‘Fats’ works out diabetes message
‘‘If we can do something with [Fats] now, we’re more likely to save his life.’’ Dr Tom Mulholland
Mongrel Mob member Anaru ‘‘Fats’’ Moke might want to consider a new nickname.
The 43-year-old from Lower Hutt does not want his 11 children to see him die early from diabetes, just like he saw his father go when he was a boy.
So now the man known as Fats is busy getting fit, after a shock diabetes test put him at a ‘‘nearly lost my legs’’ level of health.
Moke said he came out of college fit and enjoyed playing sport.
But bone cancer in the form of multiple myeloma took him off the field. ‘‘Going through chemotherapy, [taking] a lot of medication . . . driving in and out of Wellington, getting tested everyday for four years – that contributed to my ankle injury and that’s why I stopped playing sports,’’ he said.
‘‘I was really over taking medication . . . so I stopped everything.
‘‘Hence the reason I didn’t get tested for diabetes.’’
Moke said he fell into a lifestyle that was too relaxing.
He ate everything, drank everything and wound up hungover every Sunday morning.
But two months ago he met Dr Tom Mulholland and his team in Taita who are on a Ministry of Health-funded mission to pop-up with their makeshift 1988 V8 ambulance in communities around the country.
The team are offering people blood tests for diabetes and heart disease who have not had themselves checked in the past few years. Over a six-week period they taught Moke about healthy shopping, exercise, and keeping his sugar levels in check.
‘‘I just want to live. I want to see [my children’s] 21sts, watch my mokos grow up, play rugby league . . . take them on trips to the beach, take them diving. I just want to be there for them. Simple as that,’’ Moke said. ‘‘I wanna be that example because I’ve got a lot of unhealthy whanau and friends.’’
About 50 people are diagnosed with diabetes every day in this country. About 90 per cent of those cases are type-2 diabetes.
Mulholland, who grew up in Lower Hutt, said nine out of 10 cases of type-2 diabetes, such as Moke’s, were preventable through diet and exercise.
‘‘If we can do something with [Fats] now, we’re more likely to save his life rather than waiting 10 years down the track when I’m trying to amputate his legs or something.’’
Moke’s blood sugar level was 20.2 but it should have been below 8. It is now down to 8.8.