Story
Johnson and Kendra John - The Canadian Diabetes Association
For 41 year-old Johnson John of Ottawa, the path to good health has been an extraordinary journey.
"I became aware I was Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetic in my mid-teens, but like so many people, kind of brushed it off. Moving from PEI to Ottawa in my early twenties, I continued to live a life in which I didn’t really consider the long-term consequences at all. Hey – I was young, I was in shape - indestructible, right?"
Despite his commitment to fitness and the fact that he managed blood sugar levels through injections of insulin, the impending failure of Johnson’s kidneys delivered him an unmistakeable wake-up call in 2000.
“We all go through denial, and anger and frustration. We say ‘I’m tired of pricking my fingers, injecting myself, looking at a cake or a chocolate bar and being livid that we can’t live like other people’. You want it to just go away. And when your body begins to fail, you realize that this is serious business. You’re fighting for your life.”
By 2006, now married and a father, Johnson was struggling with daily home dialysis, a labourious and uncomfortable process by which a machine cleanses the blood. But the Johns couldn’t simply sit by and accept what fate had dealt them. They had heard of a series of Diabetes Association-sponsored marathons in Iceland, Hawaii, Italy, and other places around the world and set their sights on participating in order to raise money for diabetes research.
“It was amazing. Our community jumped on board, my friends jumped on board, and soon we’d surpassed our goal of $12,500. In order to do the 10k run in Hawaii, I also had to be sure I had over 750 pounds of dialysis supplies for the trip because I still needed to do that chore daily. It all came together and the girls and I accomplished our goal.” To date the John family has raised nearly $40,000 for Team Diabetes.
Very soon after the run, in February of 2007, Kendra donated one of her kidneys to her husband. Johnson is now free of dialysis, and the family is focused on raising more money for the Diabetes Association, which has honoured the family at both regional and national levels.
“When I look back on my experiences of the past decade, I know that that two beautiful daughters, an extraordinary wife, and maybe just a little bit of stubbornness and love of life have been the reason I have kept up my hope, my energy, and my desire to find a cure for diabetes. And if our story can get more people to take diabetes seriously, and invest in their health, then we will have accomplished something far more important.”
