At 5 foot, eight inches and 175 pound, Conacher averaged 1.53 points per game during the 2009-10 regular season, second in NCAA Division 1 hockey. The Ontario native was first diagnosed at 8 years old.

People with Type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin, the hormone needed to regulate sugar in the blood, and therefore must inject insulin into their body several times a day or receive a steady insulin drip via an externally worn insulin pump.

Canacher is the latest in a number of Type 1 diabetics that are not letting the disease deter them from playing at elite levels of their sport. Kris Freeman recently competed in cross country skiing events at the Olympics in Vancouver. (You can check out an interesting interview with Kris about his struggled at the Olympics on the blog Diabetes Mine here.)

Austin Freeman, a star collegiate basketball player with the Georgetown Hoyas was recently diagnosed with diabetes (See Diabetes News Hound, March 8, 2010 : “Georgetown Basketball Star Returns to Lineup After Diabetes Diagnosis“) Other famous athletes with the disease include Jay Cutler, quarterback of the Chicago Bears, Adam Morrison of the NBA’s Lakers, and Brandon Morrow, a pitcher with the Toronto Blue Jays.

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Freeman, 20, was diagnosed with diabetes shortly after he was rushed to the emergency room last Monday. Doctors said it could take up to a month to determine whether Freeman has Type 1 diabetes or Type 2 diabetes. The 6-foot-4 guard rejoined his team for practice on Wednesday, but it was unclear at the time when he would return to games.

People with Type 1 diabetes do not produce the insulin, the hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood. They must inject insulin several times a day to regulate their blood sugar. People with Type 2 diabetes produce insulin, but their body does not use it efficiently. Some people with Type 2 can put their diabetes in check with diet and exercise, but most need medication to help control their sugar levels. With both types, it is important to keep blood sugar levels under control to avoid some dangerous short-term and long-term complications.

In the game against Cincinnati, Freeman made 8 of his 15 shots, scoring 24 points, including four 3-pointers. Freeman, who scored the team’s first points on a layup, played 30 minutes, just four minutes shy of his average of 34 minutes.

The team and fans alike celebrated Freeman on Sunday. He was given a standing ovation when coach John Thompson III presented Freeman with a game ball in recognition of the junior’s 1,000^th career point, which he scored a few games earlier. He was also given an ovation when it was announced Freeman would be starting the game.

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Earlier in the week Crystal was rushed to the hospital reportedly from complications from her Type 1 diabetes. As a result, American Idol moved the men’s portion of this week’s show to Tuesday and pushed the women back to Wednesday. It is still unclear what happened to Bowersox, or how severe her illness was, but she came back strong on Wednesday night.  

“Crystal, I know how sick you were actually over the last 24 hours. It wasn’t just like catching a cold or something, you really were ill and I didn’t know whether you were going to be back here this week,” said judge Simon Cowell. “What’s great about you is you didn’t play the whole sympathy thing. You chose a great song…I completely misunderestimated you last week. … The vocal was incredible. This was like the moment we realized with Kelly Clarkston that we’ve got a serious artist here. “

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Freeman, 20, received the diagnosis shortly after he was rushed to the emergency room on Monday. The 6-foot-4 guard rejoined his team for practice on Wednesday. Right now Freeman is considered “day-to-day” and it is unclear whether he will return for the teams final regular season game against Cincinnati or the start of the Big East tournament in New York on Tuesday.

Stephen Clement, head of the Diabetes Center at Georgetown University Hospital said it may take as long as a month to determine whether Freeman has Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes and how best to treat him. People with Type 1 diabetes do not produce the insulin, the hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood. They must inject insulin several times a day to regulate their blood sugar. People with Type 2 diabetes produce insulin, but their body does not use it efficiently. Some people with Type 2 can put their diabetes in check with diet and exercise, but most need medication to help control their sugar levels. With both types, it is important to keep blood sugar levels under control to avoid some dangerous short-term and long-term complications.

Many accomplished athletes have competed at the highest level of their sports while suffering from diabetes, according to a separate column in the Washington Post. Most recently cross-country skier Kris Freeman competed at the Olympic Games in Vancouver. Baseball Hall of Famer and all-around bad guy Ty Cobb, boxer Joe Frazier, tennis legend Arthur Ashe and hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke of the Flyers all played with diabetes.

Jay Cutler, quarterback of the Chicago Bears, Adam Morrison of the NBA’s Lakers, and Brandon Morrow, a pitcher with the Toronto Blue Jays all have diabetes.

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In this role, Wilkins hopes to reach even more people affected by the diabetes epidemic through educational and awareness efforts. Type 2 diabetes, the more common form of the disease is growing at a rapid pace. People with Type 2 diabetes produce the blood-sugar regulating hormone insulin, but the body doesn’t use it efficiently. High levels of sugar in the blood can lead to many dangerous long-term complications from the disease, such as heart attack, blindness, stroke and even amputations.  

Wilkins, a type 2 diabetic is honored by the recognition and eager to broaden his role in educating the community on diabetes including symptoms, living a full life with this disease and how diet and exercise are the best prevention.

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Due to the unexpected hospitalization, the show featured the male contestants on Tuesday night and moved the women to Wednesday night’s show.

Also this week, Elliott Yamin, a former American Idol contestant told Fox news that he’s stuck in earthquake-ravaged Chile and worried about his Type 1 diabetes. That’s because he has only a few more day’s worth of supplies for his insulin pump and unable to get what he needs locally. Yamin was in the country to perform at a music festival.

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Several participants ran over a mile while eating a dozen donuts. However, some just ran while eating some or no donuts. While some may think the theme for such an event is counterintuitive to raising diabetes awareness, the event’s organizer says that’s not so because Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and it’s not related to obesity or physical inactivity. Eating a dozen donuts at one time is a bad thing for diabetics – or anyone for that matter.

The event was a good time, according to one participant with Type 1 quoted in the article. People with Type 1 diabetes do not produce insulin, the hormone that regulates the amount of sugar in the blood. That’s because their bodies have mistakenly identified insulin-producing cells in the pancreas as foreign cells and destroyed them.  

The event is reminiscent of a promotion from the fast food chain Wendy’s in which it aimed to sell lots of sugar-loaded frostys at a discount in order to raise money to help fight diabetes.  You can check out an article on the Wendy’s fundraiser here: Blogger to Wendy’s: Your Diabetes Fundraising is Irresponsible.

Instead, a wrong turn helped land him in 59^th place during his first race and a low blood sugar event put him out of commission for two and a half minutes during his second race, dropping him to 45^th place. In his final event on Sunday, the 29-year-old Freeman did not finish the race.

Sunday’s race was the longest of the three at 50k. The decision to pull out of the race was made by Freeman’s coaches, who told the skier that if he was out of the race early on to stop because of injury concerns. He stopped after the 20k marker.

“It’s been an exhausting two weeks,” Freeman is quoted as saying in the BFP article. “I have no real answers why the first race went to so bad. I have no real answers why the second race went so bad. And (Sunday) I was just exhausted.”

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“It was just all of a sudden lights out, all of a sudden my body wasn’t working,” Freeman told ESPN. “I thought that was going to be it. If the coach hadn’t come up and given me some sugar, I would have had to walk back to the finish line.”

While the first event, a 15k race, was his stronger event, he had a diabetic episode during Saturday’s 30k race that cost him two and a half minutes. Freeman, who was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 21, found himself sapped of energy and lying in the snow watching his competitors ski on by during his most recent race.

He was hanging on to the back of the lead pack of skiers when his sugar plummeted during the fourth lap. A German coach spotted him and alertly ran over and gave him a Gatorade and some energy gel. Despite feeling a bit shaky, and determined not to get a DNF (or Did Not Finish), he got up and finished the race. In fact, he moved up from 47^th to 45^th, finishing about 8 minutes behind the winner.

He has one more race left on the last day of the Olympics – the 50k.

Earlier in the Games, Freeman got off to a disappointing start, finishing in 59^th place in the 15k classical race. He took a wrong turn down the homestretch, which didn’t cost him a medal, but did cause him to drop a number of slots. He said his blood sugar was not the cause of the wrong turn. Last year at the World Championships, he finished in fourth at the same event. 

Freeman told Amy Tenderich of the blog Diabetes Mine in an interview that some funky conditions led to a reduction in the final testing time. That reduction only allowed him time to check his sugar and pump and didn’t allow him much time to test the skis and the course.

As for preparation, he says he typically increases his basal rate 20 minutes before the race to counteract sugar that is released due to increased nerves. He only takes a bolus if he is trending upwards before a race. He also likes to listen to calming music before races. Before the 30k race, it was Guns N’ Roses ballads and “The Cider House Rules” by John Irving, according to the ESPN article.

Unlike some athletes who run a little high during endurance events because he tries to avoid them because it will hurt him. He also had four coaches positioned on the course during the 15k race in the event of a low.

You can check out our earlier coverage by clicking on the links below.

Skier Kris Freeman Stumbles in First Olympic Event

Diabetic Olympian: ‘No Limits’

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Last year at the World Championships, he finished in fourth at the same event.  However, in what he described as his worst race in two years, Freeman said his skis weren’t well-suited for the Olympic course. He also took a wrong turn down the homestretch, landing him in 59^th place, 3:05.3 behind the winner.

Dario Cologna of Switzerland took the gold, while Pietro Piller Cottrer of Italy took the silver and Lukas Bauer of the Czech Republic earned the bronze medal.

Freeman, who said his blood sugar levels were not a problem, expects to do better in his other races at the games. He is scheduled to compete in Men’s Individual Sprint today and the Men’s 30km Pursuit on Saturday Feb. 20^th. He will also be competing in the Men’s Team Sprint on Feb 22 and the Men’s 50km Mass Start on Feb. 28.

Check out (below) a clips of Kris in training. You can also view an article we ran on Kris on Monday, which includes his video interview with the Today show. (see Diabetic Olympian: ‘No Limits’ )

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