SugarFree Spotlight: Bryan P.

I now present to you another SugarFree Spotlight, today you have the honor of the Mad Hatter himself. Bryan, along with Nate made an appearance to see me at the hospital the weekend I was diagnosed. He hasn’t had to deal with me on a day-to-day basis like my roommates at college, but he’s always been a good friend. Diabetes requires among other things, a strong support system. Good friends are essential to a support system. Bryan certainly fits the bill.

I think that it is a great testament to the type of person that Chris is, that he is able to handle his diabetes so well, and that he takes it very seriously. You may say that he has to take it seriously to survive, but there are plenty of people out there I’m sure who do not take it seriously at all, and therefore may find themselves in deep trouble. I work with a woman whose daughter passed away over the holidays because she went in to a diabetic coma. I do not know a lot about this, but from what I gathered talking to co-workers is that she neglected to keep track of her food in-take, and therefore didn’t have enough insulin to counteract the amounts of food she was ingesting. I hope I don’t sound ignorant by saying this, but I really don’t know a lot about diabetes. I know that there is Type-1 and Type-2, but do not know the difference between them. I know that the pancreas is involved and produces insulin for the body. I know that insulin evens the amount sugar in the blood, yeah Like I said, I hope I don’t sound ignorant, but my knowledge is very limited. Back to the girl — I would assume that she was thinking what we all would think in related situations, “It’ll never happen to me.” So from what I know about how level-headed and grounded a person Chris is, he seems to be the type to take such a thing seriously, and I think the care and attention that goes in to his daily life is what is really overlooked. My girlfriend suffers from epilepsy, so I have a first-hand look at the care and attention she puts in to her daily life.

I can say for sure that I was the one who diagnosed Chris’ diabetes first in my dorm room. Chris and a few mutual friends were coming home from VT one weekend and stopped in to visit me at GMU. I had heard that the ride home (a lovely, four hours, by the way) were a little rough for him and his bladder. I made a comment like, “I wonder if you have diabetes,” because I had heard just recently that this is a symptom. Next thing I knew, that Sunday he was in the hospital and a doctor had properly diagnosed him.

I believe that Chris would be leading a healthy life even if he didn’t have diabetes. Even before he was diagnosed when we were freshman in college, he was always active in sports and from what I know, led a pretty healthy life. He didn’t smoke or drink in high school. I’m not aware of the type of foods he ate or the liquids he drank, but I never knew him to over-indulge. Today, I know he continues to be active physically with trips to the gym on a regular basis, as well as a few rounds of golf when the weather permits. The fact that he drinks Pepsi 1 and other diet sodas reflects how seriously he takes his diabetes. He could easily say to himself, “What is one regular Coke going to do?” but he doesn’t. He realizes the gravity of the situation and is able to make rational, competent decisions.

I feel like I just wrote a letter of recommendation. It’s all true.

Bryan Pierson has a BA in Integrative Studies with a concentration in Internet and Multimedia Studies from George Mason University. He works as a Technical Support Specialist and most importantly bleeds Black and Gold.