Drew raw-01

No, no chance. The speaker is not a doctor. They talk about checking if Drew is in frame and apologize for having something on the table. They discuss the purpose of the podcast and mention a powerful TEDx talk. They mention quizzes that haven't been run yet. They talk about preferring to have a conversation rather than follow pre-determined questions. They mention missing an email with questions and having a surprise conversation. They ask about moving something and start the interview. Drew shares his story of being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 22 and how it impacted his life. He talks about the signs and symptoms he experienced and how his parents, who are doctors, helped him get diagnosed. He talks about losing weight and how his active lifestyle may have protected him from more severe symptoms. They pause briefly for a blood sugar check. Drew talks about not knowing anyone with type 1 diabetes before his diagnosis and how he had learned about it during his studies. He men No, no chance. I'm certainly not a doctor. Do you mind just double checking Drew's in frame? No. Oh, sorry. You don't mind that's on the table, do you? Not at all. It's a bit clunky. So you've got all the gear. So Drew, I think with this podcast, what I'm really trying to do is bring high vibe people who live with type 1 diabetes. When I was 15, I really struggled with it being in high school. And I just wish there was something like this out there that you could get advice from that didn't exist. So I'm just wanting to really talk about that TEDx talk. That was really powerful how you... I can't even remember it, but hopefully it comes back to me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got you, got you. Have you run the quizzes I've printed then, Drew? No, no, no. Surprised me. No, no. Do you know what? And I stopped off a question with a thud. Like, this isn't live. But even so, I prefer to just have a conversation. Yeah, so do I. I've got some questions. I feel like when I've seen the questions beforehand, my head's thinking... I've sent you, so you haven't... I didn't even look. Where did you send? No, that's good, Drew. I didn't even see it. Are you sure? I don't know about that. Oh, you did. I see it now. I see it, I see it. Sorry, I did miss that. My bad. It's okay. It's nice to have a surprise conversation. I'll probably be around here. Can I move this, or is that...? Yeah, cool. So, how long have you been here? I don't know. Oh, do you? Just a quick in and out? Right. And just to record? Is that the...? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, nice. Good on you. There you go. Do you want to press record now? Yeah. Perfect. Super low. We'll stay flat during this. I still got hurt, but... I did a podcast with Rich Roll. It was the biggest podcast of my life. He's got, like... He's, like, top five in the world. And I went low the first minute in. Double arrows. And I had to stop and eat jelly beans. And for, like, 20 minutes, I'm, like, eating jelly beans. It was so bad. He's, like, no, this is perfect. He's, like, this is what diabetes is. Like, what a great, great way to show it. Can't think properly. And then it's, like, I feel like I'm wasting his time. Like, he's just sitting there while I'm just eating and waiting for go off. All right. Drew Harrisburg, welcome so much to the One Life podcast. It is so nice to have you here. It's good to be here. There's been a lot of people on Instagram a little bit jealous that I get to interview you today. So, hello to all you all. That's hilarious. Jealous of this. Come on now. So, Drew, can you share with us your story when you were diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 22 and how it impacted your life initially? Yeah, I think for me at the time, I was sort of what I call, like, the peak of my early 20s. You know, life was too good to be true. So I was playing music, I was playing gigs, I'd sort of signed with a couple of modeling agencies and I was just seeing this, like, future of, like, going to LA and living the dream of becoming a rock star and all these crazy thoughts. And then, yeah, diabetes put a handbrake on that. It sort of came out of nowhere where I didn't see it coming and I didn't even know what I was looking for. Like, the signs and symptoms, if you don't know what to look for, you kind of assume that what you're feeling is normal in a way. I knew something was wrong because I was exhausted and, you know, the classic signs and symptoms, like waking up in the night, drinking lots of water, going to the toilet frequently, always hungry, losing weight. But the tiredness, the level of exhaustion was just next level. And, yeah, I kind of knew something was wrong but I was too scared to look into it in case I found something that was not good news. And luckily for me, kind of unlucky, but my parents are doctors, so they helped me to get some blood tests done that sort of straight away showed something was, like, pretty badly wrong. The main thing that I saw early on in the blood test was, like, a few red flags that pointed in the direction of diabetes but they weren't strong enough to say, like, you've got a diagnosis. So, like, my A1C was a little bit elevated. But we sort of found reasons to justify the higher numbers. Like, oh, you're an athlete and athletes can have higher A1Cs. Or, like, you know, there were so many reasons that we were like, oh, no, you'll be fine, you'll be fine. And then, obviously, a couple, probably, I'd say a month later, after, like, tracking with a glucose meter at home just randomly throughout the day, I saw a reading that was a little bit out of range. And they kind of warned me. They said, if you ever have a fasting glucose above seven, come back into the clinic. And, yeah, that was literally the day that I saw a seven. I kind of pushed it aside and hoped for the best. And then, yeah, I went into the clinic with my dad, who's a doctor. And that was the day I was diagnosed. I mean, in a way, it was, like, a much easier diagnosis compared to a lot of people. No ketoacidosis, wasn't rushed off to hospital, didn't have to go in an ambulance, have the whole traumatic thing, but it was just a face-to-face with an educator. Did you lose much weight? Yes. I think I lost roughly 13 to 15 kilos in, you know, the span of, I want to say it's like six months. Wow. And I think this is, like, in hindsight, I could be wrong about this, but I think that my lifestyle, being so active, kept me out of those dangerously high levels. Obviously, I'm exercising every day and going on long walks and running and training and in the gym. I think that that protected me from, you know, dangerously high blood sugars long-term. So it sort of, like, prolonged that period of honeymoon. I don't know if we call it that, but I hate that word. You know what I mean? That honeymoon period where it's, like, pancreas is still kind of working, your levels are a little bit out of whack, but you're not, like, full-blown yet. So I think that exercise, in a way, kind of saved me from a way worse diagnosis. Absolutely. So your life's on fire. You're age 22. You want to be a musician. Sorry, guys. Just one sec. That's all right. Hold on. Am I sure? Yeah, have a blood sugar check. She's just thinking I'm going to pass out, Drew. I know. Everyone's worrying about us. I know. Like a good mum over there. She is. Oh, she's a pussy. Okay. All right. So, Drew, did you know anyone who had type 1 diabetes when you were diagnosed? No. I mean, like, I knew of a guy at school. Like, everyone kind of knew someone through a friend, but I think that even if you know someone with diabetes, you don't know what diabetes really is until you have it. So I knew a guy who had diabetes, and kind of ironically, like, I knew about the condition through my studies, because I was doing sports science. I had just finished my degree as a sports scientist, and I was in the process of getting accredited to become an exercise physiologist. So, like, part of my degree was studying what is type 1 diabetes and how – again, the irony of how can I, as an exercise physiologist, program for people with different types of diabetes so it's safe and effective. So I was learning about it on a surface level, and I actually remember when I was doing my clinical placement, there was this one day where throughout the whole placement I felt terrible, because I actually had undiagnosed diabetes during it without knowing it. Like, I fell asleep face-to-face in the interview for the spot at the thing, and I still got it somehow. But, like, during that clinic placement, I was falling asleep driving home. I was falling asleep on the way there. I couldn't keep my eyes open. I was hungry the whole time. I felt terrible and lethargic. So I knew something was wrong during that placement, and there was this one day in the gym. This was at a hospital in Sutherland at the cardiac rehab ward, and I was in the gym training people with diabetes and finger-pricking them every 20 minutes. And I had this chance to prick myself. The head EP said to me, do you want to check your own blood sugar just for fun, like try it out? And I didn't do it, but I always wonder if I would have figured it out then that I had diabetes, because it was only like two weeks later that I got diagnosed. So I had this opportunity. It was like this sliding doors moment where I didn't say, yeah, okay, I'll check it out, and that could have been the thing that saved me from going on for another two weeks with undiagnosed. Wow. Do you have brothers and sisters? I do have an older sister. She's a doctor. My whole family are doctors. Wow. My parents. My dad's an ophthalmologist, so he works with a lot of people with diabetes with screening and treatment. My mom doesn't really practice anymore, but she was a GP, and my sister's an emergency physician. How was the reaction of your dad when you found out that you actually had type 1 diabetes? Do you remember that? No, I'll never forget that. No, I'll never forget that. It was hard for me, but I think it could have been even harder for him, to be honest, because his whole career was centered around treating people with diabetes. In fact, he worked very closely with the clinic, the RPA Medical Center, Diabetes Center, where I was diagnosed. So for him it was very close to home. So he obviously got me into the medical center, diabetes center, and spoke to the professor and spoke to the educators and dieticians and said, listen, my son, check him out. We think he might have diabetes or something might be wrong. Yeah, I just remember getting the diagnosis next to him in this medical diabetes center that he'd been working at for like 20 years. What are the chances for him? He's obviously seen over his career so many of the worst-case scenarios of vision loss, so I'm sure the first thing he was thinking was, my son's now got diabetes. Am I going to be one day trying to save his eyes? So, yeah, it was scary and sad, and there was a lot of denial. We just could not accept that I had diabetes when I was diagnosed because it was like a finger prick test that brought back a number that was out of range. And as soon as we saw the number, my dad was, he was like, no, there's no way. Your machine is broken. Can you get another new one? That one's faulty. Like so much denial. And then obviously we retested, and yeah, that was it. How did you feel at the time? Were you angry? I think it was, I don't think the anger was setting just yet. Like I had weeks to kind of get my head around it because we flagged it four weeks earlier or six weeks earlier with a blood test, and I was monitoring at home for like four weeks before that moment. So I sort of had time to like jump over that hurdle mentally a few times. But there was definitely denial. The anger set in after. The immediate thought was like my life's over. Like this is a life sentence. What's the point in even trying to like live anymore? Like this is just, like there's nothing to look forward to. Like all the joy gets stripped out of life. Then it was like obviously months of, I hate to throw the term around, but like aversion or on the spectrum of depression or like just being very down or, you know. I was never diagnosed with depression, but I was certainly not happy. And then of course then it's like the phases. Then it's like anger. Then it's like why me? What did I do to deserve this? How did this happen? Like just all of, you know, the tidal wave of emotions that come with it. Definitely there was a period where I've never said, I've never told this story because it's, I've never spoken about this like on a podcast, and I'm not going to give the details of it, but I was kind of working for someone at the time who didn't believe me that I had diabetes and accused me of like faking a condition. And the anger, like I was already angry, but the amount of like anger that I felt in that moment for this person was just, I didn't even think I had it in me. And then I realized that this is what's going to happen over the next few years. Like people don't understand what diabetes is. There's a lot of stigma, and it's sort of my responsibility to take it on and improve my life somehow. Absolutely. So Drew, what were the key moments or decisions that led you to make positive changes towards your lifestyle? I mean, the first key moment was unforgettable. Like it was the most important thing that ever happened to me in my diabetes journey. And luckily for me, it came the day after my diagnosis. So I wake up the next morning. I've just been diagnosed with diabetes, barely slept, cried myself to sleep. And I was given like a clear order from the order. I was given like clear recommendations by the team to try to live your normal lifestyle for the next like four, five, six days, gather some like data in terms of blood glucose. I didn't have a CGM at that point, so I was just doing like lots of finger pricks, write it all down so that I can hand over this logbook to them and they can help me figure out how much insulin I need at what points in the day. So you weren't admitted into hospital? I wasn't admitted into hospital and I wasn't given insulin immediately. I've never had a diagnosis. Yeah. I think it's because I was so active that they thought, you know what, we'll give him. They gave me one dose in the clinic because my blood sugar was like 16 or 17 when I was diagnosed. They gave me one dose. I think it was a basal dose actually. I can't remember because it was the first time I'd ever taken insulin. I didn't know what it was. But now that I think about it, it was probably a basal dose to like cover me for the next night. And then the recommendation was with that basal in the system, go live your normal lifestyle. Go to the gym, surf, train, do what you do. Let's see your blood glucose after a week or a few days. Come in and we'll give you the insulin that you need. So I wake up the next morning and my blood glucose is a bit high. I'd eat a breakfast with no insulin. Blood glucose goes super high, 25 plus. I can't remember the exact number but it was pretty high. And then I went to the gym. And in the gym I just did a normal workout that I would do. And I didn't even know that exercise could do anything for your blood glucose levels at that point because I hadn't been living with it. And I spent an hour in the gym, did a full body workout. And when I got out of the gym I checked my blood sugar and it was back into the normal range. That was just such an important learning early on. And I was so grateful that it happened day one because it was the first bit of hope that I had. It was like, oh, I can actually manage this as long as I exercise regularly. And that was the first little win for me which gave me some positivity. And then the experiment just continued. And it was just like, how else can I move my body? What different foods can do for me? You know, all the lifestyle things. And, yeah, I'm still learning. It's 13 years in. Absolutely. Well, Gerry, public speaking is one of the hardest things anybody can do. And you not only delivered a really impactful TEDx talk, but you did it with Type 1 Diabetes. Do you remember what your sugar levels were doing during that talk? That's a good question. I don't. I wasn't on a CGM at that point. I will bet a lot of money that they were high just based on the nerves. Your adrenaline. Yes, yes. That was actually the first public speaking that I'd ever done on a stage. I've done, like, workshops and seminars, but a true, like, keynote 20-minute speech, that was the first time I'd ever done it. And it would have to be a TEDx. So I was like, how did I end up here? I'll tell you, it's quite funny, this story. So I get a call. I'll rewind a little bit. So four weeks before that, I get a call from this happiness conference. I can't remember. Happiness and its causes. Like, the biggest happiness conference in the world. Thousands of people. Like, they fill, like, a theater of I think it's like 4,000 or 5,000 people. They call me up and they're like, we love your story. Will you create a talk for us and give it on that day? So I'm like, yeah, perfect. So I start to, like, think about, like, what am I going to talk about? How am I going to position my story? And I'm preparing it for a couple of weeks. And then I get a call, like, a week before from the TEDx team saying, hey, we'd like you to step on stage and deliver a talk. And I'm like, well, I'm actually preparing for another one. So this is perfect. This would be a great way for sort of like stepping stone to the other one. But the way they framed it was David Pocock, one of the best Australian rugby players of all time, one of the world's best rugby players, was meant to be giving a TEDx. He can't make it. Will you step in for him? Tickets are already sold. We know the room is going to be full. They're all waiting for David Pocock to come on stage. And I'm like, here comes this guy. Everyone's probably, like, so disappointed. They're like, well, who is this guy? Like, how did this happen? So I ended up going in place of David Pocock. And I'm sure the crowd were a little bit let down. But I ended up, yeah, I ended up giving basically the same speech that I was going to give, you know, a week later at the other conference. So, yeah, there was plenty of nerves. My blood sugar was extremely high, but I managed to do it. Well, the crowd would have been definitely not disappointed at the end of it, too. And for anyone who wants to watch that TEDx talk, just Google on YouTube, it's through Harrisburg. Now, one of the key points you made during the talk was about how you became happier and healthier after your diagnosis. So a lot of people fall into a dark place when diagnosed, as you've spoken about. Can you give them some advice that helped you? I mean, like, again, I feel like I was so lucky in a lot of ways. Like, it's hard to give advice because everyone's going to be, you know, on a bit of a different journey. I was, I feel like, very lucky to have experienced, firstly, I wasn't, as we already said, it wasn't like a traumatic diagnosis in terms of like rush to hospital, loss of consciousness. So I already felt like, I didn't realize how serious it was, to be honest, in the beginning. Because it was like, you know, I got diagnosed face-to-face in a clinic, I was sent home without insulin. It wasn't like a, it didn't seem like life-threatening or very dangerous at the time. Now I know it was. But then I had that milestone moment the very next day, and I'm like, I got this, this is going to be fine. Which was also a bit of like a false sense of positivity because it's not linear. It's not like, oh, you just get better and better. Like, it's very up and down. I would say to most people, if you want to like find health and happiness with diabetes, for me, the key is the little things. Like, it's not the big things. People think it's like, you've got to do this, you've got to do that. Like, for me, it was just like little wins every day. Like, get to the gym, do that good workout. Choose the right meal or make those good decisions. Enjoy some sunshine. Get outside into nature. Like, still remembering what the essence of life is. And for me, it's the small things. It has been. And I think I was lucky that that was just with it. Like, that was just in me. I always had like a huge appreciation for such small things in life. When you have diabetes, like, if you are always looking for these big milestone moments and these big wins, you're going to be disappointed because it's really just about one foot in front of the other. I know it's such a cliche, but it really is. Like, one day at a time, one step at a time. And just focusing on the little things and finding the joy in things that people overlook as just mundane parts of life. But actually, that is where the joy is. So for me, it's actually quite simple. Like, I try to simplify it. And, yeah, I think everyone's going to be a little bit different when it comes to how they experience happiness with diabetes. Like some people, it's to do with their management. It's like, get my A1C from here to here or spend more time in range or like these key sort of biomarkers or get a blood test every three months and like, what have I improved? That stuff's important, but I don't think that's where the happiness is. I think the happiness is in the doing, the actions of the everyday life that everyone else goes through. That, for me, is where the happiness lies. And if you simplify to that, it's more accessible. It's easier to attain that because if you can feel joy out of just getting a good workout and having a coffee and sitting in the sun, you're winning, in my opinion. So just talking on behalf of myself. So when my sugars go on that crazy rollercoaster, particularly being female, you know, with all the hormones, I do feel like my brain can feel a bit sad, almost like a diabetes depression, and it can be hard to pull yourself out of that funk. There are definitely a lot of people who touch base with me and talk about this diabetes depression. It's not, as you spoke about at the start of this podcast, it's not something that you need medication for, but it's probably the only way to actually describe the feeling of it. It's sort of a dark place because you just can't get off this rollercoaster. You are a diabetes educator. If you have a patient come in on that rollercoaster, what are some tips and strategies you can give them to get off it which will make them, I guess, mentally feel better? Just a disclaimer on that. So I have a post-grad certificate in diabetes education management. I don't practice. I'm not credentialed because, I mean, for a number of reasons. But at the moment, my original degree was exercise physiology. Then I did a post-grad in diabetes education, but I chose not to actually go down that route of the one-to-one consultations. But I think I can answer that question from the perspective of just somebody living with diabetes and having spoken to people and just training people and coaching. So the diabetes darkness or whatever you want to call it, depression, I think there's something, and I've looked into the studies on this, and it is quite amazing the relationship between depression and type 1 diabetes. Like they are very strongly tied together. And some of these studies suggest that the relationship is bidirectional so that depression can feed into poor diabetes management and poor diabetes management can increase rates of depression. So it's like this vicious cycle. So obviously not living and dying by the numbers is easier said than done, but that's so important because if your mood is reflecting every high and every low, you're going to be like this all day long. So it's like figuring out a way to detach. You are not your numbers. Like how do you detach the individual, the person, from these numbers, which is hard to do because you actually have like biochemical changes when you have these highs and lows. So like some people when they're low get very angry or aggressive. I'm sure you've felt it. Like sometimes you feel like your mood changes so quickly. You're like, that's not me. Then you check your blood sugar and it's low. That can happen. I've learned it's taken me so long to try to detach from the numbers. I still do it, but like in the beginning I just wanted to be perfect. I just never wanted to see a blood glucose above 7, nothing below 4. I just had this like very strict tight range, which was setting a standard that was just unachievable. And then every time I was out of that range I was in a bad mood. And I think my personality changed drastically after being diagnosed. I reckon over a period of about a year I was like a different person. Like my sense of humor was gone. All I wanted to do was just figure out how do I manage this thing. Like I fucking hate it. Can I swear? Absolutely. That's how we're all feeling. I hated diabetes. Every time it was out of range I was just so much anger. And then I realized that that wasn't serving me at all. And then over time I just realized I'm not my numbers. And if I can figure out a way to still find happiness even when my blood glucose is all over the place, then that's just more power to me. So I don't know. Giving advice to people on that, it's hard. I don't know. What do you feel? What would your advice to yourself be when you're out of range or on that roller coaster? Well, I've had type 1 now for 26 years. And I have come to learn you cannot get upset by the numbers. If I know in my heart that I have done the best job, and for whatever reason they've gone up, like today I got in the cab to come and record this podcast and they double-arrowed up after I was a flatline all night, that is actually genuinely out of my control. And it's unusual to have that kind of adrenaline spike. But I now know that about myself, and to take that pressure off the numbers. But it is frustrating. Because as I'm talking to you, I am a little bit high right now. So you have to have the water. You feel a bit parched. And you just think, if I didn't have type 1 diabetes, would I enjoy this podcast a little bit more? Because I do, in the back of my head, I'm half thinking, what am I sugars doing? That's what I always do. So it's just, I guess, validating everyone's feelings, that they're real feelings. But you can get into a very deep, dark place with it if you allow yourself, if you don't ever define yourself by your numbers. Yeah. And I also think that it's important for people to know that if your numbers are out of range acutely and it doesn't last chronically, from a clinical management perspective, it's probably not going to do that much to you overall, like your overall health. You're probably going to be fine if it's every now and then. How often are you having a double arrow up out of the blue? It's not that often, right? However, if it is happening all the time and you're just pushing it aside and ignoring it, that's a problem too. So it's like, at what point do you go, okay, this is something I need to address and make some changes, or this is so rare, it doesn't happen that often, that it's okay, don't be so hard on yourself. It's a one-off podcast. Your blood sugars are going to go up. Let it go. And also, when I think about athletes, because I train some aspiring young athletes, some of them truly believe, and your beliefs are very important, that if your blood glucose is very high on game day, so one of the kids plays basketball at quite a high level, that his performance is going to suck. That's not actually true either. In fact, sometimes it's the opposite. Sometimes you can have a bad performance when you're in range and a really good performance when you're out of range. So I don't think we should even be attaching a performance, whether it's performing in sport, performing in public speaking, performing on a podcast, whatever it is, attaching it and connecting it to numbers is probably the first place you're going wrong. It doesn't mean you shouldn't strive to be better and try to manage it in a normal target range, but if it is out of range and it's out of your control, it doesn't define your performance. I spoke to a couple of really elite athletes who said that some of their best games ever at the highest level playing for Australia where their blood glucose was out of range almost their whole career. So it's certainly something to keep an eye on it, try to notice trends and patterns, but I think if it's these out-of-the-blue, one-off things, push perfection aside, let it go, I think. That's really good advice. You mentioned both your mum and dad and sister are doctors, so a very high-performing family. Now, during your TEDx talk, you mentioned your dad was in denial. How are they going today? Do they talk to you as much about your type? Oh, yeah, yeah. We're like best friends. Yeah, they live near me. We have dinners every week. I think that there was probably a two-year period where it was like... I wouldn't say that their life had changed hugely, but they were definitely heavily impacted by the diagnosis for a couple of years. But as soon as they saw me happy, healthy, doing really well, it took the pressure off them. And I think now they... Well, not just because I've proven it with my management, which has been good, and I'm living a great life, but they feel safer knowing that there's technology protecting me. Because for the first, I want to say, ten years, I didn't use a CGM. I remember. I saw you for a while on Instagram, and it was very exciting. I think, did you use the Libre? I used the Libre first for a little bit. But I was just, for some reason, I did not like the idea of using a CGM. You were really open about it. I remember. And then I just sort of one day realised that it better help me. It better protect me. It might even save my life. And I'm sure it actually probably has a couple of times, honestly. I reckon I've been close to having lows overnight that if I slept through, it would have been disastrous. So yeah, eventually I started to lean on the technology, and I think it made them just feel much safer. They could sleep at night knowing that my CGM will wake me up if it has to. But I think for many, many years, they would tell you this. They would say that they would probably go to bed every night saying, you know, I hope. In your prayer? Yeah. Well, it's a real thing. It is a real thing. In the prayer. Exactly. 100%. Exactly. So does your girlfriend or your parents have your sugar levels on their phone? No, actually. Oh, no. No. It's my data. I don't share my data. It's got nothing to do with that. They don't, but they should. I'd be happy for them to. I think the mindset I took with this was it's my responsibility. No one else's. But I also, at the same time, understand the value of a team, and if you make your network strong and connected, you're going to have better outcomes overall. But, yeah, you raise a good point there. I should give someone access to my CGM data. Well, I'm here interstate, and my sugars went low last night, and my husband messaged me making sure I'm okay. Beautiful. Yeah, that's amazing. Isn't that so cool? And most people think that it's just like parents looking after kids, but no, not at all. It's anyone looking after anyone. Exactly. It doesn't matter what age you are. If you let this slip by and you may miss something or sleep through it, having someone there as backup is brilliant. Good advice. So, Drew, you are an ambassador for the Dunning Foundation, so it's a charity based here in Sydney that focuses on ensuring that every single type 1 diabetic across Australia has access to these diabetes supplies regardless of income. So on October the 18th, they're having a Bear Football Day to raise funds, and I hear a little birdie said you're going to be there. Tell us about it. Yeah, I mean, look, I started working with the Dunning Foundation. Over the last few years, I've been at a few events, like the golf days and stuff like that, and I just think that the story of Danny is so powerful and so tragic, but such a strong motivator for people to sort of peddle this message of how dangerous diabetes can be and how important technology is in saving lives. And, yeah, I want to just do as much as I can with the Dunning Foundation, drive awareness, hopefully change some of the stigmas out there, because there's still so many stigmas. But, yeah, I want to attend as many events as I can and get the word out, and hopefully through my platform as well to drive people to the foundation to understand what it's about and raise more money and hopefully get the ears of the government and parliament to listen and we get more things across the line as time goes on. Absolutely. So, yeah, on October 18th, we've got Bear Football here in Sydney, and you and I are both going to be there. It would be amazing to – I suck at both. I hope I'm good. I'm going to practice. I'm going to get some practice in. All right. Sorry, Drew. But anyone listening to this podcast right now who has type 1 diabetes and they're currently going through – Sorry, Drew. But, Drew, I was like apes with Rod today. That's all right. Have a break. Not the only ones. But that's okay. That's why we are recording this, so you guys can see it. Exactly. Yeah, have a break. Fine. Drew, you really do genuinely have this amazing story. That TEDx talk was so powerful. I listened to it again this morning on the way here, and I just – I love how you have a harnessed happiness, and it's essentially this corny, but I get it. It's maybe a maturity thing, but as we just get older, it's the little things in life, isn't it? Getting out in nature, doing your cold plunges down, and it's a fun life. It's – Yeah, you really are remarkable. So I just think for any guy or girl, particularly who has been diagnosed in their high school years, I just think it's a really tricky age. What advice would you have to a 15-year-old guy or girl who has big dreams and aspirations for their life, but they don't really have that safe family support that you and I did, for example? They're feeling really alone. They're having their friends pay out on them, saying, oh, you've been diagnosed with diabetes. What's your big brother advice to them? Well, having been diagnosed early 20s, in a way I was kind of lucky that I didn't have to go through those teen years with diabetes, which I think could be really tough. I've seen it. It is very hard. At any age, diabetes is hard, but in those transitionary teen years, it could be extremely difficult, especially at school, the social circles and feeling different. Teens already feel different and sort of left out. There's those pressures, so diabetes is another pressure. So the kids that I've worked with, I can tell you from experience, I've trained and coached a couple of young, as I said, aspiring athletes from the age of probably 12 to 16. The thing that I try to instill in them, the most important advice is no one's going to do this for you. Yes, we want a team. Yes, we want people to help us and support. At the end of the day, you have to do this. The responsibility is on you, and if you take responsibility early on, it's going to be much easier for you because then you don't have to have these huge learnings later in life where you're like, hey, my mom's been doing this for me the whole time. Now I'm on my own. So the responsibility is on you, and it's teamwork, but take responsibility. And then I think from a mental perspective, being proud, not that you have diabetes, but how you respond to it. Be proud of yourself. Own it. Because when I first got diagnosed, I would hide it. I didn't want anyone to know. I would go to the bathroom if I was out at a restaurant, inject in the bathroom. Go to my car to check my blood glucose. I didn't want anyone to know I had it. And I realized that the more I hid it from everyone else, the worse my management was because I wasn't open about it. I wasn't paying attention to it. I was hoping it went away. It's not going away. So it was taking responsibility and then being sort of proud of the way that I manage it. So like showing people in public straight up, this is what diabetes is, this is how I manage it. And then actually taking my journey to social media was also a big step because it was like displaying it to the world, essentially. This is who I am, this is how I manage it, and I'm really proud of what I've done. So I think for kids it's like the responsibility is on you. Use your team. Set up a nice supportive network of people that have got your back. But at the end of the day, no one's going to be better at managing your diabetes than yourself. And be proud of yourself. Even if your numbers don't reflect the work you're putting in, because sometimes with diabetes you can be trying so fucking hard and your numbers still suck. It's like, what is going on here? I thought I was doing everything right. It's not about the numbers. It's about the work you're putting in. Be proud of that. Keep going hard. Do what you've got to do. Lean on the technology that you need to lean on. Don't skip those endo three-monthly check-ups. Stay on top of it. Put in the work and it'll come around. True. Let's finish on that. That was really great. You really are an amazing ambassador. Keep posting because you really are inspiring us all to live our best lives. Thank you. That's very kind. I look forward to playing bowls. Hopefully. I'm going to put you on. All right. Let's see. We'll post about it. We'll see. The winner will be on the socials. We'll find out about that one. The pressure is off. Yeah. Thanks for having me. That was awesome. You're awesome. Thanks. Or maybe you can be on the same team. Oh, yeah. That's an option too. Don't worry. Thank you. No, it's a pleasure. That's what I was trying to get out. How you did that last question, that is the whole podcast for me. Oh, amazing. That's awesome. I'll be on it for the rest of your office. I'm following you. That was super raw and deep. That will help. I hope so. Oh, my gosh. See, that's why I'm glad I didn't see the questions because I didn't prepare that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was just... Yeah, and this is what happens when you go over the questions too much. Right. That's what I'm feeling. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry, that's not right. Yeah, that can happen. I thought maybe I should have texted you to mention this Bear Football Day, but I thought that you read the thing and that's why. I thought you read it. We just threw you in. Are you in? Guys, yes, yes. Sorry. Don't worry. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even if you can't come, it's not a big deal. No, I will. It's just part of... It's October. You have a few months to... I'm going to be here. It will be a Friday. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.