EUGENE, Ore. – For Adam Kuehl, throwing a discus is his life.  He has trained all year long for the opportunity to win a national championship at Hayward Field this weekend and punch his ticket to the world championships in Berlin.

For most athletes at this highest level, concentrating on their sport is the number one priority, but Kuehl has another priority in his life just as important as the discus.

Kuehl is a type 1 diabetic and must constantly monitor of the insulin levels in his blood, even during training and competition.

“It’s just something you kind of have to constantly pay attention to,” Kuehl said.  “It’s not something you just take for granted; it’s always going to be there.”

In patients with type 1 diabetes, the pancreas produces little or no insulin, which people need to produce energy. 

Kuehl wears a pump that automatically injects insulin into his body.  A wireless control unit tests his blood and determines just how much insulin he needs.

“It does take a lot of extra steps in managing blood sugars and also to be more aware of what your body does when you start doing physical activity,” said Dr. Aaron Pardini, a doctor who specializes in diabetes.

Doctors first diagnosed Kuehl when he was 13, shortly after his brother was also diagnosed with the disease.  Genetics can be a cause of type 1 diabetes, and it typically appears during adolescence.

A natural athlete, Kuehl was a wrestler and a football player when he heard the diagnosis. 

“Immediately when the doctor found out I had diabetes, he was like ‘wrestling is a no-go, football is a no-go,’” Kuehl said.  “I’m like, you gotta be kidding me, man.  There’s no way.”

Kuehl didn’t listen to his doctors and eventually fell in love with discus.

“My sophomore, junior years in high school I just developed this uncanny ability to throw the discus,” he said.  “It was just kind of weird.”

He likes speaking about the disease to anyone who will listen, and hopes his position in the track and field world will help raise awareness of the disease.

“If I could help out little kids, people who just got diagnosed and let them know ‘hey, it’s not that bad, there’s still light at the end of the tunnel,” Kuehl said. 

He says most fans, and even his fellow competitors have no idea he is diabetic.

“I’m trying to change that.  I don’t know if I should wear a ‘I’m a diabetic’ on the back of my shirt?” Kuehl said.  “I could be Team Diabetic.” 

Kuehl's Performance

Kuehl finished 11th in the discus competition on Friday night, not good enough to earn a trip to Berlin.  His longest throw of the night was 191 feet, eight inches.