TRAINING, WORK, TRAINING. That’s the lot of an inter-county player these days which is hard enough when you’re in the full of your health but it must be even more difficult when you’ve to cope with being a coeliac and having type-1 diabetes.
Not that Dublin’s Kevin Nolan will use it as an excuse any time soon. Indeed, the 2011 All-Ireland final man-of-the-match uses the achievements of other diabetes sufferers – who have competed at the highest level despite the condition — as inspiration.
“I would have taken a lot of encouragement from the likes of Gary Mabbutt, now I would never have seen him play but I heard of this English footballer playing with diabetes and Stephen Redgrave winning an Olympic gold medal with diabetes.
“It is just another challenge. There are other lads who have injuries and that is a challenge getting back in itself so for me to go out training, or to go out and play against the top players in the country it is a challenge for myself.”
Nolan first learned about his diabetes in 2011.
“It was just that I was not feeling great in 2010. I went to the doctor and was diagnosed by an under active thyroid. It was nearly two years later that I was diagnosed with being a coeliac.
“I actually found out three days after the All-Ireland final but the doctors had known the week before but they didn’t want to mess with the head so they did not tell me until the week after. Two months after that it was type-1 diabetes.”
Nolan says the conditions are something he has come to live with but there can’t be many active GAA players who went through what the Kilmacud Crokes clubman had to deal with before the diagnosis was made.
“I would have lost two stone in weight.
“I would have been up every night, five or six times going to the toilet, not knowing what was wrong.
“I let it go on for two and half weeks and I eventually went to the GP and he said, in tears, that I had type-1 diabetes.
“It is something I have accepted, it could always be worse and it is something that I had to control. I could not just get rid of it.”
The diabetes, combined with having a gluten free diet, means Nolan has to be very prepared ahead of training and matches.
“It is just like having the gear ready the night before, it is just another thing that I have to get ready.
“The blood sugars have to be right, I have to eat before a certain time and just make sure that the insulin that I give myself is matching up to the food that I eat. Other lads don’t have to worry about that but they can’t go out and eat a Big Mac and chips, I can’t do that either, it is just that as well, but I have just got to be a bit more careful with what I eat.
“I have to eat gluten free stuff but it is just being prepared, being organised and being in control.”
The impact of getting that preparation wrong though, could be disastrous.
“There was a club game last year in O’Toole Park and I got to half-time and my blood sugars were really low, which basically means I needed glucose – be it Powerade or Lucozade or whatever, something sweet, something sugary but that’s the only time I’ve ever had it where the sugars go low and there’s a fear in that of collapsing.
“If they’re too high you just mightn’t be able to sprint as much because there’s too much sugar in the blood. It’s all scientific but being a science teacher, I’d be fairly interested in it.
“It’s just a matter of controlling it. If I go onto a pitch knowing that my blood sugars are what they are now I’m happy and, thankfully, I had it in sight against Tyrone on Sunday so I went into the game with a perfect mindset.
“But even if it’s slightly off it isn’t something that would take away from the performance.”
Recovery too, is a little different when you have type-1 diabetes.
“I find that at training sessions when I come in and other lads are rushing around getting into the shower and getting upstairs for a bit of food, I take five minutes to relax and let the body recover straight away, bring the heart rate down. Other than that it’s basically the same; it’s just another thing I have to control before I go out.
“Again, being diagnosed with type-1 diabetes, if I can learn from anyone else or help anyone, it’s something I’d love to get involved in. I’m already an ambassador with Diabetes Ireland so I’ve done stuff with them and they’ve done stuff for me and I’ve been grateful for that and long may it last.”
Another disadvantage is not being allowed wear a blood-sugar pump because, under current GAA rules, they are considered a weapon.
“I got a phone call from a player in Monaghan there recently and he said you’re not allowed wear it – it’s illegal. It’s classified as a weapon on a Gaelic pitch.
“I don’t use pumps; I use pens to inject insulin but it’s something I might look into, getting a pump. It’s attached to you and constantly dropping insulin in but it’s something I’d have to ask the GAA about.
“I’m not going to be taking it off, swinging it around and hitting someone in the head but it’s something that I need and if it’s a case of needing it, surely it can be allowed.”
Nolan, who is getting set to take on Cork in the Allianz Football League semi-finals this weekend, is keen to move on from a frustrating 2013, particularly as 2011 and 2012 were so successful on a personal level.
“I played on in 2012 and looking back I had probably a better season in 2012 than in 2011. I would have been in control of it a lot. The body would have been getting used to it as I went on.
“I took a break at the very start of 2013 basically to try and give the body a bit of a rest after the shock of he diabetes and so on. I came back into a squad that was flying; Jim had started his first year in charge and lads were looking to make a statement and they made a serious statement.
“They had the standard so high that I unfortunately could not reach it in 2013. As it went on I would have felt at the end of the year I was doing quite well but just found it difficult to get into the team.
“It was just something that I accepted and had to work on, I was back training earlier this year getting the body right, getting the mental side of it [right] which I find is a huge thing, going out to every training session being positive, looking to improve myself which will hopefully benefit the team.”
