Blind skier, sailor says diabetes gave him his life

[Northerner]

Forty-five years ago, Urban Miyares, then a 19-year-old Army platoon leader, woke up in a Saigon hospital two days after mortar fire knocked him face first into a rice paddy.

Doctors told him he was being sent home from Vietnam because he had diabetes ? the first he had ever heard of it. In fact, it was his diabetic episode that led him to be tossed into a body bag on the battlefield because he was presumed dead.

http://www.telegram.com/article/20130922/NEWS/309229733/1116

 

[HOBIE]

Totally blind & world record on a pair of skies 😱. It takes a while to get to 65mph & how would you know how much space you had left if you couldnt see. A good bloke 😉

 

[Redkite]

He's certainly achieved some amazing things but I take no comfort in a person clocking up 45 years with diabetes if they have gone blind and suffered a stroke and end-stage renal failure - that is NOT my definition of a full life and not want I want for my son!!! I also don't get the bit about the extreme low cal diet (malnutrition diet) - this is what people with type 1 were put on before insulin was discovered in 1922. Surely by 1968 into the 70's he was being treated with insulin?

 

[Northerner]

He's certainly achieved some amazing things but I take no comfort in a person clocking up 45 years with diabetes if they have gone blind and suffered a stroke and end-stage renal failure - that is NOT my definition of a full life and not want I want for my son!!! I also don't get the bit about the extreme low cal diet (malnutrition diet) - this is what people with type 1 were put on before insulin was discovered in 1922. Surely by 1968 into the 70's he was being treated with insulin?

Yes, it confused me a little as well Perhaps he was treated as a Type 2 initially? Not enough detail really. I was confused by the fact he'd had a 'diabetic episode', presumably making him unconscious, but with DKA surely he'd have been throwing up everywhere for some time before? Or at least feeling absolutely terrible and probably not fit for duty. It can't have been a hypo as he hadn't been diagnosed.

 

[HOBIE]

Hi "Redkite" i was diagnosed in the mid 60s & your son & today tech has VERY VERY much improved. You are new to this game & its people like like him that has given other people hope etc. Close your eyes & walk around the house ! Can u imagine being in vietnam ? You wound not get propper food. You arnt T1 ! Every day is a challenge. I have lost Two very good mates who where T1. Please have a think before you -----------. I would like to meet him 😎