The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Brown navigating life as an athlete with diabetes
This was not an insignificant moment in the international diabetes community, nor should it have been. Model Lila Moss, the 19-year-old daughter of Kate Moss and Type 1 diabetic, walked the Milan runway the other day at the Fendi x Versace showcase for spring/summer 2022 with an insulin pump. An Omnipod was on full display on her hip.
“That is so cool,” Avery Brown said.
Diabetics, 34 million Americans, walk among us and most often we have no idea. Before calling Brown, a Canton High three-sport athlete, I did a little research on major sports figures who have played with the disease. There was Jackie Robinson, Ron Santo, Jay Cutler, Scott Verplank, Gary Hall Jr., Arthur Ashe, Billie
Jean King, Buster Douglas, Chris Dudley, Bobby Clarke and many more.
“Not only athletes, but others who have it and go about their day to day lives,” Brown said. “One of the Jonas Brothers, Nick, has Type 1. I look up to him because he’s a famous performer and you’d never expect him to have it.”
Brown started as a freshman in soccer, basketball and lacrosse. As a sophomore, she is one of the three captains of the Canton soccer team. Avery Brown is 15. She speaks with the clarity of someone twice her age.
“One hundred percent dealing with diabetes helps me with my maturity and the choices I make,” Brown said.
Soccer is in season, so it is her focus. Although she calls lacrosse her third sport, she loves it. Basketball is Avery’s No. 1 passion and, if she decides to play a sport in college, it would be on the court. She plays in a summer basketball league, too. A guard, she started as a ninth grader and, yes, she played in junior varsity immediately preceding varsity games.
“It was a lot of running,” Brown said. “I’d play most of the JV game and they’d take me out the last quarter, because they didn’t want me tired for varsity.”
When she was in the fifth grade — March 20, 2016, to be precise — Brown was diagnosed as a Type 1 diabetic. Some of the symptoms of the disease are frequent urination, excessive thirst, weight loss. Avery was seeing all three.
“My aunt is a nurse and she told my mom for me to get checked out, she thought I could have it — and I did,” Avery said. “Diabetes really changed my life. Every single day my life revolves around it. From eating to playing sports, I have to make sure everything is done properly. I can’t really mess up, because I’d be hurting myself.”
Avery missed two days of the fifth grade to properly prepare herself.
“And then I went right back to school,” she said.
While her daily life revolves around diabetes, she has not allowed the disease to diminish it. No high school athlete in Connecticut is any busier or well-rounded.
Brown wears an Omnipod DASH, a tubeless insulin pod that’s controlled by a smartphone-like personal diabetes manager. It carries up to three days of insulin.
“I get to control how many carbs I eat,” she said. “I will enter in the number of carbs in my PDM device and it will transfer right to my pod, which is a lifesaver instead of taking any shots.”
Brown also has a Dexcom G6. There is an app on her phone and it connects to the continuous glucose monitor.
“It reads my number 24/7, so I don’t have to test my blood sugar with a finger prick,” Brown said. “It’s much better and easier.”
The technological advancements in the 21st century have been amazing. It wasn’t so long ago when all diabetics who needed two insulin shots a day carried a syringe and vial in a case with them. To test blood sugar levels, they’d prick their finger with a lancet, put a drop of blood on a test strip and put the strip into a meter. The only time Brown said she needs an injection is if there is a pod malfunction.
“Technology has come so far,” she said. “I feel fortunate.”
Type 1 diabetes results from failure of the pancreas to produce enough insulin due to loss of beta cells caused by an autoimmune response. In the past it was called juvenile diabetes. Type 2, previously called adult-onset diabetes, is often caused by excessive weight and lack of exercise and is much more common.
Avery said two of her dad’s cousins have Type 1 diabetes and that her mom was found a few years ago to have celiac disease, an immune reaction to gluten. So Avery is tested for celiac, too, each year.
She usually wears the Omnipod on her arm in the winter. In the summer, with shorts and T-shirts, she’ll sometimes wear it on her stomach.
“But, in a way, I don’t mind showing it,” Brown said. “Once when I was out in public, a man who I had no idea who he was, came up to me. He said, ‘I have diabetes, too.’ It’s actually cool to know we have our own little community in a way, where we have similar traits, and all have to go through the same things.”
Brown said she hasn’t been forced to miss games. If her blood glucose numbers go low she can feel it in the middle of practice and her coaches allow her to step out and take care of the matter. Diabetics need some sugar to get their numbers up. Other times they definitely cannot have it. It is a daily balancing act.
“If I’m like 60 or 50, it will take five or more minutes,” Brown said. “If it’s 70 or 80, it will take like two minutes. Have a Gatorade and go back in. My friends are very supportive of me, if my blood sugar is too low or if it’s really high. Knock on wood, I’ve not had too many bad ones. Nothing like having to go to the hospital.”
“Most anything affects diabetes. Eating, drinking, even temperature. I have made better decision with eating habits, eating healthier and it has made my body so much healthier, too.”
Over the summer, Brown said she was stressed by the start of soccer conditioning.
“I was very anxious and the stress level increases my number incredibly,” Brown said. “Before the conditioning my number will be at 100 and by the end of it 250. It’s mental things, too. Stress factors.”
She has not had problems with bruising or cuts slow to heal. Longterm diabetes can affect blood vessels, damaging kidneys, eyesight, nerves and causing cardiovascular disease. While there is no cure yet, it can be treated, controlled. Avery Brown, the three-sport athlete is looking forward to a career in business. The idea of creating a large youth program with various sports and teams intrigues her.
“I want people, especially young people, to know you aren’t the only one going through this,” Brown said. “There’s a community of people. There are always people who can help you and there’s so much out information out there on diabetes. You are not alone.”