My (Doug Stanton's) involvement with Jack comes from flying to Wichita specifically to find out who this *Jack person* was to see if my company should sponsor this event. I was fortunate enough to meet him, to live with him and his wife for 3 days, to walk 24 miles with him, and to watch his everyday diabetes regimen.
During that 3 days, I'm pretty sure that I found out what I wanted to know: that Jack McCarthy is an honorable person; that he is a down*to*earth human being with a really neat wife named Judy, that he trained every day I was there by walking more than 24 miles a day (except the day we all walked in the Wichita St. Patrick's day parade), that he is doing this remarkable walk mostly to *reduce the fear* (he especially empathizes with parents of young children with diabetes), and that he is worth our enthusiastic support.
In my opinion, this is as good and honest as a real life story can get, and Jack's *Diabetes Miracle Walk* should be considered by the diabetes community as the most important event ever for raising diabetes awareness (and funds). DiabetesOnline (that's my company) thinks so, ITA Software thinks so, Eli Lilly thinks so, CocaCola thinks so, Raytheon Aircraft thinks so, I personally think so; and you ought to have seen the kids with diabetes that walked with him that day in the parade in Wichita: they think so too.
I do invite you, however, to please investigate Jack McCarthy on your own. Make your own decisions as to who he is as a person, and as to whether he is worthy of your support. To do this, I invite you to visit his web site directly, or hopefully you'll jump to his page from my DiabetesOnline Web Page. Or maybe talk to someone who was at the Marysville, Kansas event. Is there anybody out there from Marysville??
(May I suggest that you please add a statement of support for the *Jack
McCarthy Diabetes Miracle Walk* to your *signature file* until July 19th,
1996 (when he'll arrive at the Olympic Games), and email him that you have
done so as a gesture of support. I would, of course, be delighted if you
just copied what I wrote below:
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I support Jack McCarthy's 1,400 mile *Diabetes Miracle Walk*
Please support this man's worthy, admirable effort to raise money for good
Diabetes causes.
Keep up to date by visiting either http://www.diabetesonline.com/
or Jack McCarthy's page at http://www.southwind.net/walker
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Sincerely,
Douglas Stanton
http://www.diabetesonline.com
dstanton@syix.com
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MORE TEXT and information:
Jack McCarthy knows that much of dealing with diabetes is dealing with fear. So Jack McCarthy is walking the 1,430 miles to Atlanta (via Indianapolis, Indiana, where Eli Lilly is going give him a big *hootenanny* reception!) to try to reduce the fear. He especially empathizes with the fears experienced by the parents of young children with diabetes. So he's walking 1,430 miles just to show as many people as possible that persons with diabetes CAN live with diabetes and still excel physically, that you can get a handle on diabetes, that you can learn about diabetes, and that you can reduce diabetes complications with good control.
I invite you to join me (DiabetesOnline Software Service), and Eli Lilly and Coca Cola and Raytheon Aircraft and hundreds of other companies and individuals in enthusiastically supporting Jack McCarthy's valiant efforts.
By personal observation, I endeavored to understand what makes Jack's regime so successful. I did this by walking with him for a total of about 24 miles, having him test often, and observing his response to his bG readings. (Remember, I am not a doctor. I only provided a point*counterpoint position to help me understand his thinking regarding how much and when to eat to keep his blood sugars up. I did, however, have the benefit of having analyzed his insulin regime in advance, so I had a good idea how much insulin should be in his system at any particular time.) Some of my overall conclusions were that, for Jack at least, his success in controlling his diabetes came from:
1) He has been on 3 or 4 shots a day for most of the 60 years he's been on insulin. (His current regime is 4 insulin shots a day: 3 shots of R during the day; one shot of N at night. CAUTION: IT IS DANGEROUS TO CHANGE YOUR INSULIN REGIME. PLEASE, I AM NOT A DOCTOR! DO NOT CHANGE YOUR INSULIN REGIME WITHOUT THE ADVICE OF YOUR DOCTOR!)
2) He has a good overall sense of how much insulin and how much food is still in his system at various times of the day.
3) He includes exercise as an important part of his everyday regime.
4) He takes his insulin at the same times everyday, and is more prone to vary his meals to respond to bG levels than the other way around ..... usually.... :>)
5) He's got the support of everyone around him.
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Here are a few interesting facts:
* Jack estimates that during his training, he will have walked 4,000 miles.
* He usually gets 400 miles out of each pair of shoes.
* He changes his shoes and socks every 4 miles.
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