Wellness Warrior: Type 1 Diabetic Shares Secrets for Thriving 8 Decades |

When Don Ray was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at age 4, doctors told his parents that he would be lucky to live to see his teen years.

On July 3, Ray celebrated his 85th birthday. He is one of a small group of people living with type 1 diabetes worldwide who have hit this milestone in longevity. Boston-based George King, MD, the chief scientific officer with the Joslin Diabetes Center, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, estimates that since the introduction of insulin in the 1920s, about 50 to 100 people with type 1 diabetes have lived beyond age 80 with the disease. Ray is one of only 17 people awarded a medal from Joslin for surviving more than eight decades with type 1.

“Most days I have been as healthy as any human being on this earth because I have kept my diabetes under control,” says Ray, who lives 30 miles south of Cleveland in North Royalton. “You must control your diabetes; you cannot let it control you.”

For Ray, control means taking the right amounts of insulin, watching what he eats, and testing his blood sugar about five times a day.

Following these healthy practices comes easy to him because he has been managing his diabetes for more than 80 years. Ray embodies what it means to have resilience, which Everyday Health's United States of Resilience survey indeed found increases with age as people gain new life experiences.

Reflecting on When a Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis Was a Death Sentence

In 1939 when Ray was first diagnosed with diabetes, doctors were less familiar with the disease than they are today, Ray says.

The first signs of trouble were unusual thirst and excessive urination. Four-year-old Ray was drinking lots of water, and going to the bathroom three or four times a day before lunch and again before dinner, but he didn’t think much about it. His parents only noticed the problem during a long car trip.

When Ray asked to stop and relieve himself six times in two hours, they knew something was wrong. They took him to a hospital as soon as possible. A specialist there told his parents that their son had diabetes. His parents replied: “What’s that?”

With type 1 diabetes, the immune system attacks cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, a hormone that allows the body to use sugar (glucose). Without insulin, glucose levels rise in the bloodstream and over time that sugar buildup damages blood vessels and nerves.

The body tries to get rid of the excess sugar through the urine, so frequent peeing is a common symptom of diabetes. As more fluid is expelled, thirst increases, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Although scientists had discovered insulin the decade before Ray was diagnosed, treatment was still in its infancy. People with diabetes lived longer but continued to have a short life expectancy, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Doctors predicted that Ray would not survive past age 20.

“My mom would take aside dates I brought home and tell them, ‘Don’t get too serious about Donald, because he doesn’t have very much longer to live because of his diabetes,’” he says.

Making a Commitment to Self-Care When Living With Type 1 Diabetes

While the prognosis seemed grim, Ray and his parents were determined to do all they could to beat the odds. Following doctors’ orders, they regulated Ray’s food intake, carefully measuring out portions to the gram.

Insulin injections three times daily became part of his normal routine. His mother was constantly boiling the glass syringes with steel needles to keep them sterile.

While exercise can improve insulin sensitivity and overall heart health, thereby benefiting people with diabetes, those with type 1 diabetes must balance their insulin and food intake so their blood sugar levels don’t drop dangerously low.

When Ray was a kid, doctors advised him to avoid exercising, including playing sports.

“I would sit in gym class and watch the kids play, and I would think, ‘I can do that,’” he says. “Kids were on the swings and playing tag, and I wasn’t allowed to do any of that. It was frustrating.”

Occasionally, he and his dad would sneak into the yard and play catch, but if he missed the ball, his dad would yell, “Son, don’t run after it — walk!”

Sports eventually became a huge part of Ray’s life and bolstered his physical strength and spirit. At age 11, his doctors determined he could manage diabetes and get physical activity. He joined a baseball team and showed natural athletic ability. By age 13, he was playing with boys five years older than he was.

“God gave me some athletic talent, and I’ve stayed active all my life,” he says.

Facing a Life-Changing, Near-Death Experience

To keep playing sports, Ray had to strictly follow his rules for insulin and food intake. At age 14, he always had a snack of milk and crackers. One day, though, he went to the store with his friends and tried a sugary soda.

“I thought, ‘Boy, that sure tastes good’ — so I tried another one,” Ray says. “The more soda pop I drank, the more I wanted to have.”

Soon he was sneaking soda all the time. At that age, he thought he was invincible and could handle anything.

To measure blood sugar levels at the time, people with diabetes would test their urine every day using Benedict’s solution, says Ray. The mixture changes color depending on the amount of sugar in the urine. Ray started cheating on the test by adding in more of the royal blue Benedict’s solution to make the results appear healthier.

“You’re talking to a guy who did one of the most stupid things a human being could ever do,” says Ray. “For almost a month, I screwed up.”

One night though, Ray felt sluggish, weak, light-headed, and unstable on his feet. He woke his father and told him that his sugar was messed up, and that he had been cheating on his blood sugar testing. His father rushed him to the hospital.

“The last thing I remember seeing for 10 days was the red ‘emergency’ sign,” he says.

Ray had slipped into a diabetic coma because he had developed severely high blood sugar from consuming so much sugary soda. He says doctors gave him a 20 percent chance of surviving. Fortunately, after 15 days in the hospital and two weeks home care with a nurse, Ray got his glucose under control.

He returned to normal, but he had to miss the first four weeks of ninth grade.

“It taught me the greatest lesson I ever had in my life,” says Ray. “Life is well worthwhile. There are so many things in this world to see and do. From that point on, I never wanted to let diabetes get in my way again. I had too many other good things to do.”

Ray went on to get married to his wife of 61 years. They have four children, 11 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren — none with any signs of diabetes. They are fortunate: The Joslin Diabetes Center says that the risk of developing type 1 diabetes is 10 to 20 times greater when you have an immediate relative with the condition.

Ray also had a successful career as a salesman for the American Greeting Card company. He’s retired now but still works part time during the holidays as Santa Claus at a garden center with a Christmas gift store.

He has stayed physically active throughout his life, often playing amateur baseball. That did lead to one other diabetes-related emergency, when he was 42. During a baseball tournament, he played five games in one day from about 9 in the morning until 7 at night. He didn’t keep up with his blood sugar levels that day, and they sank dangerously low, resulting in another trip to the hospital.

Turning Lemons Into Lemonade During His Diabetes Journey

Despite these episodes, Ray has lived a healthy life overall, says his doctor, Betul Hatipoglu, MD, an endocrinologist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.

“He is one of the oldest living people with type 1 diabetes,” says Dr. Hatipoglu. “He really inspires me.”

She credits Ray’s longevity to his commitment to eating right, exercising, and closely monitoring his insulin intake.

“He’s a very regimented individual, but he does it all without making it feel like a burden,” says Hatipoglu.

She believes that Ray’s positive attitude has added years to his life.

“Life is always what you make of it, and Ray made lemonade out of a lemon,” she says.

Ray’s quality of life also improved as more treatment advances came along. Blood sugar monitoring using a finger prick replaced urine tests in 1965 when blood glucose test strips became available, according to the American Diabetes Association. In 1977, Boston researchers developed a test to measure glycosylated hemoglobin (A1C), which became the gold standard for evaluating long-term diabetes control.

The first insulin pumps came along in the mid-1970s. These small devices continuously deliver small doses of insulin and eliminate the need for multiple daily injections. Ray started using one in 2005. “The pump puts the insulin in my body automatically,” says Ray. “It makes diabetes a hell of a lot better. The pump is a tremendous addition to the diabetic world.”

Today, at age 85, Ray may move a little slower, but he still tries to stay active by taking regular walks, climbing the basement steps at least twice a day, and lifting light weights several times a week. He doesn’t play baseball anymore, but occasionally he gets the opportunity to coach a youngster who has been having hitting problems. He is still committed to eating a healthy diet, diligently consuming the appropriate portions of vegetables, proteins, and carbs that work best with his prescribed insulin.

Much of his time today is devoted to showing others how to live a wonderful life with type 1 diabetes. He hopes his life can serve as a model.

“Victory belongs to those of us who know we can win,” he says. “I haven’t beaten diabetes, but it sure hasn’t beaten me.”

Check out this interview with celebrity chef Sam Talbot for another inspiring story of life with type 1 diabetes!

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