Take heed all ye whose beta cells hath been slain by the dark knight of diabetes.

Listen all ye who hath lost their kidneys to fire breathing dragons of high flying blood sugars.

All hope is not lost.

Hearken onto this short excerpt from the thirteenth chapter of Christopher McDougall’s classic book Born to Run:

In the 1990 World Chess Championship, Kasparov made a horrible mistake and lost his queen right at the start of a decisive game… Except it wasn’t a mistake; Kasparov had deliberately sacrificed his most powerful piece in exchange for an even more powerful psychological advantage. He was deadliest when swashbuckling, when he was chased into a corner and had to slash, scramble, and improvise his way out…. Kasparov put the pressure on himself with a Queen’s Gambit—and won.

So instead of type-1 diabetes breaking you, maybe it’ll spur you to break records, too.

Thinking outside the T1D Matrix,
– John C. A. Manley

P.S. Ironically, I used chess to make a similar analogy in a previous Diabetic Dharma post: T1D End Game: Lymph Nodes Under Attack, Gangrene Conquered, Heart in Jeopardy and Anemia on the Run

P.P.S. Even if you are not into running, Christopher McDougall’s book doubles as both a captivating adventure tale and an inspirational masterpiece for overcoming odds simply for the sake of overcoming odds. Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen is available from amazon.com, amazon.ca and amazon.co.uk.