Sergey Borunin is 38 years old, of which 33 years he lives with diabetes mellitus. Doctors warned: there may be problems with the conception of children. And there is nothing to think about professional sports. But today Sergey is a successful businessman, an athlete and father of four children. How he succeeded?
“I got sick at 5 years after a cold and severe fright. Later I learned that stress and virus often provoke diabetes. We lived in a military town in the GDR, where the father served. I teased German teenagers and my friends, and once they chased us. Having come running home, I slept for 12 hours, my mother said, and after that I began to lose weight abruptly and write. I was diagnosed with cystitis. Only a month later, one of the doctors suggested checking the blood for sugar. He was prohibitively tall. Parents were afraid to treat me in Germany and put me in the Morozov hospital in Moscow.
Type I diabetes mellitus - autoimmune disease: the body attacks its own cells that produce insulin. And without it, glucose does not absorb and sugar levels hesitate greatly. This is dangerous: increased sugar can lead to loss of vision and kidney disease, too low (hypoglycemia) - to a coma and death. Any stress, joy, excitement before the exam, physical activity, even a walk with a dog reduces or increases sugar. Therefore, until the end of my life, total control, strict calculation of carbohydrates and regular insulin injections awaited me until the end of my life.
Parents never showed their fears. But, I think, they were very worried, especially the father. He is a military man, I am his son, and my future did not become the way he painted him. I am grateful to my parents for doing everything so that my diabetes does not radically change our life. Yes, there are certain features that must be taken into account, and all. We still traveled a lot, drove to the sea-just took an iron tray with us and boiled syringes on the road. I ate fruits - sugar flew up, pinned insulin - leveled off.
I was seven when my father asked: “What sports do you want to do?»I chose football and went to the section daily. We came up with a scheme: my mother bred jam in a bottle, I drank it before training and the same bottle - after. This helped maintain sugar level. But sometimes sadness rolled over me - you get tired of total control. I understood that I was different from other children who can eat something and when they want, run and jump. At night I cried and asked: “Why exactly did I get it?"
At fifteen, I was a good player, but when serious tournaments began, they put me in the spare train. I asked for the main one, but they refused me: they say, they are afraid for my health. I went to another club, where no one said about the disease. By that time, I had the first glucometer, and it became easier to control sugar.
However, really my view of my life was changed by a trip to the United States. At the age of 16, I learned about the program of the American doctor Sam Veneta: he gained teenagers to a diabetic camp. There were two conditions: know English and be able to ride a bicycle. I submitted an application and was accepted. All summer we lived in tents, traveled. I saw that Americans relate to diabetes not like we. I still remember how one doctor in Russia said: “Forget about sports, your maximum is therapeutic gymnastics”. The Americans taught us to live like everyone else, just to take into account their peculiarity.
I often began to travel to the camp, now as a counselor. When I was 19 years old, I met Lena there, she is four years younger. We started dating already in Moscow, and Lena became my wife. I also dreamed of a teenager about a future family, but I was afraid that I
could not have children. I was reassured by a man with whom I once talked: “I have diabetes for 20 years and I have a son and daughter. So no problems - just hold sugar normally ".When Lena and I, two diabetics, came to the doctor and reported on pregnancy, he twisted at the temple: “You went crazy?! This is risky for both women and for the child ". Now we have four daughters, the youngest six months. When I think about how I learned to stand the whole game on the field with diabetes, to run marathons, then compared to the heroism of Lena it seems to me nonsense. She was not lazy to get up seven times a night to measure sugar, eat a carbohydrate, if it falls, or to plunge with insulin if it grows. Our children are healthy. How to happen next - we do not know. We thought a lot of what would happen if they have diabetes. Will they tell us: what did you think about when we were started? But we both believe that giving life to a person is more important than solving problems with diabetes. And now it is easier to control sugar than 20 years ago.
I don't even know who I would become without diabetes. Maybe even a bully. In adolescence, my hormones walked, it needed an aggression. And I got into the company of radical football fans. I ran, fought, however, I understood that I could not afford stupid things that are dangerous to health. That if they hit me with a bottle on the head and I am unconscious for several hours, I will pass hypoglycemia, then all - goodbye, mom.
I was offered a professional contract in football, but I refused: I decided that it was better to be a very good lawyer than just a good athlete. Now I have my own law firm, and sport remained with me as the main hobby. I've been doing marathon and triathlon for six years. Run My maximum distance - 50 kilometers. When I decided to run my first marathon, the doctor said: "Say thanks for that you are alive". In the triathlon, I tried the Olympic distance: 1.5 km swimming, 40 km bicycle and 21 km Running. And this is not the limit.
Organism is a smart machine, it will adapt to any situation. When I started to run, my sugar fell sharply, I could not understand why: after all, I ran 10 km for a football training, but it did not fly down so. He began to understand: football is a competition, so the body is thrown by adrenaline, which increases sugar. And running is a constant monotonous movement, so sugar will decrease. And I trained the body, tried to lower the pulse. I taught the body to different loads, now I dream of Ironman - this is a long -distance triathlon competition. 3,000 diabetics have already participated in them in the USA.
Young people, adolescents, their parents often turn to me - I tell them about sports in diabetes. Now I am launching a football club for everyone. And when I speak at conferences, days of diabetes, I say: “If your child wants to fly into space, let him fly. Now it's not fantastic. Let him go to the aerospace college. He wants to be in the army? Let him go. He wants a family - please ". Diabetes is not a reason to abandon your desires, do not succumb to fears and templates imposed by the media, doctors, society. Diabetes will adapt to any profession and any way of life. All obstacles - only in our head ".
