Diabetes Awareness Month, No Shave November, Least Favorite Local Athlete Commercials (2 athletes make it twice)

No Shave November

We are in the month of November and nothing says November like not shaving.  I happened to shave both my face and head on November because I was Freddie Mercury for Halloween (In the second picture I'm the one on the right in case you couldn't tell).

I dyed my hair and facial hair black and with my skin being so pale, it was best for me to shave my head and face.  Unfortunately this was on the first day of a tradition I have done for years which is to participate in "No Shave November."  I am a day behind but each day I will be taking a picture of myself, then placing all of the pictures in a video to show you all the progress of my hopefully beautiful beard.  My head hair is slow growing nowadays so I do not anticipate very much hair by the end of the month.  I know what you're thinking: "Yes! More David selfies."  You are welcome.  

Diabetes Awareness Month

November, on a more serious note, is also Diabetes Awareness Month.  Of course this is something near and dear to my heart as if you don't know by now, I have Type 1 Diabetes which is a very different disease than Type 2.  My girlfriend, Amy, brought to my attention two pictures that perfectly explain to people how different they are:

I heard this in one of the billions of Spiderman movies once or maybe even in the cartoon back in the day, "With great power comes great responsibility."  Well, my power is being diabetic.  I have this disease for a reason.  I believe in God, and God gave me this for a reason.  It taught me to be disciplined and patient.  It taught me that some things are just out of your control, but you can still contain.  I am also given this disease because I have a voice.  This will be my 142nd entry on this blog site and I have over 17,000 views so someone out there must be reading.  My responsibility is to reach out to you guys and let you know some facts about this disease.  I will start with some my sister posted yesterday:

Diabetes follows Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and yes breast cancer is an awful disease, and it kills an alarming number of people a year.  Type 1 Diabetes is a different kind of killer.  I look normal.  If I didn't tell you I had diabetes and you didn't see my pump connected to my body, you wouldn't know.  Every day though, this disease attacks me.  There have been no off days since I was first diagnosed at the age of 12.  It's there on the best and worst days of your life.  It makes its presence felt too.  If you are stressed, your blood sugar rises.  If you take certain medicines, your blood sugar rises.  Sometimes it rises for reasons you don't even know.  So what, you are thinking?  What's the big deal about high blood sugars?  Here are the effects:

High Blood Sugars

• You can get DKA, which is described below from the Diabetes.org website:

What if it Goes Untreated?

Hyperglycemia can be a serious problem if you don't treat it, so it's important to treat as soon as you detect it. If you fail to treat hyperglycemia, a condition called ketoacidosis (diabetic coma) could occur. Ketoacidosis develops when your body doesn't have enough insulin. Without insulin, your body can't use glucose for fuel, so your body breaks down fats to use for energy.

When your body breaks down fats, waste products called ketones are produced. Your body cannot tolerate large amounts of ketones and will try to get rid of them through the urine. Unfortunately, the body cannot release all the ketones and they build up in your blood, which can lead to ketoacidosis.

Ketoacidosis is life-threatening and needs immediate treatment. Symptoms include:

• Shortness of breath
• Breath that smells fruity
• Nausea and vomiting
• Very dry mouth

Talk to your doctor about how to handle this condition.

- See more at: http://www.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/treatment-and-care/blood-glucose-control/hyperglycemia.html#sthash.Cs2G96DJ.dpuf

• You can develop neuropathy, which is something that has happened to me.  You begin to get numbness in your hands and mostly feet.  They begin to tingle and also very sensitive to heat or cold.  In severe cases, it can attack your organs.
• It can cause a coma.
• Kidneys can shut down or begin to not work properly.

These are just a few of the many effects high blood sugars can cause, especially over time.  Doctors moderate your blood sugar levels through a blood test called a hemoglobin A1C which shows basically an average number your blood sugar was over a 3 month span.  Speaking of blood sugar levels, a normal person's blood is between 60 and 120.  I diabetic person's levels would come in higher than that.  High blood sugars have a long term effect on you and in Lehman's terms, eventually kill you.  Low blood sugars also can have a very negative effect on you short term.  If you over correct with insulin, your body could get sweaty and shaky.  I know I sweat like a monster when I'm low.  My eyes also have trouble seeing things in real time.  I have also passed out twice from low blood sugars.  Many people go into seizures from extremely low blood sugar levels.  

This is why it is so difficult for us diabetics.  There are consequences if you go too high or low, but we are human.  There are good days and bad days.  Sometimes we don't feel like doing it that day, or sometimes we forget to program in a meal or we don't feel good, but we suffer consequences for those days.  Diabetes is a serious and fatal disease that needs just as much awareness as any cancer or AIDS or any other disease.

My favorite charity for Type 1 Diabetes is JDRF and here is their website: http://jdrf.org/.  You can show your support by making a video on their site which I will be participating in and also changing your profile pic on any social media site to this below:

Read more about my struggles with diabetes at the below links:

• http://davidbrooks1985.blogspot.com/2014/09/20-things-only-juvenile-diabetics-will.html
• http://davidbrooks1985.blogspot.com/2014/05/diabetes-my-battles-please-donate-to.html
• http://davidbrooks1985.blogspot.com/2013/11/i-have-peripheral-neuropathy-and.html
• http://davidbrooks1985.blogspot.com/2013/01/my-first-week-with-diabetes-and-price.html
• http://davidbrooks1985.blogspot.com/2011/11/patrice-oneal-his-battle-with-diabetes.html

Least Favorite Local Athlete Commercials

Now that all the serious stuff is out of the way, here are my top 5 least favorite local athlete commercials...this list was compiled after talking with a coworker about how horrible the local Elk and Elk commercials were and it spawned into talking about Carson Palmer's John Morrell commercial which, in turned, made me come up with this list, but first here are father and son, Elk and Elk and their famous comb-overs:

5. Carson Palmer//John Morrell-Carson may have left us in Cincinnati for greener pastures in his eyes, but Carson left us this gem of a commercial that will live in this city forever.  Check out the referees.

4. Pete Rose// Kool-Aid- There terribleness of this commercial was saved by the Kool-Aid man (I have a soft spot in my heart for him) when he bursts through the wall.  Pete is ridiculous in it though.

3. Bronson Arroyo//Champion Ford- Bronson makes cheesy comments but even worse, he cusses in the commercial.  Did this actually air?

2. Pete Rose//Muenchens- Pete and his trophy wife try to help sell some furniture.  His acting and hat....both bad.

1. Bronson Arroyo and Chris Welsh//J.T.M.-The lyrics are bad; the acting is worse.  I actually like both Arroyo and Welsh but when you are first of all promoting J.T.M. which is awful with a bad song, and an awkward mustached sad man, you get to be my least favorite commercial.

I'm very angry: The Archdiocese vs The Ice Bucket Challenge (ft. Stem Cell Research)

For the most part, I don't like this blog to deal with serious issues. I write blogs mostly for fun and to make people laugh, but sometimes things just get to me.  ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease is one of the most awful diseases on this planet.  It crippled baseball's first iron man (who played in the most consecutive MLB games ever until Cal Ripken Jr. broke his record) until it ultimately lead to his death.

Lou Gehrig's famous farewell speech.

The disease is cruel it deteriorates those who were once healthy-seeming beings and turns them into nothing more than mush.  It is hard to see some go through it.  Those who have the disease eventually become totally paralyzed due to the lack of muscle nourishment.  You can read more about the disease at the ALS website, http://www.alsa.org/about-als/what-is-als.html.

I knew about Lou Gehrig's disease before, but it didn't hit me hard until former Saints player, Steve Gleason announced he had the disease in 2011.  This guy, like Gehrig was a hero.  Sure he wasn't one of the greatest Yankees of all time, but he blocked the famous punt in the game that reopened the Super Dome after Hurricane Katrina hit.  I learned about the disease through various NFL feature stories on his life and I saw the effect it had on one's body.  You can learn more about Gleason at his website, http://www.teamgleason.org/.

                                       Steve Gleason before ALS                                             Steve Gleason with ALS

I bring this up because, like many critical diseases, no cure has been found as of yet. That doesn't stop many doctors and scientists from trying to find a cure everyday.  As many of my readers know, I have Type 1 Diabetes or Juvenile diabetes.  I am too looking for a cure.  My pancreas doesn't work.  Imagine this:  A vital part of your body just not working. That's what happened to me in 1997 at the age of 11.  My doctor told me in my lifetime there would be a cure.  What do cures take? brains, time, thinking outside the box, effort, and most importantly, support (money).  My disease luckily has the JDRF which raises a lot of money towards curing diabetes and they have a major fundraiser called The Walk to Cure Diabetes which my family walked in this year.  I'm happy to say with the help of my friends and family, my team The Walking Diabetics raised over $3,000.

(Above) The Walking Diabetics

ALS also has several good organizations to raise money for a cure to an awful disease.  The #IceBucketChallenge was started on social media to raise awareness and money for ALS.  And it did its job, former presidents, celebrities, and athletes including the great Michael Jordan participated.

How it works is you dump a bucket of ice over your head, if challenged, within  24 hours or you donate to an ALS charity of your choice. No one SHOULD have a problem with that right?  Check out this fact below from Mike & Mike's facebook:

The challenge has been spreading quicker than I spread marshmallow fluff on a piece of bread when I'm hungry.  All well and good until I read this article about how my religion feels about the issue, http://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2014/08/20/ice-bucket-challenge-cincinnati-archdiocese/14342977/.

"The Archdiocese of Cincinnati has asked the principals at its Catholic schools not to encourage students to raise money for the ALS Association as the ice-bucket challenge becomes an internet sensation.

The challenge itself is fine, said Dan Andriacco, spokesman for the Archdiocese.

The Archdiocese just doesn't want fundraising to be sent to the association, which funds at least one study using embryonic stem cells, Andriacco said.

"(Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) is a terrible disease," Andriacco said, a day after an email was sent to principals from Superintendent Jim Rigg.

This news inspired me to put this up as my status on facebook:

I know stem cell research (If you don't know what stem cells are read more about them here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/stem-cell-transplant/in-depth/stem-cells/art-20048117)  has been linked in there with stances on abortion and things like that when it comes to politics and the Catholic Church is also doing so, but does any of that really matter when it comes down to it?  This is about saving lives.  This is about improving my damn life expectancy and how I feel on a daily basis.  I was 11 years old the last time I felt physically and mentally 100%.  The people in Washington D.C. and the people running the church don't know how I feel.  They don't know how Steve Gleason feels.  Their lives aren't slowly deteriorating.  Juvenile diabetes is a struggle every day of my life.  It gives me no breaks.  There have been several breakthroughs where they get closer each day to finding a cure, and I'm sure raising all of this money for ALS will help them in their fight too, but this issue is a no brainer for me, use stem cell research to help cure diseases like diabetes and ALS.  Until someone lives with a disease like these, one can not begin to imagine what we go through.  I can't imagine how someone with ALS feels, just like most of you cant begin to imagine how I feel.  I want these opponents of research can look in their hearts and see what it feels like to have hope for a disease. I am ashamed to say I am Catholic today.  Jesus would not call this a sin.  He would call it a miracle.

The day that they come out with a cure to diabetes, I will cry my eyes out.  I will not think of whether or not it was derived from stem cell research.  I will just thank the person who came up with it, and be forever grateful to have a working pancreas again.  If I died from my disease tomorrow, the truth is I wouldn't be here to support my religion, so how can they be against it?  How can anyone?  If you are against it, you don't understand this world.  Do you see how ALS took one of the best baseball players ever and turned him into someone who couldn't tie a shoe?  Do you see how diabetes has messed up my nervous system to where my hands and feet tingle constantly and are very sensitive to hot and cold?  How can a religion watch its own followers suffer all because they don't support modern science?  I am of the belief that no one can be against such an issue if they have something so horrible that can be cured only with the help of stem cells.  I don't care how religious you are, when it comes down to it, you are going to want to survive as long as possible.  To make that possible, ideals can't be coming from 2,000 years ago or even in the dark ages.  You have to change and be willing to change.

To anyone who is against stem cell research, I will quote someone Catholics will just love, Charles Darwin, who said: “It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.” 

I will be taking the challenge tonight for ALS as I was challenged by my father, and I will flip off the Archdiocese of Cincinnati and I will be proud to do it.

Dave Brooks Sr. takes the #IceBucketChallenge and challenges me.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Update below: My Challenge

Diabetes: My Battles & Please Donate to the Walk (PLEASE SHARE THIS)

Juvenile Diabetes is not only the biggest challenge in my life; it is a way of life.  As many of my readers know, I was diagnosed in 1997.  You can read about my struggles with those early days in a blog I wrote in January of 2013, My First Week with Diabetes. I also have written about my most recent struggles with peripheral neuropathy and that can be seen at this link written in November of 2013: I Have Peripheral Neuropathy. I have written in this blog about my diabtetes, but in all honestly those of you who truly know me, understand that I don't like to talk about it.  I don't make it a big deal.  It may be a way of life but it is not MY LIFE. I don't want pity.  In fact I'd rather be treated like everyone else.  I try not to let it slow me down.  I try to hide my disease from the public so I don't get sympathy.  I don't want it.  I just want to live normal.  That has been my wish since than infamous day in February of 1997.

When the insulin pump was introduced to me as a senior in high school, it gave me flexibility.  It gave me the ability to not have to eat on a set schedule and a limited number of carbohydrates (which probably made me fatter but oh well). I have a set amount of insulin streaming into me from a pager- looking device and when I have a meal I can program it in and the pump will give me a set amount of insulin to cover the carbs I am taking in.  Without the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), this device could not have been possible.  They help raise money for Juvenile Diabetes research and are helping to find a cure, and in the mean time help us diabetics live a more normal life than we normally could.  The pump has flaws, however.  I've had three models and they improve each time but there are times when I forget to program things in and it causes me to get high blood sugar levels which eventually causes long term effects of my body such as the peripheral neuropathy that I have been dealing with lately. The nerve pain is strong and it hurts.  It is not life threatening but I will live with it every day until I die, even if a cure for diabetes is found.

Picture of me with my 3rd generation insulin pump in Dec. 2013

My doctor at Children's Hospital once guaranteed me back when I was first diagnosed that a cure for diabetes would happen in my lifetime. With the help of the JFRF, this can really happen.  Research is getting close.  I feel it coming.  I am not only writing this for me.  I am writing this for my friends, Jonathan Stefanopoulos, Brandon Berne, and  Devin Daley.  They all have type one diabetes and they need a cure just as much as I do.  I do it for Jay Cutler and Adam Morrison, both athletes with type 1 diabetes  (even though I don't like them).  I do it for Ray Allen's son and that Jonas Brother.  I do it for the millions of others with diabetes.  

Ray Allen of the Miami Heat with son who has juvenile diabetes

Without having diabetes, it is hard to explain the impact it makes on your everyday life.  It's as bad of a disease as cancer it just slowly eats at you every single day.  You have to control and when your sick you can throw the rule book out of the window. Life is hard with diabetes. I'm not going to lie.  All I have wished for is a cure.  How would I survive on a deserted island? The answer is I wouldn't be able to.  I could never be on Survivor.  If there was a zombie apocalypse, no one would want me on their crew because I would have to slow them down raiding all the pharmacies for insulin and needles which I'll need every day.  

I'm writing all of this to ask that you please donate to the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes.  I will be participating June 7 at Kings Island.  I have in the past during my childhood, but this is my first time as an adult.  My sister, Sarah Brooks, has been pushing me to do it and I really think it helps in finding a cure.  I don't have anything to give except maybe a few more years added to my life.  Maybe that's a good thing.  Please follow the link to donate : http://www2.jdrf.org/site/TR?team_id=153294&pg=team&fr_id=3349. I really appreciate anything you can give and I try not to ask for much but this cause is near and dear to my heart (literally) so please share this link to any friends and I appreciate all of you out there who help my cause.