Maryland runner Doug Masiuk hits road in fight against diabetes. Maryland’s Doug Masiuk overcomes “death sentence” to trek across United States.
Bill Oram | The Salt Lake Tribune
First Published Jun 30 2012 04:21 pm
He started running in San Francisco, but that’s not where Doug Masiuk’s story begins. For that, you’d have to pinpoint the moment in time his immune system started attacking the cells in his pancreas responsible for producing insulin.
To get to San Francisco, you’d have to fast-forward through teenage years of self-doubt, lethargy in his 20s and, finally, find the resurgence of his 30s. Then you’d be at the starting point.
Earlier this month, Masiuk, from Annapolis, Md., started a quest to run across the country to raise awareness for Type 1 diabetes, the disease everyone assumed would kill him and instead has given him a reason to live.
That’s right. Run. From San Francisco to New York City in 127 days.
"We try to get about a marathon a day," says Bryce Northington, one of Masiuk’s three travel partners. A marathon is 26.2 miles long, which would be a light day for Masiuk, an ultramarathoner whose lifetime best is 81 miles — essentially Salt Lake to Logan.
Monday will be Day 26, and Masiuk will begin a several-day stay in Salt Lake City, where he will meet with diabetics, including the local Delinquent Pancreas Club. Hey, they lack insulin, not senses of humor.
For most of his 36 years, Masiuk wasn’t a runner. Then an aunt died. Dead in her 50s, heart attack at her desk. Masiuk saw the future. So he tried running.
He vomited.
He slept for two days and tried again. And again. Soon enough ...
"I discovered I had a talent to go far," he says.
Since he started running he’s cut his insulin doses by 75 percent.
"Diabetics before me in previous generations weren’t always this lucky," he says. "When I was diagnosed it was called a death sentence." (to read the full article......)
FULL ARTICLE
For more on Masiuk’s journey, visit www.1run.org
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