Diabetes Unscripted
Creating a community for folks living Type1 diabete to learn and grow from one and other. Because until there's a cure there's a community.
Diabetes Unscripted
S1E1: Introduction to your host and season 1
Imagine being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the tender age of eight and embarking on a lifelong journey of managing this complex condition. That’s exactly what happened to me, Mark Walsh, your host for the inaugural season of Diabetes Unscripted. For over four decades, I’ve been living with type 1 diabetes, and my experiences range from working at one of the largest residential diabetes camps to engaging with the insulin delivery industry. My active lifestyle, which includes everything from backpacking in Nepal to participating in 200-mile relay races, has equipped me with unique insights into balancing diabetes with physical pursuits. This season, I'm excited to share these insights and connect with a vibrant community facing similar highs and lows in their diabetes journey.
Join me as I engage with inspiring individuals who have their own stories and lessons to share about living with diabetes. This podcast season is crafted especially for adults navigating the complexities of a new diagnosis without the traditional support systems like camps. Each episode is dedicated to a specific theme, allowing you to dive into topics that resonate with your experiences and needs. Expect to gain practical tips and hear personal stories that can make managing diabetes more manageable. Let's create a supportive community where we can share, learn, and inspire each other. Thank you for tuning in, and I hope you find both comfort and motivation in the stories and advice shared this season.
Hi friends, thanks for tuning in. Before we kick off season one of Diabetes Unscripted, I thought I would take a few minutes just to introduce myself and kind of explain how we formatted this first season. So my name is Mark Walsh. I'm a type 1 diabetic. I was diagnosed at the age of eight, so I've had diabetes for a little over 40 years and I have an older sibling that was diagnosed six months before me. I've spent the last 18 summers helping run one of the largest residential diabetes camps in the country, so certainly I've gotten a lot of hands-on experience with all the different devices and all the different age groups. On the younger side, I've also worked in the insulin delivery space for almost 20 years. During that time I've sat in on over 500 insulin pump starts, so certainly seeing a lot of demographics and every socioeconomic background you can imagine over the last 16 years with folks that require insulin.
Speaker 0:Personally, I have four amazing children. I try to remain super active. I think that's a big part of my success, both for my diabetes and for my health. Um, I've done backpacking in Nepal. I've done the one day bike ride across Michigan twice, which is the 155 Mesquite mile, Mesquite in the Bay city ride. I've done several century rides for the ADA and breakthrough T1D, and this past summer I also did a Ragnar. For those of you that don't know what that is, it's like a 200-mile relay race with 12 runners. It goes through the night. It's about a 36-hour race. So I stay active, certainly have some experience with insulin management and activity, which I think you'll see and hear about in the episodes ahead.
Speaker 0:So now let's talk a little bit about what our goal was with this podcast and with the first season. So we're seeing a lot of adults getting type one diabetes and they're aged out from camp so they don't really have the opportunity to get plugged into a community. Um, so my goal here is to really you know, I've interviewed a series of people ask them all the same questions and then each of those questions is an episode. So if there are certain topics that interest you more than others, certainly you don't have to listen to all of the episodes in the season, though I would like you to and the real goal is just hear from other people that live with diabetes that have a lot of experience that they're willing to share, and hopefully you guys take away some tips and tricks. That makes the day-to-day struggle more palatable. So thank you for tuning in and I hope you enjoy the season.