Professional golfer Hannah McCook: ‘We know perfection isn’t possible, but we’re chasing it anyway’

Hannah McCook first hit a golf ball at the age of 6. With the Scottish Highlands as her course, Hannah’s talent for the sport soon became clear.

In the confusion and chaos of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis at the age of 8, it was thanks to a single sporting type 1 role model, Sir Steve Redgrave, that she realised she didn’t have to give up her favourite hobby.

Fast forward more than 20 years and Hannah is now an inspiration to many as a professional athlete herself, handling her type 1 diabetes alongside the golf course, a demanding travel schedule, training, coaching and international competitions.

In this episode of Type 1 on 1 we tune into some 90s nostalgia around Hannah’s diagnosis, chat about why her touring bag is always the heaviest, chasing impossible perfection in both her sport and her health, and why, despite travelling the world with her sport, nowhere can compete with her beloved Nethy Bridge.

CONNECT WITH HANNAH
Follow Hannah on Instagram.
Check out her coaching page.
Take a look at Hannah's website.

JOIN THE TYPE 1 ON 1 INSTAGRAM COMMUNITY
Come and say hi @studiotype1on1 on Instagram.

SPONSOR MESSAGE
This episode of Type 1 on 1 is sponsored by Insulet, the makers of Omnipod tube-free insulin pump therapy.

Using Omnipod 5 Automated Insulin Delivery has improved my diabetes management significantly with less diabetes decisions, and of course no multiple daily injections.

How? Well, Omnipod 5 automatically adjusts insulin every five minutes to help keep me in range, allowing life outside of type 1 diabetes to get bigger.

If you want to know more, head to Omnipod.com.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of Type one on one is kindly sponsored
by Insulette. More on that later. What I will say
now is that we have a shiny new Instagram page
dedicated specifically to the Type one on one podcast. It's
very exciting, So come and say hi and join our
lovely community at Studio Type one on one. The link
is in the episode description. Hi everyone, and welcome to

(00:25):
Type one on one, a podcast that delves into the obscure,
complex and challenging world of life with Type one diabetes.
I'm Jen Greeves, and each week, with the help of
some brilliant guests, I'll be showing that there is no
normal when it comes to handlink this whopper of a
chronic condition, because we're all pretty much figuring out the

(00:46):
messiness of day to day life with diabetes as we go.
And most of all, even though it doesn't always feel
like it, we are absolutely not alone. My guest today
is Hannah McCook. Hannah is a professional golfer living in
Nephi Bridge in Sunny Scotland, currently on tour. Hannah has
been playing golf since the age of just six, and

(01:08):
she recently announced she's adding coaching to the mix as well. Now,
life as a professional athlete isn't easy for anyone, but
Hannah has pursued her dream career alongside type one diabetes
since she was diagnosed at the age of just eight
years old. Hello Hannah, Hello, how are we good? How
are you?

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah? Good? Thank you all good?

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Thanks so much for joining the podcast. How are you
doing today? How's it been?

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, it's good. For first of all, thanks for having me.
But I'm I mean, I'm in sunny Scotland. The sun
is out but is as we say, born a Huley today.
So yeah, it's pretty windy. Although to be fair, the
winter has not been as bad as what people might
think it's been. We've been pretty fortunate. Almost the further
north you go, the better it's been. I think I

(01:55):
claim it as if you know, we've seen more sun
than we might normally do.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
So we'll take it. We've got to take it absolutely. Yeah,
I'd love to hear it as well. Like your love
for Scotland. I'm going to get onto that in a
bit as well. And also your voice is made for
this podcast and I've thought that before when we've been speaking.
I'm just like I could listen to you forever so

(02:19):
this as well, and how are the begs the blood
glucose levels doing. Are they behaving this week so far?

Speaker 2 (02:25):
And they're okay, actually yeah today there's they're kind of
they're pretty steady today, but you know, a little bit
higher than I probably want, but in a pretty straight line.
So I'm not really fighting with it. I'm just learning
it rule. I do need to change omnipod later, so
that's probably why. And it's been deeping at me for
the last two hours to change it, but I run it,
so it's maximum end of course.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
So yeah, same, same, And I asked just as I
asked you that I got a glucose selert so rocking.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, we're informs of my Britain and it's never stops.
It's always it's always going on in the background. But yeah, no,
they're okay. There's there was a disaster like maybe Saturday night,
you know, high for a while and then suddenly at
three m it's like, yeah, now you're gonna go really low,
and I'm like, okay, that's great. So like dex Com

(03:17):
said low like literally the letters and I'm like, oh
my goodness. So then obviously, what do you do? You
just pile in as much sugar as you can, and
within a few hours your back up again, and it's
just like, oh, if you.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Go the other way, how do you feel when you're heellow?
Because I actually had one of those last week and
I don't have so much hyper awareness now. I was like, wow,
seeing some stars over here.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
Yeah, to be honest, I actually felt pretty rough. I
think I've been high for a few hours before. I
was obviously like still in that, like, oh I'm high bubble,
And then yeah, I did feel I did feel pretty
sick actually to the point and I was like, I
don't think I can. She consumes sugar. So I got
the good old you know, Google, stop hyper stop out

(04:04):
and just rubbed into my own guns and away we went.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
So incredible, like we're just out here saving our own lives.
I don't in the midst of it.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
All low key for them in the morning, robbing stuff
in my gums, going please, you know, please make it
to six am this morning. And then you get off
and you don't even think about it. You just get on,
don't you crack on off?

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Your day goes like nothing ever happened. And love you
for saying that, because I think it can be so
easy to think that everyone else is getting it so
right all the time. And I had one of those
weeks last week as well. So thanks for putting that
out there and keeping it real.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
Yeah, I mean there's absolutely I don't even know if
there is, you know, when people ask you the dinners,
So how's your control? Is it pretty good? I'm like,
what do your class? Is good? Because I try my
best and it's I'm not in hospital with it, so
I'm guessing that's all right, you know, That's what I'm going.

Speaker 1 (04:55):
That's yeah, pretty damn great. Yeah, yeah, we're taking that
for sure.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Take that.

Speaker 1 (05:00):
Yeah, okay, so fingers class, we keep the levels flat
and I'll see how we go, but yeah, we'll be fine.
So there's a lot to get through. I mean, we've
already illustrated how much there is to all of this
without even getting started yet. So if we can take
it back to the beginning, I don't know if you

(05:21):
can remember much about that time, but i'd like to know,
first of all, where you were at with your golf
when your diagnosis came about, because starting to play at
just six, you know, that's so young and I love that,
and your diagnosis came at the age of eight, so
I'm guessing you were playing for fun, Like, where were
you at with golf at the time, do you do

(05:41):
you remember?

Speaker 2 (05:43):
I remember I was just, yeah, playing very ad hoc
random runs with my brother for fun. But at the
same time, do you want us, I was actually doing
pretty much every other sport that has a chance to do,
so I was skiing. I was mainly when it was
fab I was diagnosed. I was doing a lot of
skiing at that point, and I was doing pe primary

(06:06):
school whatever that involved, you know, probably leap frogs and
all that stuff.

Speaker 1 (06:11):
The plays were out in souls.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
Were out in force, you know, like Duck Duck Goose
and all these things were going on. But yeah, I
mean I guess I was playing a little bit of golf. Yeah.
I do remember the diagnoses very well, like it was
almost yesterday, but I don't remember what detail of you know,
everything else I was doing. I was yeah, eight, Now

(06:33):
what's that? Twenty three years? So interesting? You know, you
think you've done it for a while, but you still
don't fully know sometimes what's going on.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
Absolutely not. It's really fun, just really keeping it interesting
while you're trying to manage a professional career and everything
else you've got going on in your life, you know.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Absolutely yeah, And golf as a sport is it in Scotland?

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Is it quite common to pick something like that up?
Because I mean, it never came into my world, but
that doesn't mean it doesn't come into other people's wells,
you know what I mean. And I liked how you
casually dropped skiing in there. I'm like, let's all go
to Scotland.

Speaker 2 (07:10):
I know. Yeah, to be honest, you think, you know,
Scotland home of golf and everyone's going to play golf,
and but there is. It totally depends where you're from
and obviously how fortunate you are with you know, families
and what's around you. But being living in Nephy since
I was well six and my parents were building a

(07:33):
house across the road from a golf course that was
just a little nine hole where my brother and I
just escaped there all the time. So it was like,
I'll go and play golf and some of your other
friends are playing golf, so you're in a safe place
and crack on. But there are there were a few
friends of mine at school that played, but not not
huge amounts, to be honest. But then when I started

(07:55):
to play a bit more and a bit more, there
was when I was playing in Scotland teams and things,
it was gen people from you know, Central Bell kind
of direction. But yeah, there's a few people, a few
people from the Highlands. But I mean, I guess almost
of our events and things when I was growing up,
I'm starting to play more, it was all further south.
So it was like you've got to travel further. But

(08:17):
I was fortunate that my parents were in a position
to help them wanted to help take me there, So
very lucky.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
And running over the road to go and swing a
golf club as a six eight year old sounds like
a dream, you know.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Yeah, we used to used to go, you know, Summer holidays,
Easter holidays was walk across the road, meet you know,
my brothers, my brother and I and then maybe four
or five other kids guys that we would play nine holes,
you know, have chips and cheese for our lunch, and

(08:54):
then go back out and do it all over again
until it was pretty much dark. So and if it
weren't doing that, recycling to the park to be other friends.
So it was you know, we're pretty lucky with the
space that we've got grown up here.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Lovely, And you mentioned that that in the blur of childhood,
you do actually remember quite a lot about your diagnosis,
So do you mind telling me a little bit about
how that unfolded or what you remember.

Speaker 2 (09:18):
Yeah, I mean, I remember Mum and Dad were building
this house and I was I remember being sick every
hour one like this Sunday night and feeling obviously pretty awful,
but being sick. By the point, you know, it's three
am and there's nothing else to be sick with. You're like,
what's wrong with me? And I remember in the kind

(09:41):
of ten days beforehand, just being so thirsty all the
time and drinking like anything that could clinch your thirst.
It was like moment or my brother would have a
sweet tea and I'd be like stealing it because I'm like, oh,
that's so good because it's taking my thirst away. And
then that's obvious making your worse because she's just giving
you even more sugar. And then this fresh orange juice

(10:04):
that mom and Dad used to get, and I was like, oh,
that's so good, and they're like you need to, like,
why are you drinking so much? And then I was
obviously paying so much, and then I think Mom had
you know, obviously they both, I mean a many apparently
I'll blame themselves for these things happening, which it's obviously
not their fault that we were diagnosed. But she said

(10:26):
I should have noticed it sooner and all these things,
and I'm like, well, I mean it was only a
few days of what was really like suddenly like Hannah's
not well, and then I was sick that night Monday morning,
she phoned the doctor. And I remember sitting with her
when she phoned the doctor because there was the there
was an electrician in her house fit in the oven,
and he was like, is Han okay? As I'm sitting

(10:46):
on the sofa like I'm not in school today, and
the doctor said, I'm too busy. You need to bring
her to me. So we had to drive, you know,
six miles to the doctors. I think she looked at me,
did uine sample? And that was what I was in
in an ambulance from grand and within yeah minutes, you know,
they're like, well, here's Simon Son. This is what you've
got to do. But fortunately the paramedic, his son, who

(11:13):
I didn't know at the time, but he's just because
we went to different primary school, but he was also diabetic,
so we went to secondary school together. So he was
giving my mum all this chat in the ambulance, being like, listen,
it's hard, but she'll be fine. So I think from
that first ten minutes of even getting there, it was like, Okay,
we'll be all right, which is pretty cood. Wow.

Speaker 1 (11:35):
Yeah, what a frame of reference in what must have
been such a scary because that all happens so quickly,
like you say, yeah, when the symptoms present themselves, it's
like this is now here. It's very serious and in
the blur of wondering what's going on on earth has
happened to your daughter who's suddenly in an ambulance. Like,
to have that reassurance and that frame of reference from
a medical professional as well, I can imagine must have

(11:57):
been quite quite a comfort.

Speaker 2 (12:00):
It was definitely was comforted for her. I think, just
but then you you know, you get to hospital and
it's like you're you know, you're rushed in and the
road was really bumpy. The ambulance was like you're getting
thrown around. I was like, I already feels sick. I
don't need any more of this, and then it was
a training nurse or doctor and broken tried to put
the candle in my hand and broke the needle, and I'm,

(12:20):
you know, like what eight years old, Like, I don't
want a needle in my hand as obviously just lost
however many kilograms in the last few days of weight
You're probably hands and bones are probably sticking out anyway,
and then they put them in both your arms and
you're like, oh, what now? And then yeah, I guess
you get fed with this what feels like rotten food,

(12:42):
and you're you're starting to feel a little bit better
because you're obviously getting insulin, so like, oh, there's a
is this is great, and yeah, four days later you're
setting away with a welcome pack of Welcome to diabetes
and crack on with it.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
It's wild, isn't it? As well? I got sent home
the same day, but I had to say visits every day, yeah,
for a week, So I think that was obviously just
the way that my hospital did it. But you come
out yeah, literally like some leaflets and medicine that has
wielded so much power over you and you have no

(13:15):
idea what's going on. It's mad. Do you remember those
first injections?

Speaker 2 (13:19):
Oh yeah, I remember, just like almost like my mum
bless her, didn't like needles at all, so she had
to instantly like get over that to help so do
my injections for me, which she did pretty remarkably really,
But I remember then just ya doing injections on my

(13:40):
teddy bears, just to be like is this what we do?
Is this how we do it? Before you kind of
put this you know, there's very expensive liquid that saves
your life into yourself, like could go horribly wrong if
you do it wrong.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
It meant yeah, it still blaws my mind when you
hear someone else say that, and it's such a comment.
Well is the common story. It's the only story. You
go off and off you go. Yeah, it's funny you
bring up like the leaflets and the stuff. I remember
having like boxes of things and all these different medical devices.
I remember watching this video with these two kids telling

(14:16):
me like there was a seesaw and the glucose was
at one side of the in it was another, and
then there was like a video game, like trying to
make it cool and fun and like trying to teach
me how to It's really quite kind of vivid, all
these weird memories, and it like at school, you're when

(14:36):
you're that age at eight, like you have quite a
set thing, don't you go to school, you got your friends,
come home, this sort of explodes in front of you,
all these new things and this new language.

Speaker 2 (14:47):
And then you're you know, you've got the parents, like
Mum's gone into school to meet the teacher to be like,
this is what we've got to do. We've got a
little box and the office here that's got snacks, We've
got all this stuff. It's just like, what the heck
is I happened in the space of a week. We're
doing this differently, but you know, you get a little
Mars bar before your pe class and you're, yeah, this
will do. I can manage this.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
What was it about mars Bus? I had mars Bus?
I love this. We were like opposite ends of the
island and still the thing. Yeah, and I was a
few years before you as well. That's so funny. So
do you remember yourself how you kind of got on
with it. Was it just a case of okay, this

(15:30):
is what I have to do now. But do you
remember being scared or like trying to friends or anything
like that.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Yeah, I remember being in the hospital, and oh, I
don't remember the fact that Mum and Dad said I
didn't speak for two of the days. I just kind
of went on mute. That was like, you know, I
don't remember that at all. I just remember having pea
and ham soup three times a day and heating every
single bit of it. But I remember, well they've said that,

(16:00):
you know, I was quiet. I didn't say anything because
I think I sat there thinking, like, you know, I
meant to be going to the ski club this weekend.
I'm not going to get that. I'm not going to
get to go and pick off or do football or whatever.
So Mom stayed in the hospital. Dad would come home
every night, and apparently he came home one night and
went on good old Google, which you know, in two
thousand and two was probably pretty fresh off at start anyway,

(16:21):
and just typed in it was diabetic athletes or something,
and Sir Steve Redgrave popped up. So Dad came in
the next host day to the hospital and being like, listen,
I know it's not what you want, et cetera, but
Sir Steve Redgrave has also got what you've just got,
and I think apparently. I mean, I don't remember. I

(16:43):
do remember him coming like saying the words, but I
don't remember. My reaction was apparently I just sat up
and just said he's my twin, and then I was
apparently didn't stop talking and I was fine, And that
was me. It was away being like, all right, soign
I can do this. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
So I think that shows the power of having role
models and being able to see yourself. Yeah, that's incredible.
I think he was the first person that I like
was presented to me. I think he was kind of
the only person for a while because we didn't have
social media and all these things.

Speaker 2 (17:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
I remember my mom had his book or his autobiography
on the nightstand. It wasn't given to me, but and
I certainly wasn't. I was doing a lot of hobbies,
but there was nothing that you know, oh, maybe she'll
be a sports person or anything like that. Yeah, but
that was the only frame of reference I think we
had for a very very long time.

Speaker 2 (17:33):
Yeah, because I mean, that's incredible that that kind of
gave you. Yeah, totally. I just was like, oh, well,
if he can just you know, win Sydney two thousand,
two years ago, for his fifth med I'm sure I
can still go on a golf course in Ethie or
go skiing up car and Gorm. I'm sure I'll be fine.
And then yeah, that following weekend. I don't think I

(17:54):
went to skiing that first weekend, but yeah, eight days
later I was back with a ski club scheme with
all my friends again, just like that. So good.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, that's so good to hear, And I think that's
probably reassuring for a lot of people to hear, especially
if they're parents have kids who have been newly diagnosed
and you are kind of necessity of Redgrave in your
world now like showing away and as a professional athlete.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
Yeah, yeah, I'd like to think even just one or
one or two kids that are in the same place
I was, what twenty three years ago, or like, oh
she can do that then, yeah, whatever, we can give
her a best shot as well.

Speaker 1 (18:30):
And with the golf, do you remember the time when
you started to think, Okay, I really like doing this.
I'm going to pursue this a bit more intensely or regularly,
Like what was it about the sport that you liked?

Speaker 2 (18:44):
I do remember, you know, I was playing in that
he as a junior and Mum would cut Like the
first couple of years after diagnosis, Mum would come for
a walk with me on a Friday afternoon and she
would just make sure I was, you know, eating or
not eating if it was, you know, the other way.
And just because it was playing with the guys all

(19:04):
the time that we're all quite like a few years
older than me, so you know, now I wouldn't obviously
be bothered about telling everyone what's going on. But when
you're you know, nine years old and you're playing with
boys are twelve thirteen, you know, I don't want to
tell them. I don't feel well. I'm just gonna before
you know, you'd probably just collapse. So Mum was there
with me till I was probably a bit maybe eleven
or twelve. So I was like, oh, I feel comfortable

(19:26):
doing this myself. I'll be fine. But I think maybe
I just I did just keep playing and keep playing.
And golf was one of those sports. I mean, like
every sport, the more you do they've obviously the better
you get and you get more addicted because you're getting better.
And I wanted to still be at that point. I
wanted to be a skier I wanted to, you know,
go to the Winter Olympics, do all that stuff, but

(19:51):
financially my parents went, we can't help and afford to,
you know, send you to Europe for Eastern October holidays
when you're only what thirteen years old. I was like, no,
I get that. That's fine. I'll just go across the
road and play golf. Little did I know that then
it's taking me to every continent bar a Targetica to
play golf. But wow, at that point I was like, oh, yeah,

(20:12):
I can do it from homework. I could do it
across the road from school or.

Speaker 1 (20:17):
So.

Speaker 2 (20:17):
I just kept playing and kept playing, and then I
got asked to go to you know, a Northern Counties day,
and then I'd got asked to go to a Scottish
you know, selection day. And at that point I was like, oh, yeah,
this is pretty fun. Maybe I could keep going with this.
But I was I was older than well if I
was my say, it was my first time playing for
under sixteen Scotland team. I was maybe fifteen, and everyone

(20:37):
else had done it since like eleven, so I was
a bit later getting into that than a lot of
them were, which is maybe why you know, I did
keep going because I didn't burn out when I was
eighteen or nineteen. I was like, I was kind of
just getting to that peak when I was in my
early twenties. So yeah, I just kept going and kept going.
And then when I went deciding might going to UNI,
I wanted to study sport but play golf, mainly play

(20:59):
golf with the idea that maybe one day termed professionally. Yeah,
here we are.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Wow, just like that. No, it makes months of training
and dedication minding it. Yeah, from that young age, you
had that focus and that kind of motivation I guess
to keep playing the sport that you loved. How did
your diabetes and your management of diabetes feed into that.

(21:26):
Was it something that you then wanted to pay attention
to to make sure you could play golf or was
it something that you said at first you weren't talking
about it so much, Like can you talk to me
a little bit about that?

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Yeah, I think just you know, being being diabetic. We all,
you know, we chase like perfection when reality it's not
actually it's actually not possible. I think with sport, especially golf.
You know it's probably so much every sport, but we
all go back the next day because we want perfection

(22:02):
and we don't ever get it either. Like it's so similar,
it's almost the same thing. Sometimes I'm talking about one
thing and I'm like, wait, that's is that golf for
diabetes I'm talking about. So I think they go so
hand in hand that I think I've just almost you know,
they can't actually separate that. I've always been like, this
is what I'm you know, almost destined to do by

(22:24):
trying to each day chase that perfection that we'll never get,
which then in some days is bad because you know
you want it and it's just like, well, this is
not going to happen. But it's just constantly and I've
always you know, worked really hard at while playing golf
or whatever sport, but also then trying to be as
best as I can be with the diabetes stuff. But

(22:46):
I think I think also because golf, I know it
can't be great every day. I accepted that years ago
that diabetes isn't going to be great every day, and
then if it's not, it's not, but you've tried your
so what else can you do? I think just the
way they're so similar, Yeah I don't know, but yeah,

(23:09):
they're both literally take up so much of the same
brain space at the same time. It's funny.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
That is so interesting, Yeah, because I sort of think
about mindset and sport and the discipline you need, and
you have to have discipline to some extent with type
one diabetes, but yeah, I would be sick. I mean,
I'm not a professional sports person, but I would be
similar in the sense of, like I think type one
diabetes just kind of made me aren't afraid to give

(23:36):
things a go. Yeah, because I have to do diabetes.
I don't get a choice, and the outcome there's only
so much I can control in that. So if I've
done all the things I need to do, it's just
sometimes it's not your day, do you know what I mean.
And that doesn't mean it's not frustrating at all, but
it's interesting to hear you make that comparison with professional

(23:58):
sport with golf as well, And do you still feel
like that now twenty three years on with turtle diabetes
and golf.

Speaker 2 (24:06):
I'd say more so now, actually, the more because you know,
the older you get, the whiser you get, apparently, and
all these things come into you're just like, oh flipping heck,
that's like that's like the same thing, and now it's
getting that, like you know, we're doing things of like
have I not performed well today because my diabetes wasn't
great today? Or was my diabetes not great today because

(24:29):
I was more stressed than the golf course? Like what
is you know, where's the chicken and the egg in
this circle? Which one has caused the other one to
be off? You know, like adrenaline just massively affects my
blood because probably does yours as well. You know, I'm
just like, yeah, you know, pre tournament morning, it's like, okay,

(24:52):
how much you know, how much insulin do you need?
That basically is treating me like water, But then you
don't want to take too much because then you come crass.
So it's like, yeah, it's just getting that. Have I
gone up because I've got adrenaline? Or is it my
POD's not working? Or you know all these other what's
happened and what's causing that to happen? Basically, and then

(25:16):
you get the good days of actually paid really well,
but my body because it was awful. Maybe I should
have them all for what? What? What do I want
it to be?

Speaker 1 (25:24):
Like, there's only so much you can kind of make
rhyme more reason right, Yeah, but it's frustrating. I can
imagine you need to be on you know, peak peak
performance when you step out there, and like, like you said,
there's any so much with diabetes that you can extract.
It is kind of one and the same. I used

(25:45):
to try and sort of see my diabetes as like
on the side of life, but actually it's just all
meshed in. It's so much it's there. Yeah, and that's
not to say I am only diabetes type one diabetes,
but I think for me now, I've just stopped trying
to extract diabetes from everything else because it's so woven

(26:07):
in to the fabric of like my body, my mind,
my outlook, like everything.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
How you feel every you know, a couple of hours,
how you wake up feeling in the morning. And I'm
the same. I've always been like, oh, it's just coming
along for the ride. But at the same time, it's
it's mainly there. It's there the whole time. I mean,
it's never going to go unfortunately, but it's just both
we've both always accepted that that's what it is. That's
better than trying to be oh, yeah, it's there, but

(26:33):
I'll deal with it later. You know, I might do
that if you're like for a pizza and your body
are going on, yeah, I'll fix that and we well,
don't worry about it. But you know what's coming, We
know what's happening. But you're still aware of what's going on.
You know what, you're still thinking about it.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
This episode of Type one on one is sponsored by Insulct,
the makers of omnipod tube free insulin pump therapy. I've
personally used POD therapy to manage my type one diabetes
for years, and using Omnipod five automated insulin delivery has
improved my diabetes management significantly with less diabetes decisions and

(27:12):
of course no multiple daily injections. How well, Omnipod five
automatically adjust my insulin every five minutes to help keep
me in range, allowing life outside of type one diabetes
to get bigger. If you want to know more, head
to omnipod dot com. So I'm wondering then for you

(27:33):
whether and you can tell me. I don't want to
put words in your mouth, but the key is in
kind of preparing for all eventualities when it comes to
being on the course how do you go about preparing
and what is the key for you in terms of
being able to perform no matter what your blood sugars
are doing that day or what's beeping. You know, how

(27:55):
do you how how have you come to learn?

Speaker 2 (27:59):
I mean, for a start, my golf bag is probably
the heaviest out of everyone. You know, There's there's extra
snacks that will never get eaten that are in there
just just in case they might need to be eating. Yeah,
there's extra pods. There's tape to tape it on if
it's going to fall off. There's another seed. There's all
these extra bits that are there just to just in case.

(28:24):
You know, we travel on my rucksacks fool and everyone
like what have you got? And I'm like, oh, I've
got spare decks on spair omnipod, I've got injections in
case none of that works. I've got a blood glouk
is sensing for my fingerpricking case that doesn't work. I've
got food, I've got this andthing. I like what And
I'm like, yeah, it's not just you know, our mental
space is taking up, it's our physical space as well.

(28:46):
But you know, once I've got everything kind of setting
my bag and I'm all, you know, I'm ready to go.
It's just it is just again knowing that that I've
come to know that a drilline does what it does
to me, and accepting that's going to happen, and then
just try and forget about it. But sometimes actually thinking

(29:07):
about it makes me forget about playing golf, which is
good because I mean, I don't know what you're like,
but I'm an overthinker with everything, so there's too much
time thinking about one of the things. It's like, oh
my goodness. So if I'm actually trying to blend them together,
it kind of sometimes does help. But yeah, it's just
a case of not not worrying that it's there and

(29:28):
if it's going to go high, and it's going to
go high, but I've got I've got everything with me
for whatever eventuality is going to happen, and everyone around
me knows as well.

Speaker 1 (29:39):
Yeah, and I'd love to come onto that, like how
that has been kind of factored into your team and
your training and things like that. How does it work
on the course if you do know that you're going
high or you're going low, do you have like time
consideration to correct to make adjustments.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Yeah, I think, I think being the key words because
I've never actually done it. I've you know, I've had
a couple of pump failures over the last i don't
know touch wood only a couple of whiles have been
out on the course and the girls i'm with their
you know, like, oh, totally fine, just take your time
and whatever, and then they better because they don't see it.

(30:21):
They almost the panic and I go, okay, it's every
I'm like, I'm absolutely fine. I just need to change
this thing that's on my arm. And they're like, oh, okay,
do we need to get hit. I was like no, no, like,
don't worry until I worry. That's the time that you're
allowed to worry. And they're all right, okay, okay, are
you sure you're fine. It's like, yeah, I'll be okay,
just leave me alone to let get this change and

(30:43):
then we can continue. And there's been times that I've
been low that in hindsight, I probably should have said,
you know, to the referee or someone being like, I'm
got all low blood because and I probably need ten
minutes just to to you know, get some more wife
back in me effectively. But I just continue on, I

(31:04):
just keep going, and which, yeah, it has not been
not being the best actually, because there was two times,
two seasons ago or maybe once last year that I
kept going in it. You know, in reality it cost
me quite a few euros because I've lost, however, many
shots just from not really being aware of what I

(31:25):
was doing, and I should have stopped. I didn't. I
didn't want to bother everyone. I didn't want to get
in people's way. I don't want to make other girls
stop from their routine. I didn't want to affect what
they were doing. So I was just like, well, it's
gonna affect me. I'll just keep going, but it won't
affect them. But they're like, you should stop, you should
have stopped, and I'm like, no, it's fine, don't worry
about it. It's only cost me, however, many hundred euros
or whatever, but we're fine, we'll get on with it.

(31:48):
We'll come again next week and try again.

Speaker 1 (31:50):
So, yeah, that's really hard, the reality of something. You
know you're there to play the sport, you're there to
be in this, and you're busy thinking about not only
this extra thing that you're dealing with on top of it,
but how that's impacting everyone else around you. Yeah, that's
tough and very gracious of you.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
Thanks, because sometimes I'm like, oh, I wish I played,
you know, a team sport. If I'm low or high,
I'll just get stuffed off and someone else can take over,
and it's fine. But when you're doing an individual sport.
Fortunately I'm doing an individual sport, but I can carry
that much food and sugar with me. Whereas you know,
if you're running marathons and stuff, it's you can't cut,

(32:32):
you cannot when you're running carry what I can carry
around a golf course put it that way. So it's
a benefit that you're literally bringing it with you. So yeah,
but yeah, I mean I've definitely said to myself, you know,
this summer, if that's going to happen, just just take

(32:54):
you know, ten minutes. It might be all it needs
just to get over that initial I'm low feeling and
then continue.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
And I'd love to talk a bit then about kind
of your support network and obviously you're traveling a lot
with type of diabetes and just how it is. Obviously
you living with the condition, but there's all these people
around you and also helping you with your training your mindset,
your nutrition, the gym, everything else. So just speak to

(33:23):
me a little bit about this kind of feeling of
being supported, because I think for a lot of people,
and certainly something I've experienced is that isolation of nobody
gets this, nobody understands and you know that's true, but
it doesn't mean that people can't support you and help
you in their way without actually living with it themselves,

(33:44):
you know.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
Yeah, totally. I mean I mean people, you know, they're
all there to support and yeah, we say, you know,
as nice as we can be to say thanks for
your support, and you know, they really unless you've got it,
you really don't know what it's like. But you see
this front, you know, front view of like whoa, that's

(34:06):
you know, that's what's going on, and they're there to help.
And I'm very fortunately my parents and my brother and
whose partner and my boyfriend Sean are all very supportive
with you know, like if I'm at home when I
need some sugar or I need you know, like Sean
changed my pump for the other night because I was
trying to write assignment. I was like, do me a favorite,
just change my pod for me, will you? So he
just did it literally sitting next to me as I'm

(34:26):
typing on my laptop being like and he's like, is
that enough? Is that the bubbles gone? I'm like, yeah,
that's fine, that'll do crack on. So it's just these
little things that it's like, takes off save me five
minutes of my day to be like, oh, you can
help me with that. Actually, just do it for me,
will Yeah. And obviously my my mum and Sean have
you know, the follow up on Dick's calm, so they

(34:47):
can they can see and they can hear what's going on.
But when there's three of us in the house and
if I'm high and their phone's on loud, I'm like,
someone's phone's going out the window if it doesn't get mute,
because get I know, I'm high. I don't need everyone's
wanted to tell me I'm high. But no, they're all
very supportive, which I'm very fortunate for. And when I'm

(35:08):
on the road, I stayed with generally the same girls
all the time, who I've known for years, who all
know what, you know, what I'm kind of dealing with
to the point of what they see, and then they're
always like, what do we do if you need help.
But I'm like, you know, first thing, just get an ambulance.

(35:28):
If I'm out cold, just get it made, actual medical help.
But Touchwood haven't needed any of that. And I've always
said if again, like, only worry. If I'm worrying, that's
the only time I need you guys to worry. Otherwise
we'll all be sitting here panicking, and that's just too much.
If there's four of us panicking about it, that's not

(35:51):
really worthy of panicking. That's just a disaster. So no,
they're very supportive. And then people, yeah, like my gym
coach and golf coach all obviously know it all and
are very you know, if I need ten minutes to
do whatever, that it's not a problem at all, which
I'm very lucky to have as well.

Speaker 1 (36:10):
Yeah, and I've noticed on your content, which I loved,
that you always thank the people around you or the
course managers, your mom, Like, I think it's such a
lovely thing that you're very aware of this as well,
because sometimes we can feel like we're carrying alone. And
I really appreciate my friends because they kind of close
down the diabetes noise because we're talking about something stupid

(36:31):
that has absolutely nothing to do with diabetes, and even
then maybe just asking you know, it could be something
related to diabetes or something not. But I'm like, both
of those things are really helpful in their own way,
and it isn't just me, and it's nice to remember,
and it's amazing that you have that kind of awareness.
How does it feel knowing that when you go out

(36:53):
on the course or when you're speaking about life attacking
diabetes as a professional goals, that you're kind of flying
the flag for the type one diabetes community as well
as women in golf as well as you know, sports
fans like talk to me a little bit about that.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
I mean, it's it is pretty you know, It's not
something you want to have, is it. I Mean, really,
we wouldn't have been like, oh, yeah, I'm gonna get
diabetes when I mate. That's my life ambition. But I
don't know how weird it sounds, but it's obviously we
don't want it. But at the same time, I don't
think i'd want to get rid of it because of
like you know, it's probably made us both as strong

(37:29):
and determined as we are. It's taught us so much
more than I think life if I could have just
eaten a country every minute of the day and not
thought about it, just like I just yeah, and just
knowing that if someone else has seen that, we can
do what we're trying to do. And it's it's just

(37:50):
I guess, as I said, just there, although it is
always there. Then it's it's nice. And you know, I've
spoke to a few other younger people that are diabetic
that play golf, and it's just encouraging. Yeah, it's just
encourage shouldn't them keep doing it and doing whatever, even
if it's not golf, whatever they want to do. It's

(38:10):
there's a way. I was told told when I was young,
if there's a will, there's a way, and a firm
was still believe in that. But if you want to
do it, you'll, you know, you'll manage to figure out
how to do it. But yeah, I mean, just I
wouldn't want to have diabetes as an ideal situation. But
being able to be like, yeah, I'm I'm a professional
golfer and I'm diabetic and you can also do it,

(38:33):
then it's it's actually almost a bit of an honor
to feel like you're actually inspiring people as weird as
that sounds.

Speaker 1 (38:41):
No, that's not weird, that's lovely. And I think that's
an extra kind of guiding light, isn't it when you
when you're doing what you're doing, Like you said, you
know you had that's when you heard about Steve Redgrave.
You suddenly had this frame of reference. And to be
a professional athlete, I have no idea, but I am
absolutely sure that it takes so much focused dedication, time, energy, effort,

(39:06):
and to be carrying that with you as well, knowing
that there are people watching that that you are inspiring.
Like you say, that's the extra bit of like value
and purpose I've certainly found to be quite helpful actually
within all of this chaos and mess and the alarms
and everything else that's going on.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
Totally agree.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
Yeah, with the technology, let's talk about that a little bit,
because you've mentioned x Com omnipod. We've had our we
can hear our friend omnipod beeping away there in the background. No,
it's all part and.

Speaker 2 (39:38):
Was picking up pretty low.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yeah, but you know this is one you don't have to.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
Worry because if I put it more into this, Kushin
will quiet off of it.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
But yeah, don't I've shoved. I've shoved like failed pods
in the back of towel cupboards before when I didn't
realize you could actually cut the noise out before I.

Speaker 2 (40:00):
You're earing out and pop it in the hole and
you're away. Fine.

Speaker 1 (40:05):
The first time I pierced the back of a pod
to silence it with an earring, it was like I
could hear the cherubs like between my ears and yeah, yeah,
It's like, how did you get rid of this?

Speaker 2 (40:17):
You either get then you're earring out and pop it
in or just yeah, the little needle that you'd fill
up with just fire and open one and them just
get in it, whack.

Speaker 1 (40:25):
It on in there. Yeah, because those things are not
subtle for a reason. You know, we do need to
know that they're going off. But no, so I'm wondering
with that in mind. I'm sure the technology has has
helped you kind of be able to focus on life
more and the things you want to do, including golf
as well, but you know everything else hanging out with
your friends and with Sean. But can you talk to

(40:47):
me a little bit about your journey with the tech
and whether there was anything that you were ever hesitant
about or like how you came to be aware of
the technology.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
Yeah, I mean, I guess. I mean I was always
whole way through school on multiple daily injections finger pricking,
like fifteen sixteen times a day because of how manic
my lifestyle was. I was like, oh, I need to
know before I do anything what's going on. And then

(41:17):
you know, someone was like, oh, do you want to
try then some pump? I was absolutely not, because I
don't want to be stuck to something. It's bad enough
knowing it's stuck to your insights, let alone having something
visibly stuck to you and having to deal with that.
I was like, I do not. I do not want that.
I don't have you know, the capacity for that, I
don't think. And at that point, I mean, injections are fine. Yeah,

(41:37):
obviously are a bit annoying and you had to really
plan what you were doing. He just did it. But
then I think I was midway through UNI and the
hospital number NEST basically came up with, like, you know,
we're trying to, you know, increase the amount of spoorty
people on in some pumps to see if it's going

(41:59):
to benefit you. Would you want to try it? And
I'm like, ah, no, if I've actually been given the
chance to try it, probably should try it. So yeah,
I tried it, and I was like, woll have I
not done this before? Because just doing that one like, well,
now pod change. But then it was like, you know what,
ever in some pump it was changing every two or
three days. I was like, flipping neck, this is like,
I've got so much more time before I eat a meal.

(42:21):
I can just go and sit down and crack on
with it. And then so yeah, that was probably I
think I was third year at UNI when I got there,
my first and some pump so I was like, oh,
I can't snack now, I've really got to be really
aware of, you know, what carbs I'm eating and really
know how to count carbs, which I hadn't really had

(42:43):
done before. But it wasn't to the same extent of
what we do now. But I mean, that's not stop
me snacking. I'll still snack if I'm like, oh, there's
a wee snack and I'll just fight en a couple
of units, if you know, if I do, and then
CGM wise, I was fortunate actually kind of those maybe

(43:03):
a couple of years midway through UNI, just after I
graduated that Scottish Golf actually helped me and got a
couple of weeks worth of dis com for me to try,
so they actually you know, funded it first four weeks
one summer for me to try it whilst I was
away playing with them. So I was very lucky actually
in that front. And I was like, this is amazing.

(43:25):
Why do I have to finger pricking the rain when
I can just look at this? So then that obviously
stopped because they just did it for a couple of weeks.
But then as of well, okay, August twenty eighteen, I was, yeah,
went onto omnipod actually, and that's when I was like,
you know, went from tubes to being like, oh, I'm

(43:46):
really feeling really free now because there's no tubes and
it can be hidden away and nobody will even know
it's there if you know obviously on your arm yet
it's fine. But and then I'd still was finger pricking
until I can't actually remember when I officially went on
that calm, but I was like, this is amazing. I'm
not actually like doing you feel like you're doing nothing

(44:07):
to the point you're like someone's like, what's your bood?
Lucas my phone's been quiet, so that must be a
good sign suspicious. Actually check, because she's my phone has
been a bit quiet the last few hours. Let's go
and see. So, Yeah, I mean I wouldn't I wouldn't go.
I wouldn't go back unless I obviously had to to

(44:28):
you know, fingerpricks and injections and to be brutally honest,
I don't know. I don't know if it's actually helped
my actual control in like overall. But I don't know
whether I blame that on you know, technology, or I
blame it on my lifestyle that could be with how
manic it is, that that's probably the reason, because I

(44:52):
do remember when I was on injections before. My bloods
times are pretty really good. I'm not there, not that
they're awful just now. But yeah, I don't know if
there are as good, but just the whole mental space
that it's giving me more of is more value I
think than sitting a little bit higher.

Speaker 1 (45:12):
Just Yeah, and the swings, I don't know if you
found that. I mean, I know we talked about them
at the beginning, but those days are so much fewer
and fower between, like being on that roller coaster. Yeah,
and actually I remember a consultant saying to me, if
you're sat at ten minimals like blog lucas wires all day,

(45:32):
he was like, I'd actually kind of prefer that to
keep swinging up and down and your average being at ten.
And that stuck with me, because you know, I was
always chasing that high, chasing that low, trying to catch up,
and and actually I think it made me sort of
stop and let some of those blood lucas just kind
of level out. It's really interesting there, what you say.
And I think that's a really refreshing perspective because you

(45:54):
do hear about these amazing time in ranges now that
we have these tools and hybrid closed loops and things
like that, but speaking about having the capacity to take
on an incidant pump or feeling comfortable within yourself, I
went through exactly the same. I was like a hard
no for such a long time for the same reason.
And then those feelings you said, like freedom and being

(46:16):
able to have two minutes before dinner where you're not
like whipping out a needle, you know, and having the
choice that you kind of hie not hide, but you
don't have to. Yeah, like depending on the day depending
on what you've got going on. Sometimes you're just not
quick to have those conversations and have those questions, and
some days you really are and they're really helpful and

(46:38):
they're really engaging conversations. But like, you know, you're a
human being with other things going on. And thank you
for saying that in relation to like not necessarily noticing
massive changes in your time and range. But there's other
other things that play here as well.

Speaker 2 (46:52):
Yeah, toy, I mean it's given me more you know,
maybe not more time and range, but definitely more time
to just try and be Hannah rather than like, oh,
here's here's diabetes again, and just yeah, that mental space
of yeah, my phone's not annoying me. I'm not on
to prick my finger. I'm not having to I'm on

(47:12):
the golf course in the rain. I'm not going to
find skin to do an injection. I'm not having to
do all these things. I can eat when I want.
I can eat dinner at nine o'clock when I'm on
the road if I wanted to. I don't have to
then do another injection later on and eat something and
I'm not hungry. There's all these things. I was just like, Ah,
that's so much easier the time different. You just press
a button to it, Oh I'm now, I'm now in

(47:34):
Paris or you know, I'm now in America, rather than
being like, oh wait, if I'm going to bed now,
it means I would have to then do that injection
and gradually move it. Yeah, that's just like that, you
go back to that. I don't even know how we cope,
to be honest, I don't know if I would die,
but you do.

Speaker 1 (47:52):
I don't know what you don't now right totally. So
I'm wondering with that. Then, where you strike the balance personally,
because this is something that's somes I struggle with with
that message of you know, I can do anything and
being such an amazing role model and being quite public
with your type one diabetes. Balancing that with but hang on,

(48:15):
actually this is also quite a lot. It is quite hard,
and in some days it is really frustrating. Where do
you kind of walk that line or how I'm asking
for a friend and the friends.

Speaker 2 (48:26):
To me I'm asking to write back at you. I don't.
I'm honest, I just like I don't actually know. I think, yeah,
I mean people are like I put I definitely and
because we're obvious in a safe space here, and people

(48:46):
that are listening are probably in the exactly the same
position we are. I put it down massively when I'm
speaking to someone that's not got diabetes and they're like,
how are you? Yeah, I'm fine, as you're saying, They're like,
my bod sugar is eighteen and I've just been law
and I'm now high and I feel rotten and I
feel like I can taste whatever in my mouth. But yeah,
I'm fine, I'm all right. Actually, how are you? I

(49:08):
just sleep while night? Yeah? Good? Thanks? Yeah, I was
up at two am having sugar, but they don't need
to know that I was en up at four because
and then was like, oh, I'm now high and I
need able to toilet. But you're in the gym in
the morning, like oh are ye? Yeah? Good danks, how
are you? And you're like, am I actually good? I
don't know, but I'm just gonna, you know, pretend I am.
So I will be basically fake it till you make
it they day, don't they? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Yeah, And after those nights, like some days, I couldn't
even tell you my own name, let alone like what
I'm supposed to be doing at work or whatever, you know,
so opening that box sometimes doesn't feel like I have
the energy to do that.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Totally. I totally agree, and it's just like you know,
and the bit thankfully, like you know, when I'm at
home obviously, family get that. And I'm in the gym
and my gym coach you and he is basically a
sports scientist by trade. He's loads of blood glucus stuff
in the past, so he one hundred percent he gets
it to the point. I'll be there and he's like,

(50:06):
what's your blood glucas? And I'm like why, And he's like,
I just want to know because I think you're high.
And I'm like, how do you know? He's like, I
can just tell the way you're acting. I was like,
oh god, yeah, I am a little bit high. He's
all right, that's fine. Good to know. Or and it's
just having that like then I can be like, oh yeah,

(50:27):
or I can go in. Like two weeks ago, I
was doing testing in the gym and I was like, right,
you and I have no idea what's going to happen
to me? Because I was up at three m having sugar.
I don't know how many teaspoons from the teller, et cetera,
et cetera. And then I went a bit high. It
wasn't that high, actually, because sometimes now I'm aware that
I'm eating so much. I'll just take in someone before
we go back to sleep.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
And I was like, it's so hard to stop in
the moment, though, isn't it totally?

Speaker 2 (50:54):
And I was like, so, I don't really know what's
going to happen, so we'll find out. He's like, that's fine,
at least, thanks for letting me know. But then I
was great, and he was like, I thought you said
you were feeling rubbish through the night. I was like,
I was, but somehow I just smashed that out, no problem.
So yeah, you just do you know, you're probably the same.
Someone asks you, what's it like, how are you not? Yeah,
I'm fine when you're like you're like a swan underwater,

(51:17):
your feet are like flapping, but nobody sees it.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Yeah. Sometimes I've my inside just being like that and
I'm trying look money.

Speaker 2 (51:30):
You're like, oh my goodness, yeah, my all my insides hurt. Yeah,
but it.

Speaker 1 (51:35):
Speaks to I think this tenacity, this resilience that we
have and as much as you know, it's horrible to
hear other people going through it. Like for the listeners
that must like, I hope that's some reassurance, like we're
all in this, we're all wading through.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
Yeah, we're all swans underneath the water that you can't
see their feet are going mental. But then you know,
then there's times it's like, you know, you don't want
to say it's hard on things, because we're still very
lucky to be able to do what we can do.
And then you're like, oh, I don't want to sound
like I'm moaning about it, but you know, in reality,

(52:15):
you know, it's not easy. We're constantly, constantly thinking that
if we do something wrong, what what's going to happen? So, yeah,
it's just getting up.

Speaker 1 (52:25):
And yet here you are, as a professional with an
amazing kind of record behind you, achieving your dreams that
you've had since you were a kid. So I think
extra props and extra kudos to all of us. And
you're an amazing example of that. We're here like the
swan's without legs, going one hundred an hour under the water,

(52:46):
and you're out there anyway, and you're doing it. Respect
to you massively. Yeah, and you mentioned before we came
on that you're going on tour, and you actually said, like,
sometimes you're sort of that as you're going on tour
for a rest, because the rest of life gets stripped
away and actually things are pretty kind of dictated to

(53:08):
for you your structure, your routine, your timings and things
like that. So I've found that really interesting because when
I've gone abroad and for work reasons and people have said,
how do you do that with type one diabetes, I've
felt exactly the same, because the rest of life it
stops home, you know.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Yeah, it's just like you don't have you know, like
you're away and we're fortunately there's three or four of
us staying together, but you see all the other girls
at the course during the day, and you go back
and you might FaceTime you know, Sean or my mum briefly,
but other than that, we're just you know, you'll stop
at the supermarket, you get a couple something for dinner

(53:45):
and maybe a bar of chocolate. And I went home
to watch Netflix, and I I haven't watched TV probably
since I was on two rough last year. Feels like,
you know, anything that's drama or CDs wise, because I
just feel like, right now, I don't actually have the type.
But when I'm away, I'm like, oh, I can actually
can sit in chill. This is lovely. We've had her
dinner at six o'clock and we can just sit here.

(54:06):
Whereas you know, at home, you're like, oh, I should
go and see so and so because I'm now about
to go away all somewhere. She go and catchup with
so and so. I should go and do this. This
is a nice evening and she goes pick. Oh, it's like,
oh my god, just like stop. So yeah, you get
to the airport and you're like, oh, I've got a
fight in two hours. I'm just gonna sit and wait.
I'm just gonna then wait for my tea time to come.

(54:27):
So yeah, it is.

Speaker 1 (54:29):
It is like I'm on a plane, someone's bringing me food,
and now one can message me and I'm not thinking,
oh god, I should have replied to that email.

Speaker 2 (54:37):
Yeah yeah, I shouldn't, But I can't reply to your
text message. I don't have to be anywhere because I'm
sitting in the seat. Pilot's going to get me there.
All these things. But then, don't get me wrong, I
do I do love being at home as well. So
I do love that manic rush of trying to get
everything into however many days we've got. But yeah, it's

(55:00):
I feel like this year because I've started coaching as
well and things that I'll be going away and being like, ah,
I'm just going to sit down and not worry that
I've got to do something in twenty minutes.

Speaker 1 (55:10):
Yeah, And I think as people with type one diabetes,
I don't know if I don't know if I can
speak to this because it's all I've known, but I
think we are master jugglers. Yeah, And it's just something
that we've like very adept at because we have to
be we have to think three steps ahead, we have
to carry the extra things with us, we have to
know that we're safe all times. And I wonder if

(55:30):
that plays into it in terms of the way you
live your life and things like that. And it kind
of part and parcel of diabetes is that it is
a bit chaotic. I don't know if any of that
resonates with you. It's all yeahtimes I think I think
something sense.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
I think we're just we're used to juggling or changing
plans if the last minute you know you can't drive
because you're low or they've got all these things, and
it's did you just get used to being in that
cycle of what we're doing tomorrow? Oh, I've got to
do this, that or next thing. And don't get me wrong,
I absolutely love spontaneous activity and doing things spontaneously, but

(56:07):
I still feel like I need a rough idea of
what possibly could happen, just to be like, feel like
you're a bit more prepared than not at all prepared.
But I spoke. I was with Sean and a couple
of friends a couple of weeks ago, and my friend
was like, oh, what are you up to, you know,
this week or something. I said, Oh, I've got you know,
I'm starting to do some junior coaching and we're John

(56:29):
I renovating in the house where we're demolished part of
the house, and I need to practice myself. I need
to go to the gym. I got assignment due from
a PGA and she's like she just looked at me,
and I was like and then I was like, I
don't know why I've started coaching this week, blah blah blah.
And she's like, yeah, but if there's anyone that can
do all this, it's definitely you. And then Sean's like
she is and he used that, He's like, she's like
a swan. You should see her at home. She's padling fast,

(56:51):
but she's she looks like she's surviving. I was like, thanks, so,
and I think it's just from being juggling diabetes and
all that over the years. Just making it happen.

Speaker 1 (57:04):
Yeah, making it happen. Love that. So with that in mind,
if you could go back and speak to eight year
old Hannah now having achieved what you have and still
you know, with these dreams that you're pursuing and houses
to renovate, what would you go back and say to
her when she was receiving that diagnosis and everything was

(57:25):
kind of chaos and noise, And.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Yeah, I would probably say it probably is going to
be mad, but you'll, you know, you'll figure it out.
You'll if you want to do something, you'll make it happen.
People will help you, and don't the older I'm getting
and you know, four years ago yesterday, I hip surgery.

(57:48):
So I got used to having to ask for people
to help me because you know, I was like, Sean,
can you put my socks on? Can you do this?
So I think you only then at twenty seven was
I like, you know, asking for helps not actually a
bad thing to do. So just doing that and using
that because people offer the help because they want to
help you. They're not just doing it because they feel
they should do it. So it's just accept them that

(58:11):
and just not being hard on yourself when you know,
if golf doesn't go right, or blood sugars doesn't go
right or whatever isn't right, it's it'll be fine, it'll
figure out. Don't worry. Try not to worry. Basically I
would say, is what I would that. That's what I

(58:31):
would say.

Speaker 1 (58:31):
Yeah, yeah, making it happen. We'll take that. And then
I just want to touch on Scotland because I've read
a beautiful blog post that you wrote about the nostalgia
that you have for you know, the place that you
grew up in the holidays you had, and kind of
you've spoken a little bit at the beginning about those
school holidays and things, and so I just I just

(58:53):
would love you to kind of tell us a little
bit about that because you've covered a lot of ground
as a golfer. Obviously, you know, literally you are covering
roads and courses and countries, but to me, it seems
like there's no place for you like home.

Speaker 2 (59:07):
Yeah, there's there's actually not, And I know people probably
get sick and we being like, ah, she just talks
about a ne Ethie and the Scottish Highlands. But I honestly,
I don't think there's anywhere else I've probably been in
the world that I've been like, I could live here

(59:28):
apart from like here. And I just think because I
know that this is like the base, I like, I'm
always going back back to Ethie or the Highlands, and
you can go to the West Coast and you can
go to all these amazing places and that ballpost about Durness, Yeah,
we used to go there every summer holiday for two
weeks and you know, we played for the school football
team during the summer hall where we're basically part of

(59:49):
the village. We played the golf nine home golf course
every single day and went for the same basically the
same walks and things. But it's just like it's so
you used to be so off the beaten track that
you were away from everything. Now North Coast five hundreds there,
it's pretty busy, but you were just away and you
were just like I mean, you had. We didn't have phones.

(01:00:13):
Obviously back there, we weren't. You couldn't go on social media,
you couldn't. I find out I was in a Scottish
golf team because it was in the newspaper when I
was on holiday. You know, it's like all these things,
like I was like, flip and neck, what have I
got to do for this? And it's the same here
and we all, you know, so many people know each other.
But at times, you know, you're like, oh goodness, you
do anything, everyone knows about it. But at the same time,

(01:00:35):
it's like you do something and everyone would rally around
and try and help you if they could, because everyone
knows somebody that knows somebody, And I just love that.
And I mean, there's so many of my friends that
went to school that still live here, and that's the
friends I'm still friends with here, and it's like they're
all having babies and all this stuff. And I'm then
with the one that's like, oh, I'm going to France,
I'll see you next week and I'll do this, and yeah,

(01:00:56):
I mean Scotland's just I mean, yeah, people have asked me,
where's the best place in the world I've played golf?
And I'm always like, can I say the Scottish Islands?
Is that? Is that okay? To say Castle Stewart, Dornick,
all these places, and they're like, yeah, if you want so.
I mean, I've been very lucky to see the world
and I still want to see more of the world.

(01:01:17):
But yeah, there's no place like.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
Home, so nice. Love that the power of community as
well with that, Where can people find you if they
want to find out what you're up to? Say hello?

Speaker 2 (01:01:30):
And yeah, I have Instagram, so Hannah McCook twenty nine,
I think it is. I also now have just started
a golf coaching Instagram account as well. So when I
got two Instagram accounts, I might flip a neck big time.
Now I've got two Instagram accounts. I've got Twitter, but
I've gone pretty quiet on the old Twitter world x.

(01:01:53):
I feel like it's becoming a bit of a I
don't know, I don't like some of the vibes on
there at the moments. I've kind of gone pretty silent.
I have got TikTok now I have no post of
maybe three times, which for me are feeling wow, and yeah,
I've got a website. There's not really not much on
an apart from a background about me, and it's all, yeah,

(01:02:17):
Hannah McCoo, can you'll find me hanam kok golf as
really not many of us thankfully.

Speaker 1 (01:02:21):
So yeah, lovely. I'll pop all that information in the
episode description as well. But thank you so much for
chatting to me. I've loved diving into your world for
this hour. It has been so so nice. So yeah,
thanks very much. At some point, no, not at all.
It's been a long time coming.

Speaker 2 (01:02:39):
Yeah, I'm glad we've finally done it.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of Type one on one.
Please remember that nothing you hear on this podcast should
be taken as medical advice. I'm definitely not a healthcare professional.
If you like what you hear, hit subscribe and do
leave a little review on iTunes if you have time.
It really helps to spread the word about type one diabetes,

(01:03:06):
and thank you so much for listening.