November 14, 2020 • 43 mins
Two dads of T1D daughters, on a podcast, trying to figure it all out.
With November 14th being perhaps the most significant date on the T1D calendar (not to mention the 2 year anniversary of our show!), we wanted to treat our listeners to some truly special guests.
Joining Alan and Mark on this episode, two incredible T1D educators and activists who have channeled their energy and enthusiasm into two incredible businesses, benefitting so many in the Diabetic community. You'll know their businesses as our show sponsors - now meet the powerhouses behind Glucose Revival and Dia-Be-Tees, Kris Maynard, and Rachael Price!
In addition to learning more about these two amazing folks, why not save a little money when you visit their online stores! Using the discount codes below, get some great holiday gifts for your friends and loved ones! Thanks, Kris and Rachael!
- Glucose Revival @ https://glucoserevival.com - code 'DADS' for 25% off your purchase
- Dia-Be-Tees @ www.Dia-Be-Tee.com - code DADSANDDIABETES15 for 15% off your purchase and FREE shipping
**We experienced a few technical issues while recording this episode, but Alan did a really amazing job of working around them to cobble together something great! We hope the trace remnants of the gremlins in the system in the episode don't impact your enjoyment of it**
With November 14th being perhaps the most significant date on the T1D calendar (not to mention the 2 year anniversary of our show!), we wanted to treat our listeners to some truly special guests.
Joining Alan and Mark on this episode, two incredible T1D educators and activists who have channeled their energy and enthusiasm into two incredible businesses, benefitting so many in the Diabetic community. You'll know their businesses as our show sponsors - now meet the powerhouses behind Glucose Revival and Dia-Be-Tees, Kris Maynard, and Rachael Price!
In addition to learning more about these two amazing folks, why not save a little money when you visit their online stores! Using the discount codes below, get some great holiday gifts for your friends and loved ones! Thanks, Kris and Rachael!
- Glucose Revival @ https://glucoserevival.com - code 'DADS' for 25% off your purchase
- Dia-Be-Tees @ www.Dia-Be-Tee.com - code DADSANDDIABETES15 for 15% off your purchase and FREE shipping
**We experienced a few technical issues while recording this episode, but Alan did a really amazing job of working around them to cobble together something great! We hope the trace remnants of the gremlins in the system in the episode don't impact your enjoyment of it**
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:21):
I just want to remind you,guys, this is just me and Mark
telling stories, and that nothing thatwe say here is intended to be medical
of basis is strictly from our pointof view as two dads telling the stories
of our T one D kiddos.We also want our listeners to know that
we're trying to maintain a perspective recognizingthat whatever Alan and I or our families
are dealing with, it doesn't amountto a hill of beans compared to that
(00:42):
which our daughters or anyone diagnosed withType one diabetes has to contend with on
a day to day basis. Allright here, I'm not even gonna could
you hear the music? Somewhere youcan hear the music? Yes? Right,
did you hear hello? My littlekeyboard? Oh my lord? What
(01:07):
have we descended into? Hello?Listeners. I'm going to try and grab
the reins here while I still canmuch fun with this sound the sound board.
Welcome to Dads and Diabetes. There'stwo dads t one D kiddos on
a podcast trying to figure it allout each and every day. I'm Mark
and I'm joined as always by Alan. Yes you are hello, Alan,
(01:33):
How are you? Mate? Manda, good, how are you you know?
I'm okay, I'm actually I'm actuallybetter than okay. I'll bet you
are. We're not going to gointo political waters. I promise I'm not.
I'm kidding. I'm good either way. I don't care. I'm just
kidding. No, no, no, that's actually not what I was referring
to. And of course nothing attime of recording. When this comes out
(01:57):
and November the fourteenth, we'll knowwho our next president is a time of
recording, we have no clue.We may not know for the next Actually,
Alan, you're pulling a face.You're right on November the fourteenth,
we may still not. Though Ithought you might have been talking about twenty
twenty one. I wasn't sure anyway, Anyway, he did. I was
(02:19):
going to ask about Ella. Didshe get back in school and all that
stuff? Well, yes, andthat's actually what I was referring to.
So she did go back to school, but then her teacher was test depositive
for COVID perfect generated CARB announced soimmediately she we pulled her out of school
again for ten days. So actuallyshe a time of recording, what is
(02:42):
this? What are we at now? The fifth of November sixth, and
good night. It's our one year. It's our one long day since March,
no doubt. Anyway, sixth Novembershe goes back on the Monday,
so that will be whatever that is, the ninth or whatever. So um.
And also big news here, misterNulty, we have her back on
the soccer field. Oh good,well, I'm happy for it that I
(03:10):
set that up now. But I'mreally happy for her man because there's the
light kind of come back in hereyes a little bit on that her parents
just put their foot down basically.So well, no, it's a mixture
of things. So the headmaster atour school here and I were talking as
we were getting toward the end ofthe volleyball season, and obviously with the
(03:32):
accent and everything, oh you intofootball, you into soccer, And they
started in on we've never had asoccer program at this school. I always
thought that'd be great. We've gotparents already kind of you know, pushing
back on American football because of headinjuries and blah blah blah. And you
know, would you be interested incommies? Yeah, we're in a blue
(03:52):
town. We're all commies here.And he said, you know, would
you be interested in doing something,and I said, well, with my
work, I can't really came.But actually with COVID right now, I'm
not traveling, so if you wantto catch me now would be a good
time. So long story short,I said I'd do a few workshops.
Obviously Ella's going to be involved inthose, and she has been and it's
(04:13):
gone really well, and so Ithink she's enjoyed that. And then Kim
and I were talking the other nightabout whether or not to kind of get
her back into you in with herclub, and she just doesn't seem ready
for that. But what we diddo is reach out to her old coach
and say, hey, you know, can't you get out just kind of
for the social aspect for the exercise, because we know how important that is
(04:34):
with T one D. And herold coach said, heck yeah, bring
her out. So I took herout the other night. I got to
tell you, man, I'm notkidding. This isn't even hyperbole. I'm
on the sidelines watching her thrash theball into a roof of the net and
I'm tearing up. I'm like,this is a I'm proud man. Well,
I know it's beard of your heart. I'm proud for you. You
(04:55):
seem lighter. I never was aYeah, I'm proud for you, brother.
Yeah it was cool. So.Um, anyway, what's been going
on with Anniston? Anna's doing reallywell. She got out of quarantine.
Um, and she had last aone C I think, and came out
like five point six or something.Um. She's just she just killed it.
(05:16):
Man. She just keeps growing up. That's the That's the thing.
I mean, honestly, if ifLexie is over at the house, you
cannot tell the difference between her Leslieand Lexie. That's she's wearing. Um
asked about three weeks ago she startedwearing her mama's clothes because that's yeah.
(05:40):
Yeah, but she does it inpublic. I only do it on my
days off when Leslie had to dosomething else. I was sorry, dude,
I couldn't resist. Well, youknow I left that door wide open.
Well, I've seen the pictures.It is crazy. I mean,
Leslie, she had many She's diminutive, those are supposed to be private.
(06:04):
It isn't the tallest, but um, but you know she's a full grown
woman, and yeah, she isala to be to be up there with
her, that is Um. That'scrazy. It's funny as you'd say that,
because when Alla went out the othernight to practice with her soccer team,
she dug out her whold gear,which is six months old, you
(06:24):
know, all of six months old. None of it would fit her,
Like, the shorts were like cyclingshorts on her. It was crazy.
So it's like we're in a it'slike we're in a time warp. We
had to go buy Aniston all newsoftwall stuff and she, you know,
she made that little travel day.Yeah, but then COVID hit. She
she got quarantined and a whole bunchof stuff happened. So it was like
a month and then we started toadding up and realized she didn't play for
(06:46):
nine months and no wonder wasn't fit. Yeah, it was weird. It
was weird. But anyway, butevery they're they're doing good. Everybody's back
in school. Tag keeps praying everyday to get quarantined. Um, but
other than that, he doesn't.I mean he walks out of school now
in school. I meant that ina funny way. He just wants out
(07:08):
of school. Yeah, all dayhere, but Ethan goes back on Monday
as well. Where we're finally,Yeah, we're like, Okay, that's
it. Everyone back where Yeah,um, hey on the eleve front.
I also want to mention as wellthat we are starting to hit that that
crazy window. So we have guestswe're going to join us here in just
(07:30):
a moment, and one of ourguests in particular, I wouldn't mind having
a conversation with this about because mydaughter is getting ready I think, to
hit puberty. Lots of signs,and now we're starting to see the thing
that Stacy Simms warned us about,which is crazy insulin consumption. We're talking
over that. She's like, yeah, the other morning, this is crazy,
right. The other morning she gotout of bed, went straight to
(07:51):
school, straight to the laptop,didn't want breakfast, wasn't hungry, got
some lunchtime. About eleven thirty,she was almost at three hundred, hadn't
eaten a thing, hadn't taken onboard a thing. This is just a
gradual natural rise, I guess,driven by hormones. So of course I'm
all over that with the insulin.But I'm telling you, man, we
(08:11):
are blowing through insulin right now,like it's crazy. And when Anniston and
well, we've talked about I guessthis a few months ago when she kind
of hit that a that when shehad that, when she had that magical
time the first time we started whatwe eventually you had to adjust her basil
rates. But it is literally sometimesit's just like insulin. They're just like
(08:33):
giving her water. Yeah, Imean it does nothing and so you know,
but you know, then then itpasses and everything I mean instead is
rock. So you know, andit's starting to starting to figure it out
and get it. Get it.When that, when that kind of stuff
starts happening. We uh, Leslie'sgot some special basil rates that she said,
(08:54):
so, but I would be interestedin hearing one of our hearing our
guests talk about that. Absolutely shecan give us a perspective on that.
Yeah, yeah, no doubt.Well, I know Leslie has medical experience,
so I don't know. I don'tthink Ella's Endo listens to this show,
which is probably a good thing becauseI have no medical experience. But
I'm taking it on myself to startadjusting basal rates because this is just crazy,
(09:16):
man, and it seems to beworking. So that's a good thing.
So yeah, it can't be afraidof it. No, definitely control
of it all right, Well,let's we've referenced our guests a couple of
times. As I mentioned, thisshow goes out on November the fourteenth.
Obviously, the month of November isvery significant, being Diabetes Awareness Month and
November the fourteenth of course national Ithink it's global actually Diabetes Day, very
(09:41):
very important. Regular listeners to theshow will also know that Ella was diagnosed
diabetic in November, right the endof November, so this is a month
that holds personal significance for us.But we wanted to make sure that this
was a really good show. Weknow all of our fellow T one D
podcast pull out the stops in themonth in November, and so we are
(10:01):
really really excited, I mean genuinelyexcited to be able to welcome two guests
to the show today are two sponsors, So folks who have been listening to
the show for a while now willbe familiar with the companies. At least
now you get to hear a littleabout the individuals who created them. So
excited today to introduce to Dads andDiabetes of Gluco's revival, Chris Maynard.
(10:26):
And we're also very excited to havethe owner the creator of the wonderful company
Diabets Rachel Price. Well, Rachel, let's let's start with you. The
first thing we'd like for you todo is just share your own T one
D stories. Obviously, both ofyou are Type one diabetic. I'm sure
(10:48):
that's not a coincidence, right.The you ended up with a company focus
has kind of a diabetic focus tothe merchandist that you sell. But before
we go into and talking about thecompany, let folks know a little bit
about you personally. So I'd loveto hear a little about your diagnosis story,
if that's okay. I was actuallyan adult. Um when I was
(11:09):
diagnosed, I was twenty five ortwenty six whatever, don't believe. Yeah,
yeah, so, um so Iwas. I was already a teacher,
you know, I had I'd beenmarried for a couple of years.
You know. My life was juststraight down the straight down the path.
(11:31):
You know. We were all setand then um I started getting sick like,
um I couldn't. I was losingtons of weight, and I was
thirsty all the time, and umI just I was sleeping, you know,
most of the day, and umI but but honestly, like none
(11:54):
of that really concerned me that much. I mean, I was I was
dealing with that. Okay. Iwould just come home from teaching and sleep
for you know, three hours,and that was okay. Did you think
it was just that was just aproduct of your job, just exhaust you.
Yeah, I thought that I wasjust I was drinking like a gallon
of milk every two days, andso I thought, well, I'm just
like my metabolism is just super fastand I'm just getting tired. But then
(12:18):
my hair started to fall out.Yeah, and I was like, that's
it. I've got to go tothe doctor because I cannot go bald,
like I was starting to go bald, and so, um, I was
like, I've got to figure thisout. I can't go bald. You
know, go to the bathroom everyfive minutes, that's fine, but going
(12:39):
bald, no way, you know. So um then the doctor said,
we think it's your thyroid, andthey did blood work and um mone behold.
They call me the next day whileI'm teaching at school and they say
you have diabetes. And I waslike, no, I don't, but
okay, and then you know,they were like you need to come now
(13:00):
and get insulin right now. AndI said, nope, I'm teaching,
so I'll finish that and then whenI have time this afternoon, i'll come,
you know. And they were like, uh. Like the doctor called
me and was like you need toget here now. And I was like,
now, I'm going to finish myday and then you know, i'll
come. I'll come to the officewhen i'm done. And he was like,
(13:24):
Rachel, your blood sugar was sevenhundred and twenty and I was like,
well, okay, what's it supposedto be? Like what okay,
you know, and he was likeit's supposed to be under one twenty.
And I was like, oh,so that's really bad. And he's like
yeah, it's really bad. Youneed insulin. And I was like,
well, okay, i'll see youthis afternoon, you know. And so
(13:50):
I went to the office. Theyshowed me how they checked my finger.
At that point, my blood sugarwas down to like three fifty or something,
so they said, okay, you'restill making some insulin obviously, um.
But um. They sent me homewith a with a paper baggy with
some bials of insulin and some syringesand said you'll go to the indochronologist tomorrow.
(14:18):
Nothing and I had no idea whatit felt like to be normal because
he told me, like the Indochronologist when I saw him and they tested
my A ONNEC, they said,you're we literally don't even have a reading
like you're off the charts. You'reover fifteen on your AC. He said,
you've had this for a long time. And I was like, okay,
what a you know? Like Idon't know, you know, I
(14:39):
didn't know anything. I was sucha baby when it came to knowledge about
diabetes. But I jumped in withboth feet and just took took the bull
by the horns. What age didyou say? You're a diagnosed again officially
diagnosed and then and that's that's gottabe tough. I mean, that's uh,
well, you know the the liftowchanges. It seemed like the older
(15:03):
yeah, man, Honestly, likewhen I see these little the little ones
who get it, you know,I have you know, I have some
friends who've had it their whole life, you know, their whole entire life,
forty years almost they've had it,and they say, I've never known
another way to live. So theyfeel bad for me, Whereas I feel
bad for them because I'm like Ihad a normal childhood. I had a
(15:26):
normal teenage yere you know, likeI had a normal college experience without diabetes.
So I look at them like,oh, I'm so sorry, and
they're like they look at me andthey're like, oh, I'm so sorry.
So that's side of the fence.But that's interesting how relative that is
that I've never heard that viewpoint ofyou never really got to expect that's that's
(15:48):
that's a good point. So Rachel, what what would you say has been
the biggest change for you? Then? Umm, um, it's I guess
I would say, you know,just having to focus on something every day
for your whole life, like everything, there's not a day that goes by
then I'm not thinking about diabetes manytimes during the day. You know,
(16:11):
some days it's all consuming. That'sall I can do is try to control
this disease. But um, sothat's you know, like I look back
and I'm like, oh, Iwas so carefree. I had nothing to
worry about, you know. Butum, you know that that changes when
you have kids too, So justyou know, like I was just you
(16:33):
know, it's funny, I've nevermade that connection. But as you were
talking, knowing that you're a mother. I don't want to be like flippant
about this, but I'm like,diabetes is almost like another kid. It
is, this one that's never goingto leave home. Absolutely absolutely. It's
like it's like having a little toddlerthat throws tantrums, that decides I'm not
(16:56):
gonna do it today. You know, I don't like this, so I'm
not gn you know whatever. Youknow, it's like having it is.
It's like having a little toddler allthe time who doesn't leave you alone and
wakes you up in the middle ofthe night. Oh yeah, I never
thought of that before. But yeah, so how many kids do you have?
I have three? Eleven? Yeah, eleven, eight and three,
(17:17):
So you already have your hands full, just like Allan. Okay, yeah,
pretty good. Although you're done.You're done to the two now officially,
Allan in terms of at the house. At the house, but you're
it's amazing how much they come backhome now. And I love it.
And I got my new grand babyin there. And oh and Mark,
this is because you always ask what'sgoing on. Emily Um and Derek,
(17:40):
her new husband, are about tobuy a house. And Taylor, oh
okay, yeah, we get tobe babysitters all the time now apparently excellent.
Well, it's uh, there's severworld with Chris Day. We had
a couple of technical issues lost Christopermoment, but we'll still go back to
Rachel here in just a moment.But we do want to find out a
little about Chris. So Chris uhtell Us said a little bit about when
(18:02):
you were diagnosed UM and what thatwas like, what that experience was a
lot for you. Yeah, Imean I was twenty three years old,
so I was in the middle ofit. I was in the military,
and UM, we didn't have anyfamily history, so it was new to
me. And in fact, Ijust got done with a EMT class,
(18:22):
so I learned basics about it rightduring the same time with my diagnosis.
So it was something new to me, but it wasn't something that really set
me back because I didn't know anythingabout it. UM and going to take
it as another day. So youwere diagnosed as an adult, Rachel said,
(18:44):
and said that she was diagnosis anadult, and so that's a that's
a different um, you know becauseour Mina martz Gider diagnosis as children and
which most are obviously, what wasthat like as far as you know big
diagnosed as an adult versus you know, I always I'm glad that Anniston doesn't
remember what it's like to not bediabetic. But then at the same time,
(19:06):
Rachel Will saying that she felt sorryactually for kids who are diagnosed because
they never got to see what itwas like to live without it. So
where do you fall on that sideof the fence. Well, I mean,
I don't know, because I didn'tget that opportunity or I missed out
on that. I mean I wasdiagnosed when I was diagnosed, and I
(19:29):
think the factor of when people's gettingdiagnosed is changing, whether people's getting diagnosed
at a young age or an olderage. And so, as Rachel,
I do feel bad. I meanwhen I see other kids now because they
have their own struggles. I lookat it to where I was at more
(19:52):
of a mature age to be ableto carry what diabetes springs, and so
I was able to make adjustments changesas I needed to to where if I
was at a younger age, Idon't know how it would have responded.
I just know when I look atyounger ones who have it, my heart
bleats out for them because I hateto see people living with this disease.
(20:17):
So you were in the military whenyou were diagnosed? What was that like?
So what happened with that? Didyou could stay in or tell me
a little bit about that. Well, you know, it took about two
weeks to have that life changing incidentto where I mean, diagnosis of diabetes
(20:40):
didn't change me. It was abouttwo weeks later when the military said you
can't be in here anymore. Andso it took about a month and then
I got discharged. So that wasreally my first life experience on diabetes is
real. Yeah, So, Imean because I had a stay at home
(21:02):
wife taking care of our baby,which I was responsible for, and now
I got this um new challenge infront of me to try to figure out
and overcome. So transitioning out themilitary and by the way, thing,
thank you for your service that Iappreciate everything that the sacrifice you made for
us. Are are we going anddoing your duty? We appreciate you doing
(21:23):
that and volunteer for that. Howdid um So, what was the transition
liked in So you're leaving the militaryand what happens when you come home?
I mean, what do you do? And trying to figure out I was
trying to figure out life at thatpoint, what can I do? How
can I provide? Um? SoI went into the closest occupation that I
(21:48):
knew that was similar to the military, by becoming a firefighter. And by
becoming a firefighter, you know,you get to take on the same type
of environment. Um, you gottaserve those around you. And and so
that was my new ambition that Ijust learned to absolutely love. So you're
you're just Demand's man, then,yeah, well, uh, you know,
(22:15):
each one of us has our ownskill sets. I like to work
hands on, I like to Ilike to serve people. And so that
that's what I figured what my missionin life was. Well, there you
are. Yeah, yeah, Ilike to I like to make people money
with my brain. So he teachhis all. That's right. Um,
(22:36):
So how did that? How didit impact your firefighting career? How did
that did interfere with that? Orand well, just now we'll fast forward
two years into my firefighting career.Um, I had my first low blood
sugar incident in the middle of thenight when we were getting dispatched to a
fire alarm. Well, I experienceda low blood sugar and I was I
(23:00):
guess literally walking out to the firetruck getting ready to respond, and I
was just like a zombie. Iknew I was supposed to, I knew
what I needed to do, butI couldn't tell my mind what I needed
to do. And so experiencing thatlow blood sugar led me to the next
(23:21):
morning finding out I can't be afirefighter anymore. So that that became now
my second episode of shoot, whatam I doing wrong? Because now,
I mean I've left the military.Now I'm going to lose my firefighting job
again. I still have a familyto take care of. Um. So
(23:42):
I mean, I guess I lookat that incident as anybody. Anybody and
everybody in life has obstacles, peoplewith people with diabetes has more and so
um, diabetics learn how to getaround things. And now at that point,
(24:03):
I was trying to have to figureout either A can I keep my
job? Or be what am Igoing to do next? Yeah? So
Rachel, are you still to teachyou? Yes? Well, this year,
um, you know, because ofbecause of coronavirus, things got a
little bit weird. So, um, I you know, my doctors advised
me I should not be in aclassroom. That that's way too much risk
(24:26):
for me. Um, and notjust because of type one, but because
I have I have a history oflung issues and you know, like other
stuff. So um, So whatI did was I kind of started another
business. So now I um,I do really really small group classes,
you know, just with like threeor four kids. Um, and I
(24:48):
also do tutoring so um. Yeah. So now I'm like all over the
place all the time, teaching allthese different kids, all these different subjects.
But it's been it's been a amazinglike I love it. I love
it, love love it so much. Good. So appreciate that inslight.
Rachel, Well, we'll talk moreabout diabetes here in just a moment,
but I want to just transition toChris. So you have to be pretty
(25:11):
salty about the military thing. Youchanneled that into being a firefighter, first
responder, those sorts of things,and now they're now they're taking that away
from you. So you're pretty saltyabout that. So how do you go
from Do you remember the time whenit when it was the uh, the
day that you made up your mindthat hey, this is I'm going to
(25:33):
focus on gloglose revival. I knowI didn't just pop to you like an
epiphany. I mean, there hadto be some kind of transition. What
what pushed you into that or funneledthat, uh, those obstacles in your
life and funnel that into that thatthis positive thing that is obviously a brilliant
idea. Well, I guess Idon't have a salty outlook. I just
(26:00):
have I mean I'd look at itas you know, a runner that breaks
a leg now can't go running,and so I mean that person with a
broken leg now has an obstacle andeither has to take time to get back
to doing what he loves or hasto figure out something else. And diabetes
(26:22):
at that point, at those twostages just became an obstacle to where I
had to learn to work around.Glucose revival didn't come about for I don't
probably five to ten years later,Whereas really I woke up to an ambulance
crew at one point when I wascamping with my kids, to them rubbing
(26:48):
glucose gel in my mouth in acombination at that and then finding out our
son is projected to be a diabeticnow in the next couple of years.
Those are an accumulation of events thatthinking I need to do something I need
to have a security device for myfamily because when we were camping with my
(27:11):
kids, he tried to give meglucagne and it didn't work. So so
I just I needed to take whatthe EMTs were using and have something simple
to find that they don't need togo look through bags, drawers, cars,
whatever, that they knew exactly whereit was and that they could help
so they feel just as good asgood about me as I do as well.
(27:36):
Yeah, that was so smart becausemost people don't realize, oh,
there's glucagne, but when you're actuallyliving as a diabetic, you know,
and or being the parents of adiabetic, Yeah, you know, we
look at it. We're like,gosh, this has been sitting here for
a year and a half or ayear. What to do with it?
And you forget. I can't compareit to glucag because glucagon is an approved
(28:00):
drug. Glucose gel is a foodproduct. Glucose gel has never been tested
by the FDA, but it's beenused by EMTs because seventy five our EMTs
across the country cannot administer glucagon,and so they they use glucose gel by
(28:21):
just rubbing it on the gums.And that's what happened to me when I
was camping with my kids, andso that experience just brought to life to
me to where I need it formyself. And it wasn't something I planned
on making to a business. Itwas I made a necklace for me,
for my family and for something towhen I would go running, having something
(28:41):
when I could have something with meat every time. Right, So,
just uh, what are they saynecessities and other inventions? So you really,
yeah, you weren't trying to inventanything. You're just you're just trying
to make some kind of you didn'twant to wake up on the side of
the roads somewheres. Am I tryingto rub sugar in your mouth or something?
So you just come up with theidea to I'm sure in the raw
(29:04):
stages of it, trying to figureout how to squeeze had put this jail
and into a tube and just tiedaround your neck or something. So probably
went to very many iterations, I'massuming. Yeah, I mean it started
out with gluing some straws together andtrying to pinch. It was actually when
(29:25):
I mean, I'm wearing these strawsaround my neck so that I have something,
and I went to an Endo chronologistand he was the one that said
this, this is a stupid goodidea. I mean, it was funny
to hear it. It sounds likewhat Mark Cuban does on Shark Tank.
Yeah. Yeah. So he suggested, Chris, you could help many people,
(29:47):
um by having something like this,And so I guess that resonated with
me um and I felt like,if it could help somebody, then UM,
let's see if we can make somethingout of it. So from that
moment it took I mean it tookabout three years to be able to get
(30:07):
it, to be able to getit in the process, after testing everything
and letting people try it out,to bring it actually to the market.
That's got to be super exciting,just that whole story of going from Straws
to now this thing, because youknow, you sent Anniston one and it
was you know, it's got likea magnetic class. Could you explain to
(30:30):
the folks that don't know exactly howit's how how cool it is and how
easy it is for say a kidto use. Well, and I don't
know how cool it is. Imean it's just it's really a simple device.
And probably since your little one gotone. I mean we've changed the
tell and we continue to try tofind ways to make things better. I
(30:52):
think since you got the necklace thatour gel now is twice as fast as
what it was. But I meanit's as simple as a tube around your
neck to where it's either end canuncap that's connected by magnets so it can
attach to where's the necklace and anon the pendant it has the blue circle
(31:18):
and we kind of use that asour as our marking for I'm a diabetic
since that's the diabetes symbol, sothat EMTs or other diabetics or family members
can recognize when they see the bluecircle, they know the help is there
within them, instead of having towait those critical minutes for ems knowing that
(31:41):
they're bringing the same thing that's withinthis necklace. This transition right, just
Rachel about diabetes. So Rachel Annistonhas a couple of your teas and and
we're so thankful for him and verygood ideas. And so where did the
idea come from? I mean alot of people lots of my T shirts,
But what was your what gave youthis passion to do this? Well,
(32:06):
you know, I went so diabetesis three years old now. I
started it in October of twenty seventeenand m and the reason that it kind
of happened is I was talking toa friend and I was just sitting there
talking to her, and I said, you know, I'm so tired of
people not knowing I have Type one. And I said, I, you
(32:28):
know, like even people that Ispend a lot of time with sometimes they
don't even know that I have it, you know. And I said,
you know, I just I said, I have all these fun, funny,
you know, honey, ideas thatwould be so fun to wear on
T shirts. And she was like, well, why don't you do it?
And I was like, I can'tdo that. I don't know anything
(32:50):
about I do a teacher, youknow, Like I was like, I'm
a teacher, I'm not a Tshirt baker. I don't know anything about
starting a business. I don't knowanything about any of this stuff. And
so she was like, well,it's easy, you can do it,
and I was like, hmm,I don't know. So then I went
home and researched it. Within twentyfour hours, I had a shop,
I had designs, I had allthe stuff. So I guess it was
(33:13):
just meant to be. Yeah,that's very cool. Yeah, so well,
I'm proud. I'm proud for youin that, and you've got some
really cool designs. Everybody needs togoing to check her out. And I'm
sure that Mark and will link everythingin the in the show notes. Yeah,
so I'm hoping I'm hoping to twistboth Rachel and Chris's arm and see
if we can't get some special promosgoing for our listeners. Yeah, okay,
(33:36):
yeah, rightly excellent, So we'lllook for that in the show notes.
Guys, there'll probably be some specialcodes and there or something that you
can use at least during the monthin November. Yeah, and we'll have
a discount code. We'll just well, um, we'll have it named as
I'm trying to go simple, eitherdads or Dads and Diabetes Awesome. Yeah,
(33:57):
yep. I will set up thecode tonight and I will just reply
to the email with the code UM, and then they just enter that and
there's always free shippings, you know. Rachel. It's I love the levity
that you bring to it, right, It's it's a yeah, it's a
difficult subject to kind of I mean, you raise a smile I scroll through
your my lord, what I feellike dozens of pages anymore? When you
(34:20):
start. I mean, I rememberyou're looking at your site a year eighteen
months ago, and it has grownso substantially even in that period of time.
So I've got to ask you wheredo these ideas come from? I
mean you mentioned that you have headfulof puns? Yes, are you an
elementary teacher? And i'mentary school?Uh you know, I'm certified high school
actually, but I teach I havefrom kindergarten through Okay, so there's the
(34:45):
puns. Okay, there's the puns. All right, Okay, great,
trust me. My high schools wouldsay, oh, miss Price was always
making stupid jokes and you know,saying things about ambas and you know all
these weird jokey things. So yes, I it doesn't matter what age you
are. I'm going to get youwith my jokes, all the phrases and
(35:06):
images. Is everything, all theT shirts, all the hood Is it
all out of your head? Ordo you have collaborators or so? I
would say about ninety five percent ofit is my original ideas that I take
and run with. A few ofthem are my husbands. He'd be very
sad if I didn't say that afew of those on there were his ideas
that I used of Unfortunately they havenot sold anything, but good that he's
(35:35):
always happy when I post one forhim. You give a lot of special
requests. People say, hey,could you put this on a shirt?
Or I really like this one thatcan you change it up for me?
Or you know, um, Ihad this idea, can you make it
come to life? And then Ido that for them. M and I
(35:55):
do a lot of you don't seethese on my site, but I do
a lot of walk shirts every yearwhere the parts will say, you know,
the kids team, and they'll say, can you make a shirt for
us? And I'll create like fiveor six different designs and then they choose
and then they order them. Soyou know, it's not just what you
see on the site. I doa lot of custom diabetes awareness shirts as
(36:16):
well, so they just contact youdirectly if they need that kind of So
we'll have all that information as well, because I want to find out where
you get your shirts anyway. Yeah, that's a side. Yeah, I
can help you with that. Ican never find a shirt supplier that lasts
so wow. Yeah, Well,the turners and the nulties. As you
(36:37):
mentioned already, we're customers of diabetesand you have amazing products and yeah,
it's so just I want to talkto you a little bit about as well,
about the kind of what goes onin the background. So a portion
of the moneys that you raise fromthe T shirts gets redirected? Is that
(36:58):
right? Yes? Um, youknow, I actually it's more. I
advertise its like ten percent goes toJDRF, but it's actually a lot more
than that. So um, youknow, I'm I'm constantly giving to different
organizations that you know, I wantto support that I'm working towards a cure
and so um you know it's it'sI give away way more than I make.
(37:22):
Let's just put it that way.I'm not in this to make it,
make it big, you know,I'm in it to fund a cure.
And like I have said so manytimes, my ultimate goal is to
put myself out of business. LikeThat's what I'm trying to achieve, is
that we raise so much money thatwe're able to cure this disease and there's
(37:44):
no more diabetes. I don't knowwhat I'm gonna do. Then, you
know, I have to come upwith something else, but um, that'll
be That'll be a wonderful day.Then you can open a retro shop.
I used to have diabetes. Yeah. One of the things that makes I
think our sponsor a duo. Here'ssuch a nice blend allan is we have
(38:07):
Rachel with her providing levity with herT shirts, and Chris just by definition
his work is a more serious nature. Let me just say selfishly what I've
enjoyed about it is I went throughthe first almost fifteen years only known one
diabetic, and now in the lastfive years I've been able to meet thousands
(38:31):
of diabetics and it's been unbelievable becauseeach diabetic has their own story, and
each diabetic is a light to whatthe blue circle is. And so it's
been fun, which has been lifechanging for me. And that's the part
I enjoy Whereas I almost wish thatI would have learned about business twenty years
(38:54):
ago, because I love the customerson our or our community that we're within.
Well before we before we end thepodcast, Rachel tell us where we
can find all of your goodies?Well, I have a I have an
Instagram page. It's at diah UnderscoreEE underscore ts t ees UM. I
(39:21):
also have a Facebook page. Um, if you just type in dia hyphen
e hyphen t S you'll find me. Um. And then of course the
website, which is like the samething. UM. But I really this
month especially, I would love forpeople to make sure to follow me on
Instagram or Facebook because every single dayI am posting facts about type one or
(39:45):
diabetes in general, because I wantI want people to understand you know,
yes I have type one, butI also empathize with those who have type
two or gestational or type three oryou know, moody latta, all these
things that are out there that peoplejust don't know about. And so um,
you know, I'm not I'm notposting anything about T shirts this month.
(40:06):
It is all about awareness and educationand so um those are things that
you can easily share and and youknow, help people to learn because every
year when I do this, peoplecome to me later and say, I
learned so much this month from justreading your posts, which is which is
the whole point, right, LikeI make these T shirts because they're fun,
(40:28):
but the main reason is so peoplelearn about this disease and hopefully that
learning leads to donations which will leadto a cure. Um So anyway,
so that's my little plug for thismonth. You know, please please please
just share information so that everyone aroundyou can can learn more about about this
disease. Awesome. Yeah, andyou can find us at Glucose Revival dot
(40:52):
com Glucose Revival dot com. Andyou' also saw, I know you text
me a couple of of your musicvideos and things. You got a YouTube
channel and things that that's not Iguess that's not gut Close Revival necessarily,
but that the videos had to dowith being diabetic though, correct. Everything
we do has to do with diabetesone way or another. There you go.
(41:14):
So who is Jesse Blaize? Isthat like your stage name or is
that actually somebody else? No?Are you familiar with the old group of
Twisted Sister from the nineteen eighties,Absolutely, dude, I was. Man,
I'm born in nineteen seventy so yeah, okay, So it's it's the
lead singer's son that sang this forus of Twisted Sister, because because Twisted
(41:38):
Sister did a song for cancer acouple of years ago, and when I
saw that video, I thought,man, that is touching. We need
to do that for diabetes. Sowe did our first video three years ago
with him, and then we cameback to him this year to do it
again. Because of COVID, wehad some restrict and so we just transitioned
(42:02):
that to do our partner with thattogether with the hike that we did with
diabetics the summer. That's awesome.So as to carry me home, Jesse
Blaze, Jesse Blaze, Snyder,Yeah, Jesse Blaze, Oh yeah,
Snyder, We're not going to takeit. Oh man, that brings good
night. That was a jam.We want to thank Rachel and Chris so
(42:25):
much for joining us today. It'sbeen really, really fun, and it's
been great to learn about you andabout your businesses and about the support you're
providing to the T one D community. Thank you so much to our listeners
as always, as you know,dads and diabetes is just as to be
fuddled dads with T one D kiddostrying to figure it out to keep your
family safe and well. Thanks again, Rachel and Chris, and thanks again
(42:46):
to all of you for listening.Try and and I guess enjoy your Diabetes
Awareness Month and particularly No. Numberthe fourteenth from the show drops and best
wishes to everybody from this month andalways
I just want to remind you,guys, this is just me and Mark
telling stories, and that nothing thatwe say here is intended to be medical
of basis is strictly from our pointof view as two dads telling the stories
of our T one D kiddos.We also want our listeners to know that
we're trying to maintain a perspective recognizingthat whatever Alan and I or our families
are dealing with, it doesn't amountto a hill of beans compared to that
(00:42):
which our daughters or anyone diagnosed withType one diabetes has to contend with on
a day to day basis. Allright here, I'm not even gonna could
you hear the music? Somewhere youcan hear the music? Yes? Right,
did you hear hello? My littlekeyboard? Oh my lord? What
(01:07):
have we descended into? Hello?Listeners. I'm going to try and grab
the reins here while I still canmuch fun with this sound the sound board.
Welcome to Dads and Diabetes. There'stwo dads t one D kiddos on
a podcast trying to figure it allout each and every day. I'm Mark
and I'm joined as always by Alan. Yes you are hello, Alan,
(01:33):
How are you? Mate? Manda, good, how are you you know?
I'm okay, I'm actually I'm actuallybetter than okay. I'll bet you
are. We're not going to gointo political waters. I promise I'm not.
I'm kidding. I'm good either way. I don't care. I'm just
kidding. No, no, no, that's actually not what I was referring
to. And of course nothing attime of recording. When this comes out
(01:57):
and November the fourteenth, we'll knowwho our next president is a time of
recording, we have no clue.We may not know for the next Actually,
Alan, you're pulling a face.You're right on November the fourteenth,
we may still not. Though Ithought you might have been talking about twenty
twenty one. I wasn't sure anyway, Anyway, he did. I was
(02:19):
going to ask about Ella. Didshe get back in school and all that
stuff? Well, yes, andthat's actually what I was referring to.
So she did go back to school, but then her teacher was test depositive
for COVID perfect generated CARB announced soimmediately she we pulled her out of school
again for ten days. So actuallyshe a time of recording, what is
(02:42):
this? What are we at now? The fifth of November sixth, and
good night. It's our one year. It's our one long day since March,
no doubt. Anyway, sixth Novembershe goes back on the Monday,
so that will be whatever that is, the ninth or whatever. So um.
And also big news here, misterNulty, we have her back on
the soccer field. Oh good,well, I'm happy for it that I
(03:10):
set that up now. But I'mreally happy for her man because there's the
light kind of come back in hereyes a little bit on that her parents
just put their foot down basically.So well, no, it's a mixture
of things. So the headmaster atour school here and I were talking as
we were getting toward the end ofthe volleyball season, and obviously with the
(03:32):
accent and everything, oh you intofootball, you into soccer, And they
started in on we've never had asoccer program at this school. I always
thought that'd be great. We've gotparents already kind of you know, pushing
back on American football because of headinjuries and blah blah blah. And you
know, would you be interested incommies? Yeah, we're in a blue
(03:52):
town. We're all commies here.And he said, you know, would
you be interested in doing something,and I said, well, with my
work, I can't really came.But actually with COVID right now, I'm
not traveling, so if you wantto catch me now would be a good
time. So long story short,I said I'd do a few workshops.
Obviously Ella's going to be involved inthose, and she has been and it's
(04:13):
gone really well, and so Ithink she's enjoyed that. And then Kim
and I were talking the other nightabout whether or not to kind of get
her back into you in with herclub, and she just doesn't seem ready
for that. But what we diddo is reach out to her old coach
and say, hey, you know, can't you get out just kind of
for the social aspect for the exercise, because we know how important that is
(04:34):
with T one D. And herold coach said, heck yeah, bring
her out. So I took herout the other night. I got to
tell you, man, I'm notkidding. This isn't even hyperbole. I'm
on the sidelines watching her thrash theball into a roof of the net and
I'm tearing up. I'm like,this is a I'm proud man. Well,
I know it's beard of your heart. I'm proud for you. You
(04:55):
seem lighter. I never was aYeah, I'm proud for you, brother.
Yeah it was cool. So.Um, anyway, what's been going
on with Anniston? Anna's doing reallywell. She got out of quarantine.
Um, and she had last aone C I think, and came out
like five point six or something.Um. She's just she just killed it.
(05:16):
Man. She just keeps growing up. That's the That's the thing.
I mean, honestly, if ifLexie is over at the house, you
cannot tell the difference between her Leslieand Lexie. That's she's wearing. Um
asked about three weeks ago she startedwearing her mama's clothes because that's yeah.
(05:40):
Yeah, but she does it inpublic. I only do it on my
days off when Leslie had to dosomething else. I was sorry, dude,
I couldn't resist. Well, youknow I left that door wide open.
Well, I've seen the pictures.It is crazy. I mean,
Leslie, she had many She's diminutive, those are supposed to be private.
(06:04):
It isn't the tallest, but um, but you know she's a full grown
woman, and yeah, she isala to be to be up there with
her, that is Um. That'scrazy. It's funny as you'd say that,
because when Alla went out the othernight to practice with her soccer team,
she dug out her whold gear,which is six months old, you
(06:24):
know, all of six months old. None of it would fit her,
Like, the shorts were like cyclingshorts on her. It was crazy.
So it's like we're in a it'slike we're in a time warp. We
had to go buy Aniston all newsoftwall stuff and she, you know,
she made that little travel day.Yeah, but then COVID hit. She
she got quarantined and a whole bunchof stuff happened. So it was like
a month and then we started toadding up and realized she didn't play for
(06:46):
nine months and no wonder wasn't fit. Yeah, it was weird. It
was weird. But anyway, butevery they're they're doing good. Everybody's back
in school. Tag keeps praying everyday to get quarantined. Um, but
other than that, he doesn't.I mean he walks out of school now
in school. I meant that ina funny way. He just wants out
(07:08):
of school. Yeah, all dayhere, but Ethan goes back on Monday
as well. Where we're finally,Yeah, we're like, Okay, that's
it. Everyone back where Yeah,um, hey on the eleve front.
I also want to mention as wellthat we are starting to hit that that
crazy window. So we have guestswe're going to join us here in just
(07:30):
a moment, and one of ourguests in particular, I wouldn't mind having
a conversation with this about because mydaughter is getting ready I think, to
hit puberty. Lots of signs,and now we're starting to see the thing
that Stacy Simms warned us about,which is crazy insulin consumption. We're talking
over that. She's like, yeah, the other morning, this is crazy,
right. The other morning she gotout of bed, went straight to
(07:51):
school, straight to the laptop,didn't want breakfast, wasn't hungry, got
some lunchtime. About eleven thirty,she was almost at three hundred, hadn't
eaten a thing, hadn't taken onboard a thing. This is just a
gradual natural rise, I guess,driven by hormones. So of course I'm
all over that with the insulin.But I'm telling you, man, we
(08:11):
are blowing through insulin right now,like it's crazy. And when Anniston and
well, we've talked about I guessthis a few months ago when she kind
of hit that a that when shehad that, when she had that magical
time the first time we started whatwe eventually you had to adjust her basil
rates. But it is literally sometimesit's just like insulin. They're just like
(08:33):
giving her water. Yeah, Imean it does nothing and so you know,
but you know, then then itpasses and everything I mean instead is
rock. So you know, andit's starting to starting to figure it out
and get it. Get it.When that, when that kind of stuff
starts happening. We uh, Leslie'sgot some special basil rates that she said,
(08:54):
so, but I would be interestedin hearing one of our hearing our
guests talk about that. Absolutely shecan give us a perspective on that.
Yeah, yeah, no doubt.Well, I know Leslie has medical experience,
so I don't know. I don'tthink Ella's Endo listens to this show,
which is probably a good thing becauseI have no medical experience. But
I'm taking it on myself to startadjusting basal rates because this is just crazy,
(09:16):
man, and it seems to beworking. So that's a good thing.
So yeah, it can't be afraidof it. No, definitely control
of it all right, Well,let's we've referenced our guests a couple of
times. As I mentioned, thisshow goes out on November the fourteenth.
Obviously, the month of November isvery significant, being Diabetes Awareness Month and
November the fourteenth of course national Ithink it's global actually Diabetes Day, very
(09:41):
very important. Regular listeners to theshow will also know that Ella was diagnosed
diabetic in November, right the endof November, so this is a month
that holds personal significance for us.But we wanted to make sure that this
was a really good show. Weknow all of our fellow T one D
podcast pull out the stops in themonth in November, and so we are
(10:01):
really really excited, I mean genuinelyexcited to be able to welcome two guests
to the show today are two sponsors, So folks who have been listening to
the show for a while now willbe familiar with the companies. At least
now you get to hear a littleabout the individuals who created them. So
excited today to introduce to Dads andDiabetes of Gluco's revival, Chris Maynard.
(10:26):
And we're also very excited to havethe owner the creator of the wonderful company
Diabets Rachel Price. Well, Rachel, let's let's start with you. The
first thing we'd like for you todo is just share your own T one
D stories. Obviously, both ofyou are Type one diabetic. I'm sure
(10:48):
that's not a coincidence, right.The you ended up with a company focus
has kind of a diabetic focus tothe merchandist that you sell. But before
we go into and talking about thecompany, let folks know a little bit
about you personally. So I'd loveto hear a little about your diagnosis story,
if that's okay. I was actuallyan adult. Um when I was
(11:09):
diagnosed, I was twenty five ortwenty six whatever, don't believe. Yeah,
yeah, so, um so Iwas. I was already a teacher,
you know, I had I'd beenmarried for a couple of years.
You know. My life was juststraight down the straight down the path.
(11:31):
You know. We were all setand then um I started getting sick like,
um I couldn't. I was losingtons of weight, and I was
thirsty all the time, and umI just I was sleeping, you know,
most of the day, and umI but but honestly, like none
(11:54):
of that really concerned me that much. I mean, I was I was
dealing with that. Okay. Iwould just come home from teaching and sleep
for you know, three hours,and that was okay. Did you think
it was just that was just aproduct of your job, just exhaust you.
Yeah, I thought that I wasjust I was drinking like a gallon
of milk every two days, andso I thought, well, I'm just
like my metabolism is just super fastand I'm just getting tired. But then
(12:18):
my hair started to fall out.Yeah, and I was like, that's
it. I've got to go tothe doctor because I cannot go bald,
like I was starting to go bald, and so, um, I was
like, I've got to figure thisout. I can't go bald. You
know, go to the bathroom everyfive minutes, that's fine, but going
(12:39):
bald, no way, you know. So um then the doctor said,
we think it's your thyroid, andthey did blood work and um mone behold.
They call me the next day whileI'm teaching at school and they say
you have diabetes. And I waslike, no, I don't, but
okay, and then you know,they were like you need to come now
(13:00):
and get insulin right now. AndI said, nope, I'm teaching,
so I'll finish that and then whenI have time this afternoon, i'll come,
you know. And they were like, uh. Like the doctor called
me and was like you need toget here now. And I was like,
now, I'm going to finish myday and then you know, i'll
come. I'll come to the officewhen i'm done. And he was like,
(13:24):
Rachel, your blood sugar was sevenhundred and twenty and I was like,
well, okay, what's it supposedto be? Like what okay,
you know, and he was likeit's supposed to be under one twenty.
And I was like, oh,so that's really bad. And he's like
yeah, it's really bad. Youneed insulin. And I was like,
well, okay, i'll see youthis afternoon, you know. And so
(13:50):
I went to the office. Theyshowed me how they checked my finger.
At that point, my blood sugarwas down to like three fifty or something,
so they said, okay, you'restill making some insulin obviously, um.
But um. They sent me homewith a with a paper baggy with
some bials of insulin and some syringesand said you'll go to the indochronologist tomorrow.
(14:18):
Nothing and I had no idea whatit felt like to be normal because
he told me, like the Indochronologist when I saw him and they tested
my A ONNEC, they said,you're we literally don't even have a reading
like you're off the charts. You'reover fifteen on your AC. He said,
you've had this for a long time. And I was like, okay,
what a you know? Like Idon't know, you know, I
(14:39):
didn't know anything. I was sucha baby when it came to knowledge about
diabetes. But I jumped in withboth feet and just took took the bull
by the horns. What age didyou say? You're a diagnosed again officially
diagnosed and then and that's that's gottabe tough. I mean, that's uh,
well, you know the the liftowchanges. It seemed like the older
(15:03):
yeah, man, Honestly, likewhen I see these little the little ones
who get it, you know,I have you know, I have some
friends who've had it their whole life, you know, their whole entire life,
forty years almost they've had it,and they say, I've never known
another way to live. So theyfeel bad for me, Whereas I feel
bad for them because I'm like Ihad a normal childhood. I had a
(15:26):
normal teenage yere you know, likeI had a normal college experience without diabetes.
So I look at them like,oh, I'm so sorry, and
they're like they look at me andthey're like, oh, I'm so sorry.
So that's side of the fence.But that's interesting how relative that is
that I've never heard that viewpoint ofyou never really got to expect that's that's
(15:48):
that's a good point. So Rachel, what what would you say has been
the biggest change for you? Then? Umm, um, it's I guess
I would say, you know,just having to focus on something every day
for your whole life, like everything, there's not a day that goes by
then I'm not thinking about diabetes manytimes during the day. You know,
(16:11):
some days it's all consuming. That'sall I can do is try to control
this disease. But um, sothat's you know, like I look back
and I'm like, oh, Iwas so carefree. I had nothing to
worry about, you know. Butum, you know that that changes when
you have kids too, So justyou know, like I was just you
(16:33):
know, it's funny, I've nevermade that connection. But as you were
talking, knowing that you're a mother. I don't want to be like flippant
about this, but I'm like,diabetes is almost like another kid. It
is, this one that's never goingto leave home. Absolutely absolutely. It's
like it's like having a little toddlerthat throws tantrums, that decides I'm not
(16:56):
gonna do it today. You know, I don't like this, so I'm
not gn you know whatever. Youknow, it's like having it is.
It's like having a little toddler allthe time who doesn't leave you alone and
wakes you up in the middle ofthe night. Oh yeah, I never
thought of that before. But yeah, so how many kids do you have?
I have three? Eleven? Yeah, eleven, eight and three,
(17:17):
So you already have your hands full, just like Allan. Okay, yeah,
pretty good. Although you're done.You're done to the two now officially,
Allan in terms of at the house. At the house, but you're
it's amazing how much they come backhome now. And I love it.
And I got my new grand babyin there. And oh and Mark,
this is because you always ask what'sgoing on. Emily Um and Derek,
(17:40):
her new husband, are about tobuy a house. And Taylor, oh
okay, yeah, we get tobe babysitters all the time now apparently excellent.
Well, it's uh, there's severworld with Chris Day. We had
a couple of technical issues lost Christopermoment, but we'll still go back to
Rachel here in just a moment.But we do want to find out a
little about Chris. So Chris uhtell Us said a little bit about when
(18:02):
you were diagnosed UM and what thatwas like, what that experience was a
lot for you. Yeah, Imean I was twenty three years old,
so I was in the middle ofit. I was in the military,
and UM, we didn't have anyfamily history, so it was new to
me. And in fact, Ijust got done with a EMT class,
(18:22):
so I learned basics about it rightduring the same time with my diagnosis.
So it was something new to me, but it wasn't something that really set
me back because I didn't know anythingabout it. UM and going to take
it as another day. So youwere diagnosed as an adult, Rachel said,
(18:44):
and said that she was diagnosis anadult, and so that's a that's
a different um, you know becauseour Mina martz Gider diagnosis as children and
which most are obviously, what wasthat like as far as you know big
diagnosed as an adult versus you know, I always I'm glad that Anniston doesn't
remember what it's like to not bediabetic. But then at the same time,
(19:06):
Rachel Will saying that she felt sorryactually for kids who are diagnosed because
they never got to see what itwas like to live without it. So
where do you fall on that sideof the fence. Well, I mean,
I don't know, because I didn'tget that opportunity or I missed out
on that. I mean I wasdiagnosed when I was diagnosed, and I
(19:29):
think the factor of when people's gettingdiagnosed is changing, whether people's getting diagnosed
at a young age or an olderage. And so, as Rachel,
I do feel bad. I meanwhen I see other kids now because they
have their own struggles. I lookat it to where I was at more
(19:52):
of a mature age to be ableto carry what diabetes springs, and so
I was able to make adjustments changesas I needed to to where if I
was at a younger age, Idon't know how it would have responded.
I just know when I look atyounger ones who have it, my heart
bleats out for them because I hateto see people living with this disease.
(20:17):
So you were in the military whenyou were diagnosed? What was that like?
So what happened with that? Didyou could stay in or tell me
a little bit about that. Well, you know, it took about two
weeks to have that life changing incidentto where I mean, diagnosis of diabetes
(20:40):
didn't change me. It was abouttwo weeks later when the military said you
can't be in here anymore. Andso it took about a month and then
I got discharged. So that wasreally my first life experience on diabetes is
real. Yeah, So, Imean because I had a stay at home
(21:02):
wife taking care of our baby,which I was responsible for, and now
I got this um new challenge infront of me to try to figure out
and overcome. So transitioning out themilitary and by the way, thing,
thank you for your service that Iappreciate everything that the sacrifice you made for
us. Are are we going anddoing your duty? We appreciate you doing
(21:23):
that and volunteer for that. Howdid um So, what was the transition
liked in So you're leaving the militaryand what happens when you come home?
I mean, what do you do? And trying to figure out I was
trying to figure out life at thatpoint, what can I do? How
can I provide? Um? SoI went into the closest occupation that I
(21:48):
knew that was similar to the military, by becoming a firefighter. And by
becoming a firefighter, you know,you get to take on the same type
of environment. Um, you gottaserve those around you. And and so
that was my new ambition that Ijust learned to absolutely love. So you're
you're just Demand's man, then,yeah, well, uh, you know,
(22:15):
each one of us has our ownskill sets. I like to work
hands on, I like to Ilike to serve people. And so that
that's what I figured what my missionin life was. Well, there you
are. Yeah, yeah, Ilike to I like to make people money
with my brain. So he teachhis all. That's right. Um,
(22:36):
So how did that? How didit impact your firefighting career? How did
that did interfere with that? Orand well, just now we'll fast forward
two years into my firefighting career.Um, I had my first low blood
sugar incident in the middle of thenight when we were getting dispatched to a
fire alarm. Well, I experienceda low blood sugar and I was I
(23:00):
guess literally walking out to the firetruck getting ready to respond, and I
was just like a zombie. Iknew I was supposed to, I knew
what I needed to do, butI couldn't tell my mind what I needed
to do. And so experiencing thatlow blood sugar led me to the next
(23:21):
morning finding out I can't be afirefighter anymore. So that that became now
my second episode of shoot, whatam I doing wrong? Because now,
I mean I've left the military.Now I'm going to lose my firefighting job
again. I still have a familyto take care of. Um. So
(23:42):
I mean, I guess I lookat that incident as anybody. Anybody and
everybody in life has obstacles, peoplewith people with diabetes has more and so
um, diabetics learn how to getaround things. And now at that point,
(24:03):
I was trying to have to figureout either A can I keep my
job? Or be what am Igoing to do next? Yeah? So
Rachel, are you still to teachyou? Yes? Well, this year,
um, you know, because ofbecause of coronavirus, things got a
little bit weird. So, um, I you know, my doctors advised
me I should not be in aclassroom. That that's way too much risk
(24:26):
for me. Um, and notjust because of type one, but because
I have I have a history oflung issues and you know, like other
stuff. So um, So whatI did was I kind of started another
business. So now I um,I do really really small group classes,
you know, just with like threeor four kids. Um, and I
(24:48):
also do tutoring so um. Yeah. So now I'm like all over the
place all the time, teaching allthese different kids, all these different subjects.
But it's been it's been a amazinglike I love it. I love
it, love love it so much. Good. So appreciate that inslight.
Rachel, Well, we'll talk moreabout diabetes here in just a moment,
but I want to just transition toChris. So you have to be pretty
(25:11):
salty about the military thing. Youchanneled that into being a firefighter, first
responder, those sorts of things,and now they're now they're taking that away
from you. So you're pretty saltyabout that. So how do you go
from Do you remember the time whenit when it was the uh, the
day that you made up your mindthat hey, this is I'm going to
(25:33):
focus on gloglose revival. I knowI didn't just pop to you like an
epiphany. I mean, there hadto be some kind of transition. What
what pushed you into that or funneledthat, uh, those obstacles in your
life and funnel that into that thatthis positive thing that is obviously a brilliant
idea. Well, I guess Idon't have a salty outlook. I just
(26:00):
have I mean I'd look at itas you know, a runner that breaks
a leg now can't go running,and so I mean that person with a
broken leg now has an obstacle andeither has to take time to get back
to doing what he loves or hasto figure out something else. And diabetes
(26:22):
at that point, at those twostages just became an obstacle to where I
had to learn to work around.Glucose revival didn't come about for I don't
probably five to ten years later,Whereas really I woke up to an ambulance
crew at one point when I wascamping with my kids, to them rubbing
(26:48):
glucose gel in my mouth in acombination at that and then finding out our
son is projected to be a diabeticnow in the next couple of years.
Those are an accumulation of events thatthinking I need to do something I need
to have a security device for myfamily because when we were camping with my
(27:11):
kids, he tried to give meglucagne and it didn't work. So so
I just I needed to take whatthe EMTs were using and have something simple
to find that they don't need togo look through bags, drawers, cars,
whatever, that they knew exactly whereit was and that they could help
so they feel just as good asgood about me as I do as well.
(27:36):
Yeah, that was so smart becausemost people don't realize, oh,
there's glucagne, but when you're actuallyliving as a diabetic, you know,
and or being the parents of adiabetic, Yeah, you know, we
look at it. We're like,gosh, this has been sitting here for
a year and a half or ayear. What to do with it?
And you forget. I can't compareit to glucag because glucagon is an approved
(28:00):
drug. Glucose gel is a foodproduct. Glucose gel has never been tested
by the FDA, but it's beenused by EMTs because seventy five our EMTs
across the country cannot administer glucagon,and so they they use glucose gel by
(28:21):
just rubbing it on the gums.And that's what happened to me when I
was camping with my kids, andso that experience just brought to life to
me to where I need it formyself. And it wasn't something I planned
on making to a business. Itwas I made a necklace for me,
for my family and for something towhen I would go running, having something
(28:41):
when I could have something with meat every time. Right, So,
just uh, what are they saynecessities and other inventions? So you really,
yeah, you weren't trying to inventanything. You're just you're just trying
to make some kind of you didn'twant to wake up on the side of
the roads somewheres. Am I tryingto rub sugar in your mouth or something?
So you just come up with theidea to I'm sure in the raw
(29:04):
stages of it, trying to figureout how to squeeze had put this jail
and into a tube and just tiedaround your neck or something. So probably
went to very many iterations, I'massuming. Yeah, I mean it started
out with gluing some straws together andtrying to pinch. It was actually when
(29:25):
I mean, I'm wearing these strawsaround my neck so that I have something,
and I went to an Endo chronologistand he was the one that said
this, this is a stupid goodidea. I mean, it was funny
to hear it. It sounds likewhat Mark Cuban does on Shark Tank.
Yeah. Yeah. So he suggested, Chris, you could help many people,
(29:47):
um by having something like this,And so I guess that resonated with
me um and I felt like,if it could help somebody, then UM,
let's see if we can make somethingout of it. So from that
moment it took I mean it tookabout three years to be able to get
(30:07):
it, to be able to getit in the process, after testing everything
and letting people try it out,to bring it actually to the market.
That's got to be super exciting,just that whole story of going from Straws
to now this thing, because youknow, you sent Anniston one and it
was you know, it's got likea magnetic class. Could you explain to
(30:30):
the folks that don't know exactly howit's how how cool it is and how
easy it is for say a kidto use. Well, and I don't
know how cool it is. Imean it's just it's really a simple device.
And probably since your little one gotone. I mean we've changed the
tell and we continue to try tofind ways to make things better. I
(30:52):
think since you got the necklace thatour gel now is twice as fast as
what it was. But I meanit's as simple as a tube around your
neck to where it's either end canuncap that's connected by magnets so it can
attach to where's the necklace and anon the pendant it has the blue circle
(31:18):
and we kind of use that asour as our marking for I'm a diabetic
since that's the diabetes symbol, sothat EMTs or other diabetics or family members
can recognize when they see the bluecircle, they know the help is there
within them, instead of having towait those critical minutes for ems knowing that
(31:41):
they're bringing the same thing that's withinthis necklace. This transition right, just
Rachel about diabetes. So Rachel Annistonhas a couple of your teas and and
we're so thankful for him and verygood ideas. And so where did the
idea come from? I mean alot of people lots of my T shirts,
But what was your what gave youthis passion to do this? Well,
(32:06):
you know, I went so diabetesis three years old now. I
started it in October of twenty seventeenand m and the reason that it kind
of happened is I was talking toa friend and I was just sitting there
talking to her, and I said, you know, I'm so tired of
people not knowing I have Type one. And I said, I, you
(32:28):
know, like even people that Ispend a lot of time with sometimes they
don't even know that I have it, you know. And I said,
you know, I just I said, I have all these fun, funny,
you know, honey, ideas thatwould be so fun to wear on
T shirts. And she was like, well, why don't you do it?
And I was like, I can'tdo that. I don't know anything
(32:50):
about I do a teacher, youknow, Like I was like, I'm
a teacher, I'm not a Tshirt baker. I don't know anything about
starting a business. I don't knowanything about any of this stuff. And
so she was like, well,it's easy, you can do it,
and I was like, hmm,I don't know. So then I went
home and researched it. Within twentyfour hours, I had a shop,
I had designs, I had allthe stuff. So I guess it was
(33:13):
just meant to be. Yeah,that's very cool. Yeah, so well,
I'm proud. I'm proud for youin that, and you've got some
really cool designs. Everybody needs togoing to check her out. And I'm
sure that Mark and will link everythingin the in the show notes. Yeah,
so I'm hoping I'm hoping to twistboth Rachel and Chris's arm and see
if we can't get some special promosgoing for our listeners. Yeah, okay,
(33:36):
yeah, rightly excellent, So we'lllook for that in the show notes.
Guys, there'll probably be some specialcodes and there or something that you
can use at least during the monthin November. Yeah, and we'll have
a discount code. We'll just well, um, we'll have it named as
I'm trying to go simple, eitherdads or Dads and Diabetes Awesome. Yeah,
(33:57):
yep. I will set up thecode tonight and I will just reply
to the email with the code UM, and then they just enter that and
there's always free shippings, you know. Rachel. It's I love the levity
that you bring to it, right, It's it's a yeah, it's a
difficult subject to kind of I mean, you raise a smile I scroll through
your my lord, what I feellike dozens of pages anymore? When you
(34:20):
start. I mean, I rememberyou're looking at your site a year eighteen
months ago, and it has grownso substantially even in that period of time.
So I've got to ask you wheredo these ideas come from? I
mean you mentioned that you have headfulof puns? Yes, are you an
elementary teacher? And i'mentary school?Uh you know, I'm certified high school
actually, but I teach I havefrom kindergarten through Okay, so there's the
(34:45):
puns. Okay, there's the puns. All right, Okay, great,
trust me. My high schools wouldsay, oh, miss Price was always
making stupid jokes and you know,saying things about ambas and you know all
these weird jokey things. So yes, I it doesn't matter what age you
are. I'm going to get youwith my jokes, all the phrases and
(35:06):
images. Is everything, all theT shirts, all the hood Is it
all out of your head? Ordo you have collaborators or so? I
would say about ninety five percent ofit is my original ideas that I take
and run with. A few ofthem are my husbands. He'd be very
sad if I didn't say that afew of those on there were his ideas
that I used of Unfortunately they havenot sold anything, but good that he's
(35:35):
always happy when I post one forhim. You give a lot of special
requests. People say, hey,could you put this on a shirt?
Or I really like this one thatcan you change it up for me?
Or you know, um, Ihad this idea, can you make it
come to life? And then Ido that for them. M and I
(35:55):
do a lot of you don't seethese on my site, but I do
a lot of walk shirts every yearwhere the parts will say, you know,
the kids team, and they'll say, can you make a shirt for
us? And I'll create like fiveor six different designs and then they choose
and then they order them. Soyou know, it's not just what you
see on the site. I doa lot of custom diabetes awareness shirts as
(36:16):
well, so they just contact youdirectly if they need that kind of So
we'll have all that information as well, because I want to find out where
you get your shirts anyway. Yeah, that's a side. Yeah, I
can help you with that. Ican never find a shirt supplier that lasts
so wow. Yeah, Well,the turners and the nulties. As you
(36:37):
mentioned already, we're customers of diabetesand you have amazing products and yeah,
it's so just I want to talkto you a little bit about as well,
about the kind of what goes onin the background. So a portion
of the moneys that you raise fromthe T shirts gets redirected? Is that
(36:58):
right? Yes? Um, youknow, I actually it's more. I
advertise its like ten percent goes toJDRF, but it's actually a lot more
than that. So um, youknow, I'm I'm constantly giving to different
organizations that you know, I wantto support that I'm working towards a cure
and so um you know it's it'sI give away way more than I make.
(37:22):
Let's just put it that way.I'm not in this to make it,
make it big, you know,I'm in it to fund a cure.
And like I have said so manytimes, my ultimate goal is to
put myself out of business. LikeThat's what I'm trying to achieve, is
that we raise so much money thatwe're able to cure this disease and there's
(37:44):
no more diabetes. I don't knowwhat I'm gonna do. Then, you
know, I have to come upwith something else, but um, that'll
be That'll be a wonderful day.Then you can open a retro shop.
I used to have diabetes. Yeah. One of the things that makes I
think our sponsor a duo. Here'ssuch a nice blend allan is we have
(38:07):
Rachel with her providing levity with herT shirts, and Chris just by definition
his work is a more serious nature. Let me just say selfishly what I've
enjoyed about it is I went throughthe first almost fifteen years only known one
diabetic, and now in the lastfive years I've been able to meet thousands
(38:31):
of diabetics and it's been unbelievable becauseeach diabetic has their own story, and
each diabetic is a light to whatthe blue circle is. And so it's
been fun, which has been lifechanging for me. And that's the part
I enjoy Whereas I almost wish thatI would have learned about business twenty years
(38:54):
ago, because I love the customerson our or our community that we're within.
Well before we before we end thepodcast, Rachel tell us where we
can find all of your goodies?Well, I have a I have an
Instagram page. It's at diah UnderscoreEE underscore ts t ees UM. I
(39:21):
also have a Facebook page. Um, if you just type in dia hyphen
e hyphen t S you'll find me. Um. And then of course the
website, which is like the samething. UM. But I really this
month especially, I would love forpeople to make sure to follow me on
Instagram or Facebook because every single dayI am posting facts about type one or
(39:45):
diabetes in general, because I wantI want people to understand you know,
yes I have type one, butI also empathize with those who have type
two or gestational or type three oryou know, moody latta, all these
things that are out there that peoplejust don't know about. And so um,
you know, I'm not I'm notposting anything about T shirts this month.
(40:06):
It is all about awareness and educationand so um those are things that
you can easily share and and youknow, help people to learn because every
year when I do this, peoplecome to me later and say, I
learned so much this month from justreading your posts, which is which is
the whole point, right, LikeI make these T shirts because they're fun,
(40:28):
but the main reason is so peoplelearn about this disease and hopefully that
learning leads to donations which will leadto a cure. Um So anyway,
so that's my little plug for thismonth. You know, please please please
just share information so that everyone aroundyou can can learn more about about this
disease. Awesome. Yeah, andyou can find us at Glucose Revival dot
(40:52):
com Glucose Revival dot com. Andyou' also saw, I know you text
me a couple of of your musicvideos and things. You got a YouTube
channel and things that that's not Iguess that's not gut Close Revival necessarily,
but that the videos had to dowith being diabetic though, correct. Everything
we do has to do with diabetesone way or another. There you go.
(41:14):
So who is Jesse Blaize? Isthat like your stage name or is
that actually somebody else? No?Are you familiar with the old group of
Twisted Sister from the nineteen eighties,Absolutely, dude, I was. Man,
I'm born in nineteen seventy so yeah, okay, So it's it's the
lead singer's son that sang this forus of Twisted Sister, because because Twisted
(41:38):
Sister did a song for cancer acouple of years ago, and when I
saw that video, I thought,man, that is touching. We need
to do that for diabetes. Sowe did our first video three years ago
with him, and then we cameback to him this year to do it
again. Because of COVID, wehad some restrict and so we just transitioned
(42:02):
that to do our partner with thattogether with the hike that we did with
diabetics the summer. That's awesome.So as to carry me home, Jesse
Blaze, Jesse Blaze, Snyder,Yeah, Jesse Blaze, Oh yeah,
Snyder, We're not going to takeit. Oh man, that brings good
night. That was a jam.We want to thank Rachel and Chris so
(42:25):
much for joining us today. It'sbeen really, really fun, and it's
been great to learn about you andabout your businesses and about the support you're
providing to the T one D community. Thank you so much to our listeners
as always, as you know,dads and diabetes is just as to be
fuddled dads with T one D kiddostrying to figure it out to keep your
family safe and well. Thanks again, Rachel and Chris, and thanks again
(42:46):
to all of you for listening.Try and and I guess enjoy your Diabetes
Awareness Month and particularly No. Numberthe fourteenth from the show drops and best
wishes to everybody from this month andalways
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