Each year, Ascensia Diabetes Care employees lace up their sneakers to support Breakthrough T1D One Walk and the type 1 diabetes community. Jason Berg shared his own T1D story with his fellow colleagues at Ascensia Diabetes Care. Diagnosed in 1995, Jason’s story starts similar to so many of yours, and a visit to the hospital changed his life forever. 

In August 1995, I was attending Camp Wayne for boys in Pennsylvania. Our group was on our end of the summer trip where we were spending two days in Philadelphia. After attending a Mets/Phillies baseball game, I began experiencing some very uncomfortable feelings. By 4 AM, my sense was that I was hallucinating.

I remember a distinct dream that the owner of the camp was coming to pick me up at the hotel that we were staying at. Over a period of four hours in the early morning, I found myself with projectile vomiting, frequent urination, feeling excessively thirsty and experiencing severe pain on the left side of my abdomen. I left my room and went to the lobby of our hotel and found an employee who began asking me questions. He was very concerned for me since I appeared somewhat disoriented and in distress. This gentleman was kind enough to collect information and called my parents in New Jersey. My parents simply assumed that I was having some serious intestinal issue and decided to drive down to meet me at the hotel. With my parent’s permission, the gentleman at the hotel called 911. I was taken by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia where I was diagnosed as a Type I Diabetic after identifying my glucose reading at 1100mg/dL.

By the time my parents had arrived, I was on a gurney with wires attached everywhere. Interesting how in less than 24 hours our lives can change dramatically. The protocol at the hospital was to keep a newly diagnosed child in the hospital for five days. This was the time to both educate myself and my parents on the lifestyle management of Type I Diabetes along with an understanding of insulin usage.

My father sat with me and explained, “Jason, your family is here to support you in every way. However, this is your disease and how you choose to go forward managing it is how it’s direction will go.”

To have any diagnosis is always anxiety provoking, but we were reminded that this is a manageable condition.

This was the beginning of my understanding of taking “personal responsibility” for my condition and for my life in general. I was always taught to ask the important question “How can this serve me?”

I remember being at my endocrinologist’s office when he  acknowledged how well I was able to control my blood sugar readings. He remarked how it was very unusual for someone so young to be in such tight control. We discussed the consistency of exercise, eating meals at approximately the same time daily while endeavoring to stay in gratitude.

Traveling home from a ski vacation, I remember discussing with my father the idea of becoming a personal trainer, getting certified and then using the skill sets that I have learned to help other children with diabetes. At 15 years of age, I signed up for my certification to be a personal trainer and traveled into New York City each weekend until completion.

Once the vision was set, a letter was sent out to our warm market of contacts and within the first month, I had 10 clients who were all diabetic and interested in training with me.

My dad mentioned that one of the client’s mothers said to him “The best thing that ever happened to my son was having your son come into his life.”  What a special feeling it was to know that I was able to serve and support others with what I had learned and could potentially help them manage both their blood sugar numbers as well as their emotions.

I began this home-based personal training business in our town of Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, during my sophomore year of high school, and continued it through my college years while attending Northeastern University in Boston.

Over time, I began training young adults and some middle-aged people who were not diabetic, but wanted the proper technique and even more important, a healthy positive attitude.

I was very fortunate to attend the Arnold Classic Fitness weekend in 1998. My dad wanted to take me with him to this seminar through the International Chiropractic Association. There is an expression that he uses stating, “We become what we are around, we are what our environment is.” I clearly understand the importance of the people we hang around with, especially their values in the arena of health and well being.

After reaching out to Muscle and Fitness magazine, and sharing with them what I was doing to support and help young children with diabetes, I was contacted by the editors and asked to meet with them over that weekend.

In 1999, the international magazine, Muscle and Fitness, did a three-page article on my work entitled, “Turning Obstacles into Opportunities.” With exposure to thousands of readers all over the world, I began to get emails from individuals in many countries asking me questions on how I trained, what I ate and how I stayed motivated and positive despite my diabetes.

In 2002, six years prior to joining Bayer I collaborated with a holistic health counselor and friend of mine and recorded an audio CD on diabetes, exercise and nutrition entitled “Taking Personal Responsibility of your Diabetes.”

The intention of this CD was to take all the information that I had gathered over the years, along with personal experiences, and collectively share this vision with others.

When the Internet was relatively new, I had a website built where I was able to sell my CD, share my information and take whatever earnings and donate them to my local chapter of the Breakthrough T1D. The website is no longer active so that there wasn’t any conflict of interest from what was done prior to joining the Bayer/Ascensia family.

For the past 12 years, I have been working in the diabetic arena where my passion resides with Bayer Diabetes Care now known as Ascensia Diabetes Care.

I am very grateful to be in a position where I can help make a difference to those living with diabetes and endeavoring to manage their condition.

I have learned that it is our interpretation of our circumstances that really makes the difference, rather than just a diagnosis.

It is my hope and prayer that my participation in my work supports and guides others into living more responsibly and intentionally with their diabetes.

Join Jason and Team Ascensia as they walk to raise funds and awareness for Breakthrough T1D One Walk. Visit their team page at https://secure3.convio.net/jdrf3/goto/TeamAscensia.