Colby Minnick, 17, checks his blood for his sugar levels using a personal reader. Minnick does the same process four to 10 times a day. He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2009. Staff photo by Jim DuboisPort Aransas High School Marlin Colby Minnick is an example of how a teenager can fight diabetes everyday. He lives a regular teenage life, even with the disease.
Some 25.8 million people in the United States suffer from diabetes, or about eight percent of the population. If more than 22 million have type 2 diabetes, three million of Americans have type 1 diabetes. The type 1 diabetes, or insulin-dependent diabetes, is an auto-immune disease in which the body’s immune system destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. The lack of insulin makes the body unable to convert sugar from food into nutrients for cells. The excess of sugar builds up in the blood stream and may eventually cause severe damage to organs and premature death.
The disease can strike adults and children as well, but a diagnosis does not mean it has to limit how they live their lives.
Minnick, 17, just moved to Port Aransas with his family. His mother, Heather Minnick, sat down with the South Jetty and answered our questions about her son and diabetes.
Colby is the oldest of four kids and has always played the role of a big brother, according to his mother. Originally from Missouri, where Colby was born, the family moved to Texas to be in a warmer climate.
“That way, the boys could pursue baseball as close to year around as possible,” Minnick explained.
Caleb, Colby’s brother, is a sophomore at PAHS and he also plays baseball.
“It is a parents’ dream to see them playing together at the same time on the field,” Minnick said.
It was a dream that almost never came true when, in 2009, the family learned Colby had type1 diabetes.
“One night, during a family road trip, we were stopping every five minutes for him to urinate,” Minnick explained. “Something just told me that wasn’t right. My husband being a type 1 himself, checked his blood. He said it was too high to register on the meter.”
The family went to the nearest hospital to ask for help. Despite their greater technology, the doctors could not get a reading on Colby’s blood.
“They put him on an insulin drip and by the time they got a reading, it was 1090 mg/ dL of blood, which was almost unheard of,” Minnick said.
A person without diabetes would have a blood sugar level between 70 and 120 mg/dL of blood, according to experts.
“The staff told me that had we taken him home, he would have went to sleep and never woke up. They said it was truly a miracle that he didn’t die.”
When he was diagnosed in 2009, Colby lost more than 30 pounds and was sick.
To learn that he was a type 1 diabetic, just like his father, was tough information for Colby. His mother told us that he was very unhappy and scared.
“He thought his life was over,” Minnick explained. “He was seeing his dad go through this terrible disease and he just could not believe it was happening to him. Even I was terrified. It absolutely crushed my spirits for him.”
Minnick even thought her son’s life, as a regular kid, was over.
As for his friends, they changed completely. Nobody wanted to get close to him, and they were scared to catch the same disease, according to Minnick. Rumors started, saying that he was dying, and when he checked his blood in class, other kids thought it was disgusting. “People started saying that he had too much sugar, that only old people could get it,” Minnick said. “They were getting type 1 and type 2 completely mixed up.”
Today, the advanced care available makes Colby’s life easier.
“At the time, I was not aware of all the advanced care that was out there for kids,” Minnick explained. “Today, Colby wears a pump that is attached to his body, that he only takes off to swim or shower. It gives him around the clock insulin. He checks his blood four to 10 times a day with a finger prick. His normal sugars should be within 90-120 mg/dL. Anything over that, he has to take extra insulin.”
Today, Colby lives the life of a regular teenager. He goes to school, enjoys Spring Break and plays baseball.
“I only bleed baseball,” Colby said to his mom when she asked him if he played other sports. Playing the game with diabetes is possible and Colby proves it with the Marlins at every game.
“Colby will be an impact player for us,” Marlins baseball coach Brian Flack said after a week of practice with his new player.
However, coaches were not always so understanding about his disease, according to his mother.
“He would check his blood in the dugout and the coach would tell him to sit this one out,” Minnick told us. “They were just ignorant to the fact that he could live and play like a normal teen. He knew way more about the disease than any of the adults did.”
That is when Colby took a stand and decided to tackle this subject head on. He got a tattooed medical bracelet. First for safety, and secondly for awareness.
“So many people approach him and ask him what the bracelet means and it gives him a chance to share his story,” Minnick explained.
Because of his medical situation, Colby will never be able to join the military or get certain licenses. Therefore, he is really counting on baseball and academics to get him to college, his mother said. He plans on going into the medical field.
“He wants to educate everyone on this disease and be able to tell others that you can live a normal life,” Minnick said. “It’s how you choose to live it.”
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