This past weekend marked 50 years since Darrin Davis was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
“I’m fortunate because I don’t have any complications,” the River Heights resident says. “I’ve been able to continue to have the life I want to have while managing diabetes.”
He knows people who have not been as fortunate.
MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS Darrin Davis has lived with type 1 diabetes for 50 years. He volunteers with JDRF Canada, a charity dedicated to finding a cure for the disease. See Aaron Epp story 240515 – Wednesday, May 15, 2024.
“I’ve seen the way it has ravaged some of my friends’ bodies,” Darrin says. “That’s not me. So I feel compelled to give back.”
The civil servant and father of three does that through his volunteer work with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada, an organization dedicated to funding Type 1 diabetes research.
His parents Richard and Louise Davis were among the founders of the organization’s Winnipeg chapter.
Darrin started volunteering in his early 20s. Since then, he’s served on local and national JDRF boards, participated in numerous fundraisers and advocated for diabetes research across Canada and the U.S.
It’s put him in contact with a range of people, including politicians, business owners and people of all ages who live with diabetes.
“I meet such an interesting group of people and the one thing they have in common is they want to make a difference,” Darrin says. “They want to help bring a cure for diabetes closer to reality.”
Darrin was six years old when he learned he was diabetic.
Although he hadn’t been terribly sick, he was eating and urinating a lot.
His mother had a doctor’s appointment and took him along. The family doctor recognized the symptoms and suggested she take him to the hospital.
It was there, on the May long weekend in 1974, where he received his diagnosis.
At the time, diabetes was managed primarily through a strict diet. Darrin’s mother completely changed the way she cooked and his parents normalized life with diabetes.
When Darrin was young, he was hospitalized for a few days each year because his glucose and insulin were out of control.
In the last 30 years, however, he’s only been hospitalized twice: once in 1994, and once in 2000.
Darrin credits the advancement in research and the tools used to monitor diabetes with allowing him to stay out of the hospital.
That research and those tools have been supported by JDRF Canada’s efforts.
Darrin remembers how he started testing his blood-sugar levels as a teenager. Before that, he checked for sugar in his urine using a test tube and a tablet. Later, there were test strips.
He tested in the morning, evening and before bed. It felt like a wasted effort because the results were the same all the time. There was nothing to do about the results except record them.
Today, he wears a sensor that provides information to an insulin pump that adjusts his rate based on the results.
“Part of my deep commitment to JDRF is because of what the foundation does,” Darrin says. “They collect money and they direct it toward research. They look at the landscape and they fund the gaps.”
JDRF is celebrating 50 years in Canada this year. Learn more about supporting the organization by visiting jdrf.ca/get-involved.
“By volunteering with JDRF, I feel I am making a difference,” Darrin says, adding that he feels as though he is playing a part in finding a cure. “It’s a small part, but it’s nonetheless a part.”
If you know a special volunteer, please contact aaron.epp@gmail.com.