. Dame Valerie Adams
Dame Valerie Adams has spoken about the difficulty of caring for a child with a chronic health condition during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Parents in my situation would understand how difficult it is, mentally, emotionally . . . it’s almost like you have been run over by a bus and have got a newborn baby again,” Adams said as she received her first dose of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine yesterday.
Adams is mother to two children — 3-year-old daughter Kimoana and 2-year-old son Kepaleli — with husband Gabriel Price. Kepaleli was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last year when he was just 15 months old.
“The unknown of how to deal with a child with Type 1 diabetes, especially being diagnosed quite young . . . but we have got it under control . . . it does take a village to combat it because we never get a holiday from Type 1 diabetes.”
Adams is one of a “small number” of Olympians to get the vaccine before travelling to the Tokyo Games later this year.
Before getting the jab in Mt Wellington yesterday, Adams told health officials she was “pretty excited“.
“Oh that wasn’t even sore . . . felt nothing,” she said, before crediting her nurse. Adams was full of jokes for the vaccinators.
When pulling up her sleeve, Adams said “now you get to see my biceps”. And when a health official asked the Olympic gold medallist for her name, she offered “queen of Tonga” — but they replied, “sorry, I can’t put that”.
Adams said she believed the vaccine should be mandatory for Olympians.
“Ultimately people need to be wellinformed, they need to get the right information from the right sources before they make a decision.”
She said she got her vaccine publicly to help encourage Pacific communities to get the jab.
Adams will travel to Europe next month to compete so that she is in a better position going into the Tokyo Games — her fifth Olympics.
“Being here in New Zealand, we are about to go into winter and not having the competition has been very difficult not only for myself but for a lot of athletes.”