Promotions!

Wow, my first film/photo shoot. Kinda cool being the centre of attention but damn nerve wracking too!

Today I did a promotional video for Animas Canada promoting their insulin pump. My goal was to inspire people with diabetes to go after their dreams and that anything is possible. Don't let diabetes stop you from doing anything you love. That diabetes has changed my life for the better.

I can't wait to see how it turns out. It was kind of embarassing when I put my rudder back on my Huki wrong (had been training rudderless). Got out on the water and couldn't steer! So had to come back to the dock, not once but twice to fix it! Finally I got it right and hit the water for the paddling portion.

This was where I felt most comfortable being on camera. So much so that after we had wrapped the paddling portion and were on our way back to the dock, I decided to play with the boat wake a little. Just fooling around you know, they were going just the right speed that I could ride their wave. So, yeah, playing on the wave, decided why not play with popping the ama. It was going well until I lost focus and splash! I huli'd.

Found out shortly after that they got it all on camera too! Thing is ... it works perfectly with what I was saying in the interview portion about the pump being waterproof and that was a huge selling feature for me as I never know when I'm going to swim! They loved it!

This bottom pic is of my rep Cezar (aka, god), and Sandy (aka most energetic, happy person I've ever met) with me and the silver medals that I brought home from the Worlds.

The folks at Animas Canada have been really good to me. When I was in Vancouver in July and had my infusion sets popping out left right and centre (mostly from my own stupidity), and was down to my last one and still had a week till I got home ... they hooked me up in less than 2 hours with more.

They introduced me to DESA (Diabetes Exercise and Sport Association) and the conference that was held in Toronto in July. Plus they are just an organization full of great people that have your best interests at heart. Thanks Animas!

At the end of the Worlds

Wow, completely, Wow!



No one could have convinced me four months ago that I would have ever just experienced what just happened the past couple weeks. The people, the paddling, the comradery and support. Everything is working out and I couldn't be happier.


Home from Sacramento with 3 silvers (Open Womens V6 1500m, V6 500m, V12 500m) and a 4th place finish (Open Womens V1 500m). The 4th was unexpected going into it but once there and seeing what my competition was like, damn ... I want more, I wanted that podium!

I had no idea coming into this whole experience what to expect of myself or of my competition. I knew that I wasn't in my best shape. I knew that I was still only on phase 2 of my 3 year program to get myself back up to snuff. But earlier this year I figured what the heck, why not. And that has now become my new motivation ... Why Not.

Part of me feels that this is only the beginning of things to come. It's like I've started living again. I kinda like it :p

Pumping at the World Championships

So the best thing about this pic is that my pump is clearly visable!
Over the past few days I've answered a lot of "what's that" refering to my insulin pump and me prickin my finger all the time to test. It's kind of obvious that it's there when walking around in sports bra/shorts or bikini. The infusion set is starting to leave tan lines when I change them, looks funny but I think it's kinda cool but hey, that's just me. I've been getting a lot of questions about how can I paddle if I have diabetes, and do I have to watch what I eat really carefully. I love the fact that I get to educate people on what diabetes is and that what they here in the media about diabetes is really all about Type 2 and that what I have is different ... way different! Kinda makes me think that there's a lot of people out there like my teammates that really don't know much about Type 1 Diabetes. I like talking about it, go figure, the teacher likes to educate people about something they don't know much about ... who woulda thunk it!
Anyways, kinda makes me think about how I could reach more people or even help other Type 1s with the management.