#142 Brave Maeve

Brave Maeve's Mom!

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Megan Hollinger is the mother of a little girl living with type 1 diabetes. Megan is also an incredible advocate and the person who brought the 'Brave Maeve' Facebook page into the world. So, she's awesome.

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Scott Benner 0:03
Hello and welcome to Episode 142 of the Juicebox Podcast today's episode, Brave maif. I'm talking today with Megan, who's maybes mom. Megan has an incredible following on Facebook, and she's an amazing advocate for type one diabetes. Today we're going to talk about living with Type One Diabetes being the parent of a child with Type One Diabetes and how Megan and may have raised money and awareness for type one. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before being bold with insulin. Speaking of bowl with insulin t shirts are still available at Juicebox podcast.com. But they are going fast.

This episode is because of one of you I received a message from someone who said I want to be more involved with advocacy. I want to raise money. I want to know what to do but I have no idea where to begin. But I do see this person out in the world Megan and she's so good at it. Would you get her on and ask her about it? I said absolutely. And here she is. You guys ask? I come through. Of course I didn't really talk to her that much about it. But you know how the podcast goes. I got around to it before we were finished. This episode of The Juicebox Podcast is brought to you by Dexcom and Omni pod please go to dexcom.com Ford slash juicebox or Miami pod.com Ford slash juicebox. For more.

Megan Hollinger 1:35
My name is Megan Hollinger, my daughter Maeve better known as brave Maeve was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes at one and she is now seven. So that's how I am in this world.

Scott Benner 1:50
This is how you got dragged on this bike.

Unknown Speaker 1:51
Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 1:54
So Wow, what what like literally one year old or just, he was 17 months. Wow, that's

Scott Benner 2:00
crazy. Arden was a couple weeks after second birthday. And I thought that was young.

Megan Hollinger 2:05
I know. I know. We were just at the endo the other day and they said they had a new 15 month old and it feels like a bullet. I taking a bullet every time I hear of a new diagnosis, but especially a baby.

Scott Benner 2:18
It's difficult. Now you did it six years ago. Did you have any kind of technology at diagnosis? Or were you How are you man?

Megan Hollinger 2:26
Well, we, our first doctor kind of really was not very progressive and said that maze couldn't go on the pump until she was eight years old. And I was like that is insane. And then we change to a teaching hospital and they had her on the pump within six to eight weeks. And then when she was about to we got an off label prescription to get the CGM. But at the time it was the dexcom seven. And the insertion was just so upsetting for her that we stopped using it. And when the next generation came out, we got an off label prescription again because it still wasn't FDA approved in children. And it's and she's been on ever since that's

Scott Benner 3:09
a seven plus you started with. Yes, I think that's where we started to I was the oval kind of receiver delivering it. Yeah.

Megan Hollinger 3:17
And it just it wasn't accurate enough to put her through that torture at the time.

Unknown Speaker 3:23
For this seven. Correct?

Unknown Speaker 3:25
Yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. I

Scott Benner 3:26
only know the products since seven plus but I've heard that from other people like it was a work in progress at that point. So

Megan Hollinger 3:32
it was it was and then the next generation that came out. It was like oh my gosh, how did we live without this? Yeah. And now I still feel how could we ever live without this? Have you? Have you ever gone back to the endo that told you that there was a rule that they had to be eight years old and deficit? It's an interesting state like it seems so random like No, not at all. There ain't no, we I never went back to her may have ended up being hospitalized one more time. And then of course, she was the on call doctor. So that was a little embarrassing. But she since taken on another partner who is much more progressive. I think she was forced to move with the times.

Scott Benner 4:07
Oh, now I'm so interested to hear that you were in the hospital and she walked Yeah,

Megan Hollinger 4:11
it was so awkward. It was so awkward. And I was apologizing for quitting her.

Unknown Speaker 4:16
Did you really?

Megan Hollinger 4:17
Yeah. Oh, I'm terrible. Because but to be honest, at the time I took me we went we live in Florida. We went up and down the coast. I we went to Fort Lauderdale, we went to Gainesville. We ultimately ended up at a doctor in Miami. But I think in truth, I was trying desperately to find someone to fix her. That's why I didn't like any of these endos none of them could fix her. And then when I finally got to the point where I really she couldn't be she wasn't broken in a way that I could fix her love couldn't fix her enough. These doctors couldn't fix her that we just had to kind of coexist with diabetes and stop fighting it. That's when life got better. And I found the doctor that I liked Yeah, but I just wonder if really I had progressed through and the other They're doctors weren't the problem

Scott Benner 5:01
I was. Yeah. Isn't that funny? So? Well, first of all, let's say the one that said you couldn't have the pump to your right. They were

Megan Hollinger 5:07
definitely. But after that, I think I might have been the problem.

Scott Benner 5:13
I'm the problem. Yeah, no, I get that, like, so you just Was it a? Was it a real conscious thought? Or do you think it was just in your heart where you were like, I'm gonna find somebody who's gonna tell me that, oh, the rest of the world doesn't understand. And we can just cure this now.

Megan Hollinger 5:30
I, I think it was a kind of a ridiculous thought now that I look back. But I just felt like the people before me just must not have worked hard enough. They must not have loved their kids enough, they just must not have done gone to walk to the ends of the earth. Yeah, until I started meeting more and more people with children with Type One Diabetes, who had done the same walk or even greater walks to try and you know, find that ultimate, you know, cure. But I think it took we went to the Diabetes Research Institute for a tour. And one of the researchers who had type one himself, he took me on the tour. And at the end, I was like, So when do you think there'll be a cure? And he looked at me and look it Oh, he almost look like a balloon deflated. And he said, This is the worst part of my job. He said, there will never be a silver bullet. And diabetes is such a multifaceted disease, that it there will never be a silver bullet. And I think that's what I would been looking for for these months and months. Like for someone to tell me, there's a silver bullet, I'm going to help you find it. And this is how long it's going to take.

Scott Benner 6:38
I always think of it as like a light switch, or like somebody just wants to flip a switch and for it to be over.

Megan Hollinger 6:43
Yes. And but to be honest, that was a really hard day. But it was when like, I felt like my new life began where I accepted diabetes, and we moved forward. Because really, I wasn't moving forward before.

Scott Benner 6:56
I hate what I call cure season. So there's a time of year when researchers need to say, hey, look what I've accomplished, because they need more money. And so they get a little like, you know, they find their local news outlets or whatever they can do. And I remember the first cure season that rolled around after Arden's diagnosis. It only been a few months. And, and I saw that, you know, they had cure type one diabetes in a lab mouse. And I actually thought, Oh, how lucky is Arden to have gotten diabetes, right at the end of diabetes? You know, this is this is wonderful, we'll probably just be doing this for a few more weeks. And and, and then you realize that you're just the latest, the latest member of this crappy, you know, club and and that the people have been doing this since the 19. You know, whatever's

Unknown Speaker 7:46
and you haven't been clued in yet.

Scott Benner 7:48
I didn't know anything about it. I know nothing about it. And and so oh, my God, when she hit her when she was she'd have a really good, like, honeymoon day. I want I'm very, very good friends with our pediatrician. And I called him and I remember saying, I'm going to say something. I said, Adam, I'm gonna say something really crazy. And I said, I need you to stop me. And he goes, Okay, I said, I don't think Arden has diabetes.

Megan Hollinger 8:14
I know. Yeah. It's almost like talking to a mirror. If that makes any sense. When you talk to somebody else who's been through this thing. It's, it's just, it's so crazy. Yeah, there's been a couple times when she had a stomach flu where I was like, Oh my gosh, it's like she doesn't have diabetes. You have to convince yourself that you know, that's not true. Right?

Scott Benner 8:34
Yeah. Those are the days you just met. Those are the closest you come to a cure is the day that you don't need a bolus for anything. Right? It really is crazy how like free that day is to buy except for the pressure that you're like, you know, it's gonna stop at some point,

Megan Hollinger 8:47
right? Or am I gonna have to go to the hospital at some point?

Scott Benner 8:50
so low? Yeah, yeah. So okay, so I just, but I just wanted to backtrack for one second. So you had an endo, who gave you really bad advice about when you could have a pump, and you left the practice, may have has to go back into the hospital for something and that woman walks through the door into your room, and you just turn into a little kid and start apologizing. You're just like, I'm so sorry. Like,

Megan Hollinger 9:14
how did they? How did she handle that? He I have to say she was very graceful. She was he was gracious about it. I am a people pleaser at heart and don't like to hurt anyone's feelings. So it was even hard for me to to leave the practice because I felt like I'm betraying someone who I really don't even know. But in those first few days after diagnosis, she was very available to me. I was able to contact her. And you know, it's such a vulnerable time. So then to feel like I barely even gave her a chance. I felt so guilty. But yes, I was like, I'm so sorry. I just felt like we needed to go to a teaching hospital in the mail.

Scott Benner 9:51
Did your did your husband hide in the corner? Was he not there?

Megan Hollinger 9:54
He said nothing. He felt no guilt at all people. We will do what That's for me. And it doesn't matter what anybody else thinks. And I kind of care what people think.

Scott Benner 10:05
Can I can I ask you a question about that? Like, in hindsight, you're Six years later, if you're diagnosed today, and she says, well, there's no pump till you're eight, do you think you would have just said, Well, no, that's not okay. Like, do you would you have pushed back now? Guys, this is the end of the year, you have a great chance right now, you don't have a copay, you've used up all your copay, you paid it already this year, now's the time to be buying medical supplies. If you've been thinking about changing from injections, or switching your pump, now is the perfect time to go to the Omnipod. Go to my omnipod.com forward slash juice box, you'll fill out a tiny bit of information on the pod, I'll send you out a demo pod. It's a non functioning demo pod, but you can wear it and see what you think of it. After that you make the decision you move forward on the pod is going to help you get through the whole thing with no problem. You know, if you don't like it, no harm, no foul, don't worry about it. But if you do like it, you know what I mean? Any costs that might be involved, get swallowed up by your insurance, because you've already made all of your copay Am I making sense right now, it's the middle of December. It's a hard time to be thinking about stuff like this. But it's a smart time to be thinking about stuff like this. I was just speaking to someone just literally minutes ago. And we were talking about all the benefits that come with pumping it you know, being able to change your basal rates, being able to make multiple boluses around a meal if you know you need a little bit of Pre-Bolus. But you need a little more later, things that you would be hesitant to do with injections you can do without thinking with it on the pod. And don't forget what the Omni pod offers that no one else does. It's tubeless you are not tethered to a controller there's not something hanging from your belt or jam in your browser shoved in your pocket. This is the insulin pump that art has been using since she is four years old. And it is how we make the great adjustments we do the keeper a one see where they are. Please consider the Omni pod tubeless insulin pump, go to my Omni pod.com forward slash juice box to find out more. And now we'll find out if Megan would have made a different decision. Nowadays.

Megan Hollinger 12:11
Yes, I and I give that advice to newly diagnosed people that I say if you aren't sure about the doctor, you should doctor shop don't feel like that you have to be married to the doctor who took care of your child in in the hospital? Because I do think you find you almost feel an allegiance to them. And yes, and I push back against the doctors all the time now. Yeah. Which still isn't comfortable for me. But I'm so much more well educated that I'm more comfortable doing it.

Scott Benner 12:41
I wish people could be in my in my doctor's visits with the garden. I just I you would probably just think I was crazy. I don't even like there's no veneer of even like my concern for anyone else. I was just like, Oh no, no, we're not doing that's ridiculous. Or I like when they're like, yeah, you're gonna bring logs. And I'm like, No, never, that's never going to happen just so you're aware.

Megan Hollinger 13:01
I'm not we did leave another practice because they wanted me to fax blogs. And now I'm like,

Scott Benner 13:09
that's funny, the faxing threw you off. Like I'm not doing it. People are way behind the

Unknown Speaker 13:13
time. Then I left that.

Scott Benner 13:16
I've never, I don't think I've ever once written down something that Arden's eaten, or how much insulin I've given. Or even just, I would end with somebody, if somebody pressured me about it, which they had in the past. I was just like, you just need to know I'm not gonna do that. So if that's going to be a problem.

Unknown Speaker 13:32
Yeah, we should probably we should. Yeah.

Scott Benner 13:35
But it's funny how, how so much of what we accept is the is the pot roast thing, right? Like the if you don't mean like, why did why did? Why do we cut the ends off the pot roast before we put it in the pan? It turns out your great, great grandmother's pan was small. And

Unknown Speaker 13:53
yeah, right.

Megan Hollinger 13:54
I was just gonna say my parents thought doctors were gods, and so and priests. And so do you do what they say? Right? Yeah. And I was raised like that kind of but as I got older, and I became more educated, I realized, maybe they're actually not that much smarter than

Scott Benner 14:12
right. I say here all the time. It's police officers, teachers and doctors were just we were told as children, these people, you listen to them blindly. You they know better than you there. And I always say with the exception of putting up your hands when a cop asks you to the rest of it. You should you should wonder about a little bit. Yeah, you know? Yeah. Well, good for you. That's That's very nice. So now, so you come out and here's what I'm hearing. You have all this heart and soul for Maven. You're just a sheer first child or my fourth year of Jesus. You have a litter of children. Yes. I can't even believe you cared by the time that you were probably I can't believe you weren't like, oh, the fourth one has diabetes. What are we gonna do? Let's have three more.

Megan Hollinger 14:56
I say diabetes is my fifth child and we probably would have had one One more had not been diagnosed. But and and now that we're at homework and devices I'm so glad we did not have a festival My

Scott Benner 15:09
gosh, can you? Can you just tell people who don't have children yet? The biggest secret of being an adult is that your children's homework is the worst thing in your life.

Megan Hollinger 15:18
Oh my gosh, I say someone cries every day at homework and sometimes it's me.

Scott Benner 15:25
Very funny. Yeah, very true. Yeah, I just sometimes it's like later at night when you're just like, Oh, are you done yet? Like, please like, you just go to bed. I don't even care fail doesn't matter to me. Yeah, like, stop. Oh, it's the worst thing.

Megan Hollinger 15:40
You have these fights. I'm not signing you're reading log. You didn't reach

Unknown Speaker 15:45
young people,

Scott Benner 15:46
young people right now, two of the biggest mistakes the world you can make getting a dog and having a kid that your life would be so much better without those two things. Yeah, you're hearing me right now. And you think oh, no, that's not true. You just don't know yet. Yeah, it's,

Megan Hollinger 16:02
it's kidding. We're only half get mega mega. I'm

Scott Benner 16:05
gonna sound a little sexist for half a second. I like when young guys tell me. They're getting married. And I always say, Oh, are you tired of being unhappy? And then they, then they laugh and they go, you don't understand them. They utter the words. She's not like that. And I was like, No, no, she's like that. You're like that. We're all like that. Wait, wait, are you say? But then there's

Unknown Speaker 16:28
my husband called me, Maggie. And

Unknown Speaker 16:31
that could be the title of this episode.

Megan Hollinger 16:34
Well, it served me well, in many facets of my life, diabetes, including

Scott Benner 16:38
now I'll take that bet. nickname. So but so here you are with all this just, you know, you have all of this desire. And, you know, we all know the feeling. There's no way to really point it because you're not a doctor, you're not a scientist, etc. Now, so let me tell that 15 minutes, and I'm gonna tell you why you're on the podcast, you know, but the people listening don't know. So I, I hear from people all the time. Like I said before, I would have no idea who Dr. Panda was if it wasn't for the people listening to this podcast, or like, you really should have this guy on the program. And I was like, Okay, great. And I've had people reach out periodic, and they're like, I want to do more fundraising and more advocacy. But I don't really know how. And I always hear that, I think, oh, I don't know how much I can really add to that. I've done some, but I haven't been great about it. But somebody reached out recently and said, I want to know more about advocacy. You need to talk to Matt's mom, that's the person I want to hear from. And I was like, Wow, that's a very specific ask for the podcast. And I said, Okay, and then I hunted you down. And here you are.

Megan Hollinger 17:39
Yeah, that's so I'm flattered. I don't consider myself an epic. fundraiser. I, in the beginning, I was made to advocate I was selfish in that way where I really only cared about her. And then as time went on, and we went to the children with diabetes conference, and the rest thousand kids in the room with type one. That was when I kind of had that, you know, Oprah aha moment where I was, like, all this is so much bigger than just our family. And where I start to see the bigger picture.

Scott Benner 18:12
And so and so where did you be? So you have a really, I'm, I'm terrible at social media. So for anybody who knows my my blog is 10 years old. But for like, the first couple of years, you couldn't even Google it. Like it was the worst kept secret on the internet. And, and, and I'm just I've never been good at it. I'm sort of I'm a guy. I don't really, I don't want to break anyone's heart. I it's not my goal to be on Facebook. But I do I do it because it I see how valuable it is. And you know, and that kind of stuff, but I don't I'm never good at it. I just I'm just never good at but you're good at it like so.

Megan Hollinger 18:48
Thank you, I only have Facebook, and people keep pressuring me Instagram, Twitter, but I really barely can manage the one social media that I had. And so Facebook is it for me.

Scott Benner 18:58
I just reached out yesterday to somebody on Instagram who has like 10s of thousands of followers who are all like diabetes related. And she basically blogs on Instagram. I'm like, you have to come on the podcast and explain that to me, because I don't in any meaningful way understand what you're doing? Because maybe it seems amazing, but I want to know more about it, you know? So so you, you just started a Facebook page, because it was likely the thing to do at the time, right?

Megan Hollinger 19:24
A friend actually kind of pressured me to do it. She said you should start a Facebook page about about maize and type one diabetes. And I was like, oh, maybe. And you know what, it was kind of hard because at the time people kept wanting updates on her diagnosis and how she was doing and I couldn't keep up on updating our family and friends. So it was a way to do that. And then I started when I first started I wrote it kind of in in the person that she was speaking but that just got way too hard. And then I when I started to write it from my own perspective was when I feel like people really especially parents of type ones. appreciated the honesty.

Scott Benner 20:07
Yeah, I find that. Yeah, I always people would always say to me all your blogs about your daughter and like, my blogs, not about my daughter, it's about me. Yeah, it's about me being the parent of a child with Type One Diabetes, like she almost never appears on it. As a matter of fact, there used to be a photo of her at the top. And when she got old enough to have an opinion about it, it's like the first thing she said to me, she's like, I don't care what you talk about. You can share anything about how we manage and all that stuff. She's like, but I need my foot my picture off of there. And I said, why she was I don't like looking like a baby on the internet. No, I was like, Okay, I get that. And so like, even sometimes she's like, is she gonna come on the podcast? And I asked her once in a while, but she just laughs at me. She's like, No, no, okay.

Unknown Speaker 20:51
Oh, it just it's not.

Scott Benner 20:52
It's just not for. I'm the advocate. She's not. She's an advocate by being okay with people sharing stuff about her.

Unknown Speaker 21:00
Yeah, you know what I mean? And

Scott Benner 21:02
that's great, actually, but, but so you open up a Facebook page, you are listening to kids cute. Like, let's not take that away from or maybe, maybe it's adorable, that probably what you're writing might be terrible. They might just be like, look how cute that kid is. And I always think that's how my blog worked out. And they were just like, yeah, that adorable kid.

Megan Hollinger 21:19
I think that cute pictures of her helped a whole lot. Every year she gets older. I'm like, Oh, she's not cute as cute or as funny. Or as nice as she used to be this people are gonna This is gonna get old but they haven't grown to over yet. We'll see. That's really my other point with

Scott Benner 21:34
you. Listen, I I got a lovely note from a woman yesterday about her a one C in the podcast. And everything I thought was really nice. I showed my wife she's like, Yeah, she doesn't know you. But But you're but you're not just here's how I here's why I'm really in impressed with your Facebook page. You don't have a crazy amount of followers, but you have a crazy amount of engagement. And

Unknown Speaker 22:00
we have a loyal I would say loyal.

Scott Benner 22:02
Yeah, yeah, for real? And do you think that just because it started at the beginning? And they are they invested? Doobly?

Megan Hollinger 22:10
I think so i think so. I get so I get message from messages from people asking how she's doing these messages from people asking if they can send her a little gift for her birthday. messages from people saying you haven't posted in a while? Is everything. Okay? So yeah, I think people have gotten vested. And I, it seems like the more Roth the posts, the more engagement there is. And that's kind of why I never blogged and why I never, you know, people are like you need to get advertisers you need to do this was I really only want it to write when I felt compelled to write, which unfortunately now seems to be less and less. And I think it's probably because I've learned to cope better in other ways with the diabetes writing was a coping mechanism. And now I've found other ways that aren't as time consuming.

Scott Benner 23:01
I definitely believe I talked about sometimes like, how we ended up with the podcast. And it was always just the transformation because in the beginning it really I was like raw nerve blogging, it was like, Oh my God, this just happened to me. And then people would react to it, because it was happening to them too. But there was this point where I just thought, is this really valuable? Like us just saying this sucks together? Like I mean, I guess it is on some level, but like I wanted it to do more for people. And then then I that's how it progressed. Because I was like, I don't think this is enough. Like I would like to do a little more and then it build up and build up. And then one day when I just finally got good at this, I thought why should tell people like maybe I could fast forward them from that terrible place. I was to hear like, yeah,

Megan Hollinger 23:46
years, right? Yeah. So yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's just it sucks. It's

Scott Benner 23:51
like it's the beginning. Like I always think if I could just make that time not not impact people the same way. I would feel very accomplished about that. You know,

Megan Hollinger 24:01
I know. And when I that's one of the things when I hear of another diagnosis, I see it takes me back and I hate that feeling of going back, but at the same time, it makes me a little sad that I'm almost forgetting what our life was like before.

Scott Benner 24:16
Speaking of before, before Dexcom I didn't know which way Arden's blood sugar was moving. I would test her and say, oh, her blood sugar is 130. But that information is sort of not helpful. Because is it 130 and stable? Is it rising? Is it falling? Is it falling really fast? Is it rising really fast? I didn't know because I couldn't see. But now with the dexcom continuous glucose monitor. I am aware of what her blood sugar is doing when I need to know it's amazing right now Arden's blood sugar's 114. And it is stable. She's at school. I know that because I just glanced up and look, that's it. Do you like that idea? Of course you do. Because it brings a peace of mind that wraps around you like a warm Christmas. blanket next to the fire. Those of you who don't celebrate Christmas, it just wraps around you like a warm blanket by a fire. dexcom is amazing. It's available for Android and iPhone. Because you know, maybe you don't want to carry the receiver and you have these phones. So you just put the app on your phone, you don't need the receiver. Also, that's how the share and follow apps work. Maybe your kids were in the dexcom. And you're following along on your follow up as I am. Maybe it's your daughter who lives halfway across the country. And she's 25. And she's by herself. And she says, Mom, I really wish you could just see my blood sugar when I'm sleeping. That's possible that x calm. Also, it's possible to make adjustments to your blood sugar. Oh, my gosh, you guys, everything I talked about on this podcast is is that it's seeing what's happening and reacting, not waiting to have something happen and then chasing. If you're ahead of your blood sugar. I always say act don't react Dexcom is a huge part of that. All you have to do is go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box to get started. I genuinely think you're gonna love it. But now let's get back to the podcast where I talk about something I don't particularly love. Here's the thing about it. They don't talk about very often. But this concept that you have to live in the muck for a while to really understand diabetes, just in case your CGM stops working one day. I don't believe in that at all. I think you can learn about diabetes. While you're taking advantage of technology. Like I agree, I really

Megan Hollinger 26:30
don't like people who say that you should be on injection for a certain amount of time. You should live without the CGM before. That's like saying we should go back to or we should wash clothes on a board. Yeah, right. We're learning before using our washing machine. You

Scott Benner 26:43
want to really appreciate your car walk to work for a year. Well,

Megan Hollinger 26:48
I totally. And so America a lot of people who were whose children were diagnosed A long time ago who say that you should have to do XYZ.

Scott Benner 26:57
Yep. Because it's

Unknown Speaker 27:00
a failure. Yeah. And

Scott Benner 27:01
don't get me wrong in the event of a failure, you are going to need to know more than you maybe would know if you never saw it before. But everybody still goes through that your pump stops working or your site master. The CGM says your your blood sugar's 915. And it's really to, like, you know, like, like, there's that something happens. The technology is not perfect. I really, I so, you know, one of the ways I've stayed in this in this, this space so long, and I don't think I've made too many like enemies is, there are things I see online where I'm like, Oh, I could ruin myself right here. You know, I would love to jump on this one and be like, please stop saying this to people. But yeah, but and and some people who say it, who I really respect to, they just, they're, they're mired down in, in that specific situation. If you listen to the podcasts, you'll hear me say all the time, you do not want to look up and realize the way you're doing it is how they did it 10 years ago, like, it's a bad place to be. Right. So I'm glad to hear you said so. Okay, so you start this Facebook page. But then you start fundraising for jdrf? Yeah. Okay. But you do it in like a million. Like, do you have you even have something coming up now? Which, like, yeah, yeah, you constantly doing stuff. So tell me how that all kind of started.

Megan Hollinger 28:18
Again, by accident. Our friends held this big fundraiser for me right after she was diagnosed. You know, people want to do something and and I have friend who's really good at that. I reached out to a restaurant got all these donations and did this big, wonderful fundraiser. And it was amazing. But it was specifically for us. And I was very uncomfortable with that. Again, I was raised by, you know, Catholic parents who were you didn't ask people for money. You You didn't ask for help you did what you need to do. Even to this day. I've never asked my parents for money. They've given me money, but I've never had to ask, thankfully. And it was just, you know, really inbred. So asking for money just seemed like such a crazy concept. Even when we had to like sell magazines or chances. As kids we were only ever allowed to do it to our family. No knocking on doors. No asking anybody else. So I want to jump in for a

Scott Benner 29:15
second tell you Yeah, Arden school sent home like coupon books the other day. And they were like, you know, sell two of these and it'll knock off $50 from your trip cost this year. And I I put them right back in the bag. Yeah, I took them to the school. And I was like, here $50 just give you the $50. So please don't make me go ask people to buy these books. Yeah, yeah. So

Megan Hollinger 29:38
that might work. Kids. I don't let them do anything like that. Especially because our family is constantly fundraising. I cannot I cannot take on any other fundraising.

Scott Benner 29:48
Well, that's exactly how I stopped, like actively trying to raise money for the jdrf because there was this time I remember looking at someone in the face and I was like, Hey, you know, it's like the fifth year I'd been doing it and they look back at me, like, wait, no one's cured this yet. Like that kid still has diabetes, like how many of you Oh my god, are you gonna come back to me for the rest of my life? Like I could see that look on their face, you know? And I was like, Alright, I'll try to help in other ways maybe?

Megan Hollinger 30:13
Yeah. Well, I've been lucky. I haven't. Really I anticipate that experience, but it hasn't really happened yet. And yeah, go back. So they did that event. And then people start to ask me, are you going to have another event this year? And you know, we're a year in at this point, not that people forget. But people weren't clamoring to hold a fundraiser for us. And I was like, oh, people are kind of expecting me to do something. And so I signed up for our walk, and we started a fundraiser. So that's kind of where we began, I feel like I was kind of peer pressure pushed into it.

Scott Benner 30:52
That's funny. In so you just thought, well, they have this expectation, I am a people pleaser. Let me please them and give them something back. Wow. You I?

Megan Hollinger 31:02
And the truth is, that's one of the reasons I hold it year after year, people look forward to it, and asked me about it before, before it's anywhere near right.

Scott Benner 31:14
And so as long as that as long as that interest is there, you're going to be involved

Megan Hollinger 31:18
like that. It is so hard to be coming back year after year, like you said, asking is so

Scott Benner 31:25
hard. No, no, it's when you're really overwhelmed in the beginning with that feeling like somebody better cure this, then it's easier. And then and by the way, it's it's it's not just very expected. I've had conversations with people the jdrf, behind the scenes, this is this is what they know, this is true. You know, like, in the first five years, people who want to help, can but they trickle off. And they're, they're picked up by the people who come in after them. And it probably, it's not, unlike the rest of it. Like at some point, you have to get back to your life. You can't just spend your whole life in this. And and so, I mean, I always say like people like Oh, the stuff I hear on the podcasts are so helpful. Like, you know, you realize a lot of people know this stuff, right? Like they just weren't like, they just didn't hang around when it was when they got past that like I did. That's all Yeah. And and, and I will say to you, like you call yourself a people pleaser. I'm, I have like a real caregiver mentality. So it just it I have a hard time feeling like I could walk away from it. Like when I hear from her. Yeah, you don't even like I got a little note the other day from someone. And she was just like, she sent me both of our kids graphs. And she's like, before I found your podcast, this never happened. Thank you. Which is lovely. And I think it's

Megan Hollinger 32:42
a and then you're like I can never quit. How would I stop doing that? Yeah. I know. I know. Yeah. There's gonna be another person who sends you something like that. Is every year after the event. I'm like, that's it. That's my last year. I cannot do this. Yeah.

Scott Benner 32:58
How long did it take you to warm up to realize you're going to do it again?

Megan Hollinger 33:02
Oh, well, people laugh at me. They're like, you're good. I say every year, I'm not going to do again. And then I do. I think what happens is, I have these moments where I'm like, I'm out, I need a break, I can't do this. And then I look at Maven, and I really she never gets a break. She doesn't have that, like I really do have the choice to this is a choice I make to do this. She doesn't have a choice. And just because I'm tired, doesn't mean I should quit.

Scott Benner 33:26
Right? So you do what? So what are some kinds of things you do? Like you said, you have something in a restaurant where people come and selling baskets and stuff like that? Eating stuff,

Megan Hollinger 33:36
right? So we hold an event every year in November, right around world diabetes day. And we're really fortunate to have a restaurant that provides us with the space and doesn't charge. So that's pretty amazing. And I pride us on being an affordable fundraiser. We live in Palm Beach County where if you want to go to a fundraiser, it's $500 a play. And so I wanted to reach those people who just want to donate $20 because I feel like they're they're being missed. And so we get tons of donations. This year, we had about 70 of donations for like the Chinese auction, you know, where you put the tickets in. And then about 10 silent auction items. So you can come to this event for free. There's no cover charge, and buy $20 worth of tickets, put them in and win or not, but feel like you did something, you can have a drink and that the restaurant gives back a portion of the drink. We sell t shirts that night. So there's lots of ways to give an inexpensive way and to feel like you're making a difference. And that's what people tell me. I walk away feeling like I helped.

Scott Benner 34:44
And it's something that's accessible to everybody, not just people who have incredible amount of money to throw around. Yeah,

Megan Hollinger 34:50
so and that's what I feel like I go, you know how people say go big, we actually go small. We will and those $20 they really add up And it's, it's, it's been effective. I also try and do things that people would be doing anyway. So there might go out on a Friday night to go get a drink or get something to eat. So if I can capture that audience, that's really good. And now the next event, oh, sorry, go ahead.

Scott Benner 35:18
Oh, I was just as I said, smart city, you're not asking to do something extra. They're just doing right they would normally do, but they're doing it with you.

Megan Hollinger 35:25
Exactly. And the T shirts, like, everybody loves a dry fit t shirt, we kind of try and make a cool design. And now people ask every year, when's the new shirt come out. So again, I'm married to having that T shirt

Unknown Speaker 35:37
design.

Megan Hollinger 35:39
When will the new t shirts be out to people look forward to it.

Scott Benner 35:42
I got I got involved in that a little bit where somebody said, hey, there's a saying on the podcast like bold with insulin. And somebody said, Can you make that into a T shirt? And I was like, yeah, you know what? That sounds like a nice idea. My wife's like, you know, you're starting like a business for yourself here. That's gonna take your time. But I'm like, No, no, no, no.

Megan Hollinger 35:58
So hard to I always say I'm not an apparel store. But somehow I am an apparel store.

Scott Benner 36:03
I was in the post office yesterday. And I realized now the woman at the post office doesn't even ask me how I want to send the packages anymore. She just she's flops on the scale. And she puts the things on and asked me for my money. And I'm like, Oh my God, I've been here so much with these shirts. She doesn't even bother telling me. This comes you know, all the stuff. They say liquid fragile. She just looks at me. He takes the stuff and doesn't like, Oh, my wife was right. I made I made another thing for myself to do. But But yeah, it is really nice to to know that somebody has been so moved by, by something I got set on the podcast that would really literally be willing to put it on themselves on a shirt, you know, so yeah, it's pretty cool. It is. Yeah, I was gonna say, the one year I really, because I used to, you know, I don't know a lot of wealthy people. So I, you know, my donations were smaller when I got up to 15,001 year for my jdrf block. And I was really wow,

Unknown Speaker 36:51
that was really impressive a lot

Scott Benner 36:52
because it was all just like through the blog stuff and everything. But anyway, they, you know, I got invited to the like luncheon at the end of the of the season. And I went to the launch. And they said, you know, you're one of the 10 people who raise the most this year in this in this plastic. Oh, this is really cool. So they got the number 10 person came up at nine and eight every time they got past I don't know, I'm like, Oh, I must have done like, Wow, this is great. I think number five, I got up there. And I was like, this is something. And then they got to the first person who raised like $15 million. And I was like, why am I doing this? I mean, I know my 15 grand was still very important. But that person lives in a different world than I do. Yeah, that's all they did was reach out to their friends to you know what I mean? And I was like, oh,

Unknown Speaker 37:37
like it was different friends. Yeah, Yeah, no kidding. Yeah.

Megan Hollinger 37:42
Sometimes I feel like, gosh, I should be trying to make more money for my family. Because it's expensive. We have four children, we've we refinance their mortgage this year, just to have more cash available every month for copays. Yeah. And part of me is like, should I be putting all this effort into a job that would like make money for the family. And then somehow, I just always come back to wanting a better life for her. And if this even has a claim, it makes a tiny difference or makes it an hour sooner. And I just can't stop.

Scott Benner 38:16
I was always in have been driven by the idea that there was this I probably told this story before, but I'll do it really quickly. There was this article, I forget where I read it in a newspaper where there was a person on the train line coming down the Northeast Corridor out of New York, they got to a stop. It was like five in the morning, that conductor was positive, this guy was drunk, kicked him off the train. About an hour later, he's laying facedown in the stones in the driveway of the train station, somebody walks by who grew up with a person who had type one diabetes, and probably saves this guy's life by recognizing that he's not a drunk. He's his blood sugar's really low. And I always think like, maybe I'll say or do something like that's how it started for me with the plot the blog, I'm like, maybe we'll say or do something that one day we'll you know, in very selfishly, like you said, Maybe my daughter will be laying face down somewhere. Yeah. And someone will walk by that I touched, and they'll walk, they'll know. Right. And that was the very first that was one of the very first reasons why I did it. Like I thought well, I'll if I can't cure it, maybe I'll just maybe i'll i'll litter the world with spies to keep her healthy. Like it almost felt to create advocates.

Megan Hollinger 39:25
Everyone will start carrying glucose tablets.

Scott Benner 39:28
Yes. Exactly. And, and all that really is is a real it's an insight into your insane fear that you have when your kids die. Yes. Right. But, but so that was just it was just a it was a good launching point for me. Like it was like, Okay, let me see if I can create more advocates. Is that how I thought about in the beginning? I don't think of it the same way anymore. Now I think about I really do think more about I just want people to be happy and healthy and get to it and get to a good place faster. Like that's yeah Feels now

Megan Hollinger 40:00
my goal was really never to raise money. I just wanted to educate people. Because even I used to be a registered dietician. So I am lucky in a way that I had heads up and carb counting. But even I, who had a lot of nutrition training and disease training, had no idea how difficult this life is. And if somebody had spent as much time in hospitals and around doctors as I did had no idea then of course, how could the general public now and I, I just don't want people to discount how, how much work it is to just get your day going?

Scott Benner 40:42
Oh, my gosh, yeah. Just to get out the door. Like Yes, yeah, insane.

Megan Hollinger 40:46
And sometimes I get a little frustrated when people are saying they can they, Mike, my child can do anything. The truth is, they can't and everybody can't do anything. You know, I mean, we all can't just do anything. And so sometimes they feel like putting that on them is almost a bad thing. Because then people it diminishes how hard the disease really is. I mean, I don't want people pitying her but I do want people to have some idea glimpse into what life is like for her.

Scott Benner 41:13
This was the first year I I had a private conversation with the art and softball coach, as we were, we were heading off she was going off the play in this really they were, they finished up just a couple game shy going a Little League World Series, they were playing all summer long, it was really it was a lot of fun for them. It was the first time I ever said to the coach, like I'm always like, Don't worry, she'll be okay. She you know, it's okay, we know what we're doing. That was always that you know, if something goes wrong, here's what it'll be. But don't worry, you know about right, you

Megan Hollinger 41:41
don't want people to be afraid of them. And so you find yourself doing that. Yeah,

Scott Benner 41:45
this is the first time I think we rolled up in a practice a couple minutes late, I got sort of like this thing guy. And I later we had a conversation I said, You have no idea the effort the Herculean effort of time and and that Artem puts in two hours before her softball practice starts so that she can be there and ready and unhealthy to go to this practice. Most kids are, hey, practices in 20 minutes, they go put their stuff on, they run out the door, they go up the street, and they're on the field, they're doing it, my daughter starts thinking about a five o'clock practice at three o'clock, about what do I need to eat now I need to get my insulin and I need to get it going so that it can get out. And it can be done by the time and all this stuff. Like, you know, she's out there, when she walks away from her position, which happens to be near the dugout, and you guys take them out into the outfield to do something. She's the only one on the field who thinks Oh, I'm out of range of my decks calm now. But no one else thinks that no one no one else walks out into the outfield and thinks, oh, gosh, I hope I don't pass out out here. Like, like, you know, and, and as I was explaining it to him, you know, it just you could see it. He was just he's like, I didn't he didn't know you know, and and we had a conversation about a week later because we're guys he couldn't get all the his feelings out right away. And he said, you know, he's like, talking that we were talking about and he goes I he's like I I thought about it later. He said I almost cried. He's like, and I didn't I have no idea. And I said yeah, but I can't tell you that because I don't want her to get special treatment. You know what I mean? Like I don't want I don't want her to have special treatment I want her to be be herself and you to think of her not as diabetes you need to think of her as Arden because

Megan Hollinger 43:22
you want empathy not pity and it's such a fine line. Right?

Scott Benner 43:25
Because you also if he ends up being a bad guy, he could take that empathy and turn it into well she can't do it. Right you know and and then this this counter right away and I'm like I said you don't understand the it's a balancing act. And And meanwhile, I was like, I make Geez, maybe I can get away with being late to practice again. Nobody knows this. But but but I never we never were was just this one time that brought this conversation up. It was just it was just interesting. So So you have all these little like you have a like a miniature golf thing coming up is that when it's right,

Megan Hollinger 43:55
so the one in November is for adults mostly. And so we always wanted to do something for kids. So we decided to have a golf tournament, but on at a mini golf location. So it's awesome to have kids playing in an actual tournament. And we give out trophies at the end. But also you can just come and play around mini golf. And it's $25. And you get around in mini golf. You get lunch, there's a DJ, there's a face painter. And so again, it's a day off of school. It's Martin Luther King. So it's something I'm always looking for something for my kids to do that day. And so it's something that people can do. But I often worry oh my gosh $25 because if it was me with my four kids, I probably wouldn't pay $100 for them to go mini golfing told

Scott Benner 44:46
me something on an event like that just an average if you're willing to say like how much does that raise?

Megan Hollinger 44:52
Not nothing that barely covers anything where we make the money is the whole sponsors, okay? So there you have to find other ways to to make Money. So the the T signs, we charge $75. And they write the check directly to for that event, we raised money for children with diabetes, the conference. So they just write a check directly to that. So we usually raise about $3,000 just on hole sponsors, and water station sponsors, somebody sponsors the DJ. So they pay for the DJ, somebody sponsors, the face painter. We sell shirts that day, that's where we really make the money. The $25 barely covers the mini golf in the lunch, right.

Scott Benner 45:33
So So you said would you say then I think what I'm hearing is that you raise a few thousand dollars for a charity, which is amazing. But is it more? The advocacy these? My gosh, yeah, okay.

Megan Hollinger 45:46
Yep. Um, and people just keep coming back. And they will tell me I know more I know about more about diabetes, because of you and me.

Unknown Speaker 45:54
Yeah, that's good. That's really cool.

Megan Hollinger 45:57
So I think I'm unique in the dollar perspective, it's not my ultimate goal. And this year, she was chosen for children's Congress this past summer. And that was a whole new level of advocacy that I had really never been involved in before. We had done the remember me campaign and met with one of our congressmen before, but never on this scale, right. And I can say, I like to knowing less about the political process.

Scott Benner 46:28
I've done the go to the office and talk stuff a bunch of times. But I have to admit that every year when the children's Congress thing comes up, I'm

Unknown Speaker 46:35
like, I don't want to do that. It just, it

Scott Benner 46:38
seems like it's like, Oh, I got to travel somewhere. And then

Megan Hollinger 46:41
a lot of work, I totally underestimated how much work it would be. And for a six year old, it wasn't impactful. For an older kid, I think it would, it would be much more impactful.

Scott Benner 46:54
I've heard people say that to let go. They're not they're not quite old enough yet to appreciate not what's happened or

Megan Hollinger 46:58
really not. And what's expected of them is great. But it does make a tremendous, it does make a tremendous impact. So

Scott Benner 47:07
politically, though, and I as you're saying, and as I'm saying, and I'm thinking there's probably a ton of value in having a little cute kid there, though, like, right, like you're trying, right? You're trying to get people to look and go, Oh, alright, let me pay attention to this. You know, you drag a 15 year old boy in there with his you know, I was gonna say with his Gameboy in his hand, but that would of course, then date me. But But you know, like, who's a little disinterested like on my mom made me come to this thing. You know, that's not that's not gonna make a congressman go, Oh, that's not a heartstring congressman moment, right? May you've come rolling in a pretty dress in her hair. And they want to go, oh, that kid has diabetes. I didn't know it was like was it which is right? Incredibly unfair. But from the advocacy side, I get it. Like, I understand

Megan Hollinger 47:54
why they choose children as young as four. But the demands are great. But it had an impact that we had to make a video a children's Congress video, which was really hard if you're not good at that kind of thing, which I'm not. And just in, in August, the today show reached out to us saying that they saw the children's Congress video and they wanted to do a piece on me. Oh, so it makes a difference.

Scott Benner 48:23
And so that's happened already. It hasn't

Megan Hollinger 48:25
that happened already. Yeah, it just aired about two weeks ago on today.com. And they came to our house for three days, and kind of did a day in the life of type one in their family. And they have to say they did a really great job because we have done other media pieces, where I felt like our message got skewed. And that was really hard to see. This one was really great. And it has over 3 million views. So we feel like even though the children's Congress was so hard, something so good came about. Yeah.

Scott Benner 49:00
I think that if for those of you who write in or like, ask people about their privacy, I think what you're hearing Megan say is that, first of all, you should do what you're good at. You shouldn't you shouldn't aim for something that's not in your wheelhouse, because that's a sure way to failure.

Megan Hollinger 49:16
Absolutely. And it doesn't have to you don't have to raise a lot of money, you can make a difference,

Scott Benner 49:20
right? And then you'll make a difference in ways you probably can't imagine as you're setting it up. Right?

Unknown Speaker 49:26
Absolutely.

Megan Hollinger 49:29
Like, I feel like our community feel so good rallying around someone from the community.

Scott Benner 49:38
Oh, no, absolutely like it. Like I say, you know, I have to be careful. Like I'll say sometimes, like, you know, the blog in the beginning was just me, like, you know, saying, Hey, this is this is my life, your life must be like this too. And that I didn't see. I never want people to think I didn't see a lot of value in that. I think there's a ton of value in community and just the knowledge that there are people out there living the same Life is you. It's a huge component to it. I always just wanted to be clear that I just wanted to. I want to do more than that Mike like I just because I always say like, you know that that's a nice feeling like you're not alone. But at two in the morning when your kids blood sugar's 46. And it's falling, you are sort of alone, you know? Yeah, yeah. Right. And so in that moment, I would like people to have tools, not not just the not the, not the invisible hand on their shoulder, just that like, I think all of it helps like, the, the, the tools to get out of that 40 diagonal down. And, and the feeling that I'm not the only person in the world so that when it's all over, and you've you've stopped it and you know, not overtreated and done all the things you were hoping to do. When you get back in bed and you feel like you want to cry, you realize that's the time to realize you're not alone, right? Like right then and there. Like when it's happening, you need tools.

Megan Hollinger 50:50
Well, and the diabetes online community is pretty amazing. I mean, I don't know any other group like them, but in the hospital, they provided me so much comfort, and not having to actually speak to someone because I could barely speak at the time, like I would just cry, or just being able to communicate with someone online, and not having to hear a voice or them to hear how a week I was at that time was just just to be able to get real information. And tell me it's gonna be okay. It was just huge. I'll tell you the one of the most,

Scott Benner 51:21
I think impactful things that's ever been said to me is that the people in the hospital room during their diagnosis, started listening to the podcast.

Unknown Speaker 51:31
Oh, it's

Scott Benner 51:32
crazy, like to me like, like when you see somebody on a Facebook page, and they're like, Hey, I have some questions, and you recognize they're still in the hospital. You're like, wow, this community is so valuable. Like, like, you know, like, look at them in that moment, a reasonably savvy person with their cell phone can reach out and find a bunch of people who already know what they're going through.

Megan Hollinger 51:52
I know, I'm in a group called diapers and diabetes. And occasionally there will be a post, it'll say, you know, we're still in the ICU. My baby was just diagnosed, you know, a couple days ago, and I'm just like, Oh, you know, it just is. But you're right. They're so savvy. But then at the same time, it makes you feel for people who don't have these tools, you know, who don't have the educational level don't have access to these tools. Who are they? Are they who's helping them now,

Scott Benner 52:18
it's why I'm working to get the podcast out into the real world, I really want to go to children's hospitals and talk to newly diagnosed families the way we talk on the podcast, because, like so you and I haven't really talked about nuts and bolts diabetes stuff, but I'll use an example of something that absolutely breaks my heart and makes me realize that if I fell too far down that rabbit hole, I'd never get out of it again. So this morning, I'm sitting here waiting to talk to you. And I see someone online, they put their Dexcom graph up and they said, Oh, look at this as cereal fail, you know, try to give their kids cereal, there's this giant spike there in the mid three hundreds now. No lie. 20 minutes later, I get something message to me from a mom who once contacted me and said, I just want to know how to give my kids cereal without their blood sugar gone crazy. So she messages me this, hey, I really have it. Now. Now I'm looking at a three hour graph of a blood sugar that has not deviated much from around 90 to 100. Like no nothing, right? for three hours, the blood sugar as 105 she's an hour and a half into a bowl of cereal. And, and I'm just gonna, like, you know, one time, I'm just gonna go out and say she did that with the tools I gave her. So she did not know what she was doing beforehand. And I helped her do it. And now she can do it by herself. But when I see that other person who's on that, that place and I see I think oh, I should contact them, I can help them. But then I'll realize that every one of those posts, you can find somebody in that you're like, oh, like that person just needs to know this. Or this person just needs to know that you can't i can't spend my whole life doing that. And I still wouldn't be touching enough people. I'd just be touching them, which is why we're doing this now. It's why we talk about it. So honestly here. And and then I realize it's reaching more people that at least makes me feel a little better. But you know what I mean? Like it's so weird. It's a weird thing to describe to people who maybe don't understand. But once you've helped one person, then 10 doesn't feel like enough. And once you find 10 100 doesn't feel like enough and once you find 100,000 doesn't feel like enough. And that's sort of

Unknown Speaker 54:25
how it goes. Yeah, most of the time,

Megan Hollinger 54:28
there was a little girl diagnosed the same days. Maybe she was three years old. And her mom was a single mom and hadn't graduated high school. And I think about that little girl often and I wonder if she on the pump that she has a CGM. She probably doesn't have all these benefits that that maze has. And so sometimes when I'm feeling sorry for me if I have to think about how many advantages she truly does have

Scott Benner 54:52
no, and I'll tell you what to, to your point about, like your advocacy touches things you don't expect it to About a year and a half ago, I was spoke speaking to a woman on the phone who could have been that woman deal. Not very well educated kid was young single mom didn't know what to do. And I started talking to her. And I realized that when I started using the any kind of math, like it just the conversation got derailed. She's the one that helped me talk about like, she helped me find a way to talk about this without any specifics.

Unknown Speaker 55:23
Okay, and

Scott Benner 55:25
just the other day again, on Facebook, I got tagged in something and I went and looked in this person said, Oh, this is where I always think about what Scott says about carpet bombing with bazel rates. And I'm like, Oh, my God, did I say that? At some point? Did I make some bizarre, and then I stopped and thought about I'm like, Oh, I was trying in that moment to convey to people about how I like to have a good, strong bazel spread out over the entire war of the pizza. And I think I said carpet bomb. And I was like, Ha, like, because now I searched for ways to say things in such right like, like simple, understandable terms where you don't need to understand the math, or you don't even need to understand diabetes to get the idea of I mean, at this point, Megan, when somebody asks me, like, if if, if I had a choice, the chance to talk to somebody today who was trying to deal with a cereal spike, I would say, I would say to them, Look, you have to try to imagine a tug of war between the carbs and the insulin. And your goal is for neither of them to win as a matter of fact, of the flag in the middle of the rope, we don't even want it to move, we just want them to both start pulling at the same time. And for them to both get tired and stop pulling at the same time and for the road to have never gone in one way or the other. Like, that's your goal, you're trying to time the insulins, effectiveness against the carbs, effectiveness, and where you can get them embroiled in a fight that neither of them when, and and you know, then talk about why that Pre-Bolus thing becomes important and how you have to understand how insulin works. If you don't understand how the insulin works, you're never gonna get through this situation, and blah, blah, blah. And before you know it, I've described this incredibly complex kind of thing in a really not complex way. And

Megan Hollinger 57:06
why and some people are never going to go to scientific group, they're not going to, they're not ever going to be comfortable there. So if you can't give it to them in layman's terms, then you're never going to be successful. And it also

Scott Benner 57:19
doesn't help that often. Sometimes the carb, I mean, listen, I'll tell you right now, I don't count carbs, ever. Never, ever, I just, I look and I go, that's gonna take about that much. And if I'm wrong, then I put on more. And if I'm wrong, if I'm wrong, the other way that I cut back bazel rates or add a little bit of juice or whatever it ends up. I wouldn't begin to know how to take care of somebody

Megan Hollinger 57:39
were sugar surfing before it was cool.

Scott Benner 57:41
Well, but apparently before and I joke about all the time, like I still at this point had had someone not told me to talk to Dr. Potter, I wouldn't know what the heck anyone was talking about when they say shoulder surfing, because that's the other kind of oddity about me maybe is that maybe it's not maybe maybe you feel this too. But I'm so busy doing this. I don't really have any time to consume it from other people. Right? Yeah. You know, and so my, I used to feel like, oh, gosh, like, maybe I should take more time for myself to see what's going on out there. But then I realized these conversations, were doing the same thing for me. So yeah, it ended up being cold. So we are now 55 minutes in. And so I think it now's a great time. If you have any inspirational kind of cheerleading things you want to say to people who want to be advocates and don't know how, because that how did they start? I guess it's like, how would you start right? Now if you had to start again? What would you say to people who want to get going?

Megan Hollinger 58:38
Well, the best advice I think my dad ever gave me was just ask the worst they can say is no. And I have learned it's not so bad to get a no, you don't break into a million pieces.

Scott Benner 58:49
This is my wife, by the way, she was way out of my league. So What's she gonna do say? No, whatever, I'll

Unknown Speaker 58:54
try you out kicked your car.

Scott Benner 58:57
Oh, my God, I completely ruined her life.

Megan Hollinger 59:02
And then once you set the frame at work, and you've asked one, actually, the next years get easy. I just send out a message kind of saying like, it's that time of year. Again, we're fundraising for cure for type one diabetes. For me, I was wondering if you'd be willing to participate again, and I'm going to say 98 out of 100 times people say yes, cool. And then oftentimes, they'll refer me to someone else who might be willing to make a donation. So I would start small, that's number one. Number two, so it's not too overwhelming is if you have a couple other type ones in your town or, or in your area, join your teams together. And you can do something bigger, and then not all responsibility falls on one person. That's a good idea. And that and then you just kind of divide everything up and you're just all one big happy team. Just look for places that you already use the restaurant where we have this event, we, we patronize their, the mini golf place, we, we go there, and, and don't discount that you're helping them. Because I had to be reminded of that before the night of our event at the restaurant, there's far more people there than normally would be. And so you cannot discount what you're bringing to the table to at the mini golf event, we have over 100 golfers come that day, they would not normally have 100 golfers on martin luther king day. So you have value to and you're bringing something to the table. So it's not just a take relationship you're giving to your problem. And I always

Scott Benner 1:00:41
have to remind myself, I'll be giving more you think cuz those businesses are now have visibility to a bunch of people they didn't have visibility to before people they could, you

Megan Hollinger 1:00:50
know, and people have warm feelings about them because they're doing something nice. So yeah, I

Scott Benner 1:00:55
always use the when I'm, when I'm talking to the people who, who, you know, buy ads on the podcast, I'm like, you know, you don't have to do anything, like I'll talk about how I manage Arden's diabetes, and you'll get the bright sunshine to the people who paid so that they can hear it. Like it's not, you know, like, it's, you don't really need to do anything, we don't really need to talk about you, other than the fact that you and I and I genuinely mean this, your kindness led to my ability to say this. And if somebody heard it and was and feels value in it, well, then, you know, you should know who why it's here. Like who you know who the founder of the feast is basically for the last Yeah.

Megan Hollinger 1:01:36
And, and don't don't discount gratitude, either. I should say that I get a picture made up of maize, and have her sign it and send it to every single person who donates. And I see them hanging in the businesses that donate people say I got the picture of me. People really appreciate that written token of gratitude. No, I think that's a secret to success as well.

Scott Benner 1:02:04
Wow. Well, you are a treasure trove of knowledge. And you were just delightful to talk about. Talk about diabetes. Anyway, I appreciate you doing this. People need to know, Megan was not comfortable. Coming on the podcast, I hunted her down through through through backchannels. And then she's like, what? And I made her talk to me on the phone. And then she's like, What's happening here? We

Megan Hollinger 1:02:24
did it. Yeah, right. dry run.

Scott Benner 1:02:27
We did a Skype test last night, which went terribly. Thank you. It was very good. But we did very good that we did it beforehand. But luckily, it all worked out and and to whoever said I can't remember now. I have to figure out when I'm editing it Who? Who was like you

Unknown Speaker 1:02:43
have to have Megan on? Yeah. Me. No.

Scott Benner 1:02:46
Yeah. Well,

Megan Hollinger 1:02:46
she can say thanks. So I can send them a picture thing.

Scott Benner 1:02:49
Well, how about that? Apparently, if you're listening, you can program the podcast yourself if you want to. Just send me a note that I go okay. So and then that's sort of the end of it. Well, Megan, I am. I really appreciate you coming on and spending the time talking with me and I just, you know, what's your? What's the Facebook? How do I find the Facebook page?

Megan Hollinger 1:03:09
Just brave me facebook.com backslash brave maze spelled ma e v. I sentenced her to a lifetime of torture people call her mom.

Scott Benner 1:03:19
Oh, do they? That's mob mob mob? Oh, she's gonna get mad at some point who then if if people are just gonna skip over those letters, they'll be willing to skip over the V at some point. Right? Well, I I would leave my Facebook address here. But you people will never go and follow me. So I'm not even doing it. Just go follow. Just go follow Megan. Forget it. Thank you so much to Dexcom and Omni pod for sponsoring the show. Thank you to Megan for coming on and being so inspirational about our advocacy. I hope she gave you some ideas you'll try to all the people follow Megan on Facebook. subscribe to the podcast. Come on, find a podcast app that you like they're everywhere. If you have an iPhone, it's right on your phone now. It's called podcast. Hey, real quick, my omnipod.com forward slash juice box with a link in your show notes. dexcom.com. forward slash juice box with the link in the show notes. I hope you have a really happy holiday season. I don't think I'm going to put out a podcast around Christmas. Although you guys get new phones and wouldn't it be nice to have a podcast listen to Alright, I'll think about it. I'm not sure. One way or the other. There'll be another one coming up pretty soon. Bold within some t shirts or Juicebox podcast.com what else I really got guys, that's the end of the year. I really appreciate that you're listening the way you are And you're sharing you know, please subscribe if you're not a subscriber, I can see that over 85% of you who listen our subscribers which I really appreciate those other 15% Come on, get a podcast app subscribe. What are you doing? But seriously, this has been another great year on the podcast. I hope you've enjoyed the interviews. I hope you've enjoyed the insight. I hope that you've been getting rid of your fear and finding a way to be bold with insulin. I just love hearing from you guys in the emails and the messages. It warms my heart every time I hope you guys have continued success. And I wish you some happy new year low Awan seeds. When the show starts back up in January of 2018, it will be three years old. Can you believe that? I kind of can't. But it's because of you guys. I wouldn't have gone on this long if you didn't listen. And if you didn't share, I really appreciate it. And to all of you have been going on and giving likes and reviews on iTunes recently. Hey, thank you so much. Merry Christmas. Happy holidays. Happy New Year. I'll talk to you really soon.

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#141 NEW Chicago Cubs pitcher Brandon Morrow

Chicago Cubs pitcher Brandon Morrow...

Brandon pitched (with type 1 diabetes) in each of the seven games of the 2017 World Series, tying a record previously only held by one other major league pitcher. In this episode Morrow talks about playing in the World Series, being a free agent and living with T1D.

You can always listen to the Juicebox Podcast here but the cool kids use: Apple Podcasts/iOS - Spotify - Amazon Alexa - Google Play/Android - iHeart Radio -  or their favorite podcast app.

+ Click for EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.

Announcer 0:00
Morrow delivers a ground ball slowly hit the short seekers got it throws the first thing is over, get the job done. Second pitcher all time to throw in each of the seven games of a World Series.

Scott Benner 0:15
This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Omni pod. On the pod is the tubeless insulin pump that is flexible, precise, simple to use, discreet and waterproof, and gives you the peace of mind that I talked about here on the podcast. This episode is also sponsored by Dexcom. The dexcom continuous glucose monitor gives you the complete picture of your glucose, showing you where it's going and how fast it's getting there. You can learn more about the Omnipod at my omnipod.com forward slash juice box, and dexcom@dexcom.com forward slash juice box also be links in the show notes.

2017 World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers went seven games, it was an incredible series, each one of those games had one thing in common. Brandon Morrow came into pitch. Brandon's had Type One Diabetes since he was 18 years old. And he's on the podcast today talking about being a free agent playing in the World Series living with Type One Diabetes and a lot more. You're going to love this. Please remember that nothing you hear on the Juicebox Podcast should be considered advice, medical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before being involved with Ensign.

Unknown Speaker 1:42
All set I think

Brandon Morrow 1:44
all set I think Yeah, I haven't used the Skype app in a really long time.

Scott Benner 1:48
So that's everyone who's like I don't use Skype that often. I'm like, No, I

Unknown Speaker 1:52
know. But

Scott Benner 1:53
it works great for this. So I appreciate you doing this. Thank you very much for the podcast is really casual. I mean, I have an idea of where we'll go. But I just want to start talking and I think it'll follow along on a pretty good path. I'm recording now. And let me tell you a little bit about myself so you know who you're talking to. I'm 40 I forget how old I am. 4546 years old. My daughter. My daughter is 13 she was diagnosed when she was actually just a couple weeks after her second birthday in 2004. Oh, okay. Yeah. And my son is senior in high school. And actually he just just committed to play baseball in college. Oh, nice. where we're at? At Dickinson in Pennsylvania. Oh, okay. So he's, um, I don't know if he would prefer me talking to him about this like this. He is short for baseball standards. He is a he's a legit 511 and a fairly spectacular centerfielder. But

Brandon Morrow 2:51
yeah, that's not 511. Actually not that short for baseball?

Scott Benner 2:56
I don't think so either. But

Brandon Morrow 2:57
whenever you run into guys who have maybe maybe if you're a pitcher, they might look at you as a touch under ideal, I guess but not for a position player.

Scott Benner 3:10
Is that because pitching wise? Or are they more aware of the angle of your release? And how close you are to the plate when you're letting go?

Brandon Morrow 3:19
Yeah, there's some advantages to that with height. As far as then like extension towards the plate, you know? Yeah.

Scott Benner 3:27
I mean, you are You look like you're feeling like you're letting go of the ball on the grass

Brandon Morrow 3:31
by the time you're done. Yeah, I'm not I'm not incredibly Tom six, three, but I do have a pretty decent extension.

Scott Benner 3:38
Yeah, for sure. So yeah, so it just it as he went through the recruiting process it what would happen was is he would impress people, and then they'd say, we really like you. And then it would be sort of a waiting game to see if they like somebody who was taller than him. And then, and then and then there were guys who thought that way. And then there were and there were plenty of guys who didn't think that way. And the ones who didn't we just started realizing, you know, why are we beating our head against the wall trying to change people's opinions of baseball? Why don't we go where guys think you're, you know, you're a player because you're a player?

Brandon Morrow 4:09
Yeah, absolutely. It worked out really well.

Scott Benner 4:12
And so he's really excited. And we're proud of him, because he's been playing since he was four.

Brandon Morrow 4:16
So yeah, yeah, it's pretty cool.

Scott Benner 4:20
I know you were diagnosed when you were 18. And I know you were drafted out of high school, but where were you in that process when you were diagnosed?

Brandon Morrow 4:28
Had you been drafted already? No, no. And so the draft is in June, I was diagnosed in January. It was it was before our season had kind of really started going. We hadn't played any games and we had probably just barely started practicing. We were out. Doing some conditioning, running, jogging out on the blacktop at the high school and I was complaining about all my symptoms. I remember obviously, the didn't have a lot of weight to lose. So there wasn't like the weight loss, but dry mouth waking up in the middle of the night to have to use the bathroom. And also, you know, drinking like four or five bottles of water throughout the night. blurry vision and all that fun stuff. And one of my buddies had done a research project or paper on diabetes and just said, Hey, like, it sounds like you checked all the boxes, you know, you know, all the symptoms of diabetes, you should probably check that out. So I went home that night and mentioned it to my parents. And, you know, we went on Web MD. And yeah, I pretty much had every symptom to Hawaii. Yeah. So we went to the doctor The next day, I think my blood sugar was like 715. So I was on insulin injections later that later that afternoon.

Scott Benner 5:50
Okay, and so your as a senior in high school in January, did you feel like you were a prospect to be drafted to it? What was your understanding of your trajectory at that point?

Brandon Morrow 6:01
I had already committed to Cal. But I don't think Yeah, I don't I don't know about pro prospects at that point. I think that stuff started coming later towards the end of the year. Yeah, I don't, I wasn't like, a really big, professional prospect in high school. I mean, I was drafted in the 14th round, I guess, if I said, if I really wanted to go, I could have, you know, told them I was definitely gonna sign and probably could have gotten earlier. But yeah, it wasn't that big of a prospect. So they weren't visiting me visiting me like, really early on.

Scott Benner 6:37
I see. And so did you think to yourself, I'm gonna go to college and come out and get drafted higher? Or were you just like, I really just want to go to college and play baseball. Where was your mind at around that?

Unknown Speaker 6:49
Um,

Brandon Morrow 6:51
I think it just worked itself out. Like it was just a better opportunity to go to college. And I was excited to be going, I knew I knew some guys that I played with on travel teams that were going to cow. And so it was, it was already a pretty good, like, situation. For me going in, I was really comfortable with coaching staff like them a lot. And Berkeley's close enough to where I grew up, but also far enough away to where you're, you don't feel like you're in the same spot. So I was excited to go and address stuff, just in case. It didn't make sense to, you know, enough financial aid to pull me away or from education.

Scott Benner 7:29
Yeah. And that experience. Yeah. And so, did you finish account? Well, I

Brandon Morrow 7:33
went three years, so I don't have a degree. But now that in baseball, you know, they allow you to be drafted after three. So I had to take that opportunity.

Scott Benner 7:42
Gotcha. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So I asked all that to just try to figure out what your mindset was because you're 18 years old, you're a senior in high school, you're, it's your mindset is I'm going to college and play baseball with my buddies. This is gonna be amazing. Yeah. And you're diagnosed, you're old enough? Do your parents get involved in your care? Or do they kind of just say, Hey, you got to figure this out on your own? Like, what was that like in the beginning?

Brandon Morrow 8:08
It's hard to it's hard to remember. And, to be honest, I'm sure my mom was involved in staying on me, but I don't remember. Like her really like lording over me and really, like hammering down on what I was doing on the time, I think. Maybe they figured it was better just to let me you know, figure it out on my own because I was going to college, you know, I was going to be on my own in such a short period of time, you know, just six months later that I was then you know, getting dropped off at Cal. It was trial by fire you Yeah, you had to figure it out. I was gonna have to figure it out. And yeah, I don't I don't remember them. Like holding my hand.

Scott Benner 8:53
Really. It's a weird it's a weird time because it to me art you're 18 you're about to leave for school. At the same time you're getting I mean, you just get diagnosed with a with an incurable lifelong disease. It takes insulin to manage and it's it's not easy to figure out what was the expectation back then for you? Were you pumping right away? Or? No, I

Brandon Morrow 9:09
was I did. oranges, or first, maybe like six months and then I got I think I got the pen before I left for cow. And then I had that for another year. So I didn't get the pump until maybe like two and a half years in. Okay. I think

Scott Benner 9:34
were you part of the regular rotation right away, or did you set for a while playing? Yeah.

Brandon Morrow 9:41
I was, uh, I think I started I believe I didn't start on the weekends. I think I started some Tuesday midweek games, and did some relieving on the weekends. But I think I got in there at least once pretty much every week. And

Scott Benner 10:00
yes, so you were in the mix. And so you were having to manage your diabetes along with playing not just not just Oh, yeah, that's Yeah, okay. Do you have a CGM now? No, no you don't so used to see you. So you manage with you manage it by testing your blood sugar. And you know, and and that sort of stuff. Is it mostly mealtime boluses? Or do you find yourself testing and making adjustments during the day? Or what's your what's your standard day? Like would look with the insulin?

Brandon Morrow 10:28
It's mostly meal time.

Unknown Speaker 10:33
Until

Brandon Morrow 10:35
like, maybe during the game, if I'm a little high, I usually so relieving. I'll just go to that, because that's what I'm doing now. Yeah, doing now. So yeah, relieving, you know, I check and eat a little bit before the game, and head out and kind of hang out for a few innings. And then the fourth and fifth inning, I start to kind of get my routine going, and I'll check in then. And sometimes eat a little protein bar or something. And obviously give myself a bolus with that or make any sort of adjustment. Give a little bit Hi,

Scott Benner 11:12
do you ever find yourself low during the game? Or is it is it mostly?

Brandon Morrow 11:15
not usually.

Unknown Speaker 11:18
not usually I have it I have it

Brandon Morrow 11:21
down pretty good. As far as my routines leading up into the game to to get myself My sweet spot to kind of like between 120 and 140. Because I was added, I don't think that it's like a bad situation to follow. I've never been low in a professional game. And I've only been low in a game one time. Starting. I used to go low in my pregame bullpens. But I would have you know, 510 minutes to push it to get myself right. And that was that was plenty of time. But yeah, you know, no problems. No problems in game.

Scott Benner 11:55
You just mentioned having a routine. And I don't know if you know Chris Freeman. He's an Olympic skier who has type one, but I was speaking with him recently. And he called it he talked about, like, the preparation. He's like he has he's a cross country Olympic skier with type one. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right. And so he's like, if I prep, right, I'm okay. And yeah, you know what I mean, and I think that's what you mean by routine, too, is that you just, you know, what works. And you just, you need to put the effort into actually doing it.

Brandon Morrow 12:19
Yeah, for sure. It's like, I mean, I find I find myself saying the same thing. Like, every time I'm asked about it, really, it's just trying to stay consistent. And if I know what I'm putting in my body, and how it's going to react, you know, you find over time that even though something says 30 carbohydrates on it, and you put, you know, 30 carbohydrates in your pump, and it has your ratios all built in, and everything else, it just does not react the way that you expect it to. So, you know, knowing those things, if I have the same protein bar, if I'm at, you know, 165, and I have that same protein bar that has 18 grams of carbs, I know that I can get myself, you know, a third of a unit on top of that, and it's going to bring me down just, you know, just enough, you know, if I, you know, just dial it into 18. And I don't need to make any adjustments, and then it's going to be just enough that I need. So staying consistent with that just kind of like takes it out of your mind. Like any possible, you know, mix ups or or spikes or lows that you could encounter. You trust that you you trust that what you know is going to happen is going to happen.

Scott Benner 13:30
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's a weird sentence. But I say that on here a lot. Like you have to I tell people all the time, like, you know, if, like you were just saying just because a carb count says something. If you bolus something and later you need two more units to bring it back. Well, those two units probably belonged in the initial bolus. Right, so the next time you do it, don't count the carbs again and say to yourself, well, the last time I did eight, it took 10 I'm just gonna go to 10. Yes, yourself and trust what you're seeing is happening yet, you know, so. So you figured out how to do that for yourself. Plus your I find a schedule to be very valuable. Like when my daughter's in school, we have a much easier time keeping her blood sugar where we want it to be because she's regimented. And we know what's coming next and we know what's going to happen.

Brandon Morrow 14:10
Oh, yeah, I'm a I'm a much better diabetic. During the season.

Scott Benner 14:16
My daughter Arden's been wearing the Omni pod tubeless insulin pumps since she was four years old. And just last week, as a part of diabetes Awareness Month, I actually wore an omni pod demo. You know, I tell you all the time, you should try a demo pod. While I tried to demo pod. I couldn't believe I hadn't done it before. So we put it on. And I forgot it was there. I couldn't believe it actually thought for sure it was bothering me or I would notice it or it would feel like a drag but it absolutely didn't. But I took off my T shirt. I was kind of cautious. But other than that my day to day moment to moment, I never once noticed it. It just was really cool. So if you've been thinking about switching your pump or leaving shots and going to a pump, I have to tell you, I think the only pods the way to go for person who never wore one before I put it on and I didn't know it was there. And that has to be a big part of this not being burdened by it. No tubes coming off of you know, things hanging from your belt, nothing to hold on to or remember nothing that can get caught on a doorknob, just this small little device that just adheres to you. And then apparently, you just forget it's there. You don't really have to take my word for it, you could try it yourself. You just go to my on the pod.com Ford slash juicebox. And you fill in the tiniest bit of information and on the pod, we'll send you one out. And if you like it great, just keep going with the process. And if you don't, whatever, toss it away and say I tried it didn't work for me. That Scott guy is crazy. But I don't think you're gonna say that. I think you're gonna say wow, this is worth looking into further. I know that the pot has been a huge part of how we manage my daughter's Type One Diabetes over the years. It is an incredible piece of technology. And I don't know where we'd be without it. I hope you give it a try. My on the pod.com forward slash juicebox try a free no obligation demo today.

Unknown Speaker 16:04
Eddie gotta Morrow continues to be lights out.

Brandon Morrow 16:08
Much better diabetic during the season, because it's like Groundhog Day. You know, it's the same thing every single day you play at seven o'clock you get there at 130. You do you know batting practices at four. It's the you can you can set your watch by where you are on the field. Right? Pretty much And yeah, much better. As far as keeping a schedule during the season.

Scott Benner 16:30
Yeah, yeah, Arden. She's 13 now so she just finished like her she plays softball, she plays third base and she just finished Little League and to give I know every a lot of kids play you sports. But to give you an idea of where she's at. She was 13 was too game shy going to Little League World Series last year. So yeah, so they so she plays and she's little, she's five to try to match is five three weighs about 96 pounds, and throws the ball around at third base, like she's twice that size. And it's it's but the once we got into the real into the tournament, and they were now living in barracks, and literally barracks, and it was really, it was something like I mean, you're used to the travel where you show up on the weekends. And for softball, they play two and three games in a day, and then it's over. And then your biggest, you know, it's easy to keep her balanced, I find it easy to keep her steady during the games. And then you just kind of have to catch a low if it's coming later in the evening. But you know, when they were playing when they went to like once a day, and then you know, it was like practice and then they come off the field and they go do other things. And it's like, wow, this is it was a lot of work. Like it was a lot more work than it usually was. But But we did find a pattern with it after a couple of days. And it became I don't want to say it became easy, but it but like you said like I started to know what was coming. And it was easy to handle it because I know.

Brandon Morrow 17:47
Right? Yeah,

Scott Benner 17:48
that's really it's very cool. So. So I tell my son all the time, that baseball is about playing the next year, like being being good enough to still be there. The next time somebody makes a team. You know, you know, it's great how you're doing now. But you know, you know, are you going to be there next year? Are you still a prospect for the next step in the next step. And I always try to talk to them about not being too like I always tell them like, don't ever feel like you made it in, you know, because I said once you feel like you accomplished what you're going after, you know, maybe that's the maybe that makes that sort of the end of the journey for you. Yeah, you know, and I want and I watch him do that. And I see how baseball pushes him academically. And then vice versa. I see how the academics push like he wanted to play baseball in college. So he tried harder with his academics and I believe he would have if he didn't love baseball so much. And that idea of continuing to get better and improve and find a new like tier to reach for Do you think baseball has helped you with your diabetes or diabetes has helped you with your baseball? Do you believe that they're interconnected in a way that they both like inform each other? Or do you not think that at all like I'm just wondering if if you have that feeling like I see it with with my kids,

Brandon Morrow 19:05
I would say probably that baseball has helped me more with the diabetes Okay, then the other way around? I don't I don't think the baby is helps with the baseball I don't see how that would

Scott Benner 19:17
it doesn't make you tougher or more.

Brandon Morrow 19:20
Yeah, I mean, I mean maybe there's you know, there's some things you could do just that but I think the baseball you know you you obviously have to take your health very seriously. And then there's also the you know, I have to take mice my health seriously for the 24 other guys on the team. And that's what that's why i i've talked about before like, you know, if I go low out on the mound, I'm not just you know, hurting my own statistics or you know, whatever having a bad out again, myself, like that's hurting everybody because I'm out there, doing whatever then then they have to maybe make it pitching change. Or if I make a bad pitch or, you know, based or whatever, whatever you write Exactly. And so you gotta, you know, you're not just only doing it for yourself, but you know, you're doing it for all your teammates as well.

Scott Benner 20:11
And you think that does kind of give you the like, but you sound like me. Listen, I sometimes think that, that athletes don't know how maybe they don't know as much about like, like, I talked to my son about baseball, and I asked him like, how do you do that? He just his answer is like, I don't know, I just I just do it. Like, it's not like he doesn't realize that running. The he doesn't realize that running, you know, 50 yards in three seconds and catching a ball as he's careening into a fence is impressive to other people. You know, to me, like he just feels like that's what happens. That ball goes up in there I go get it. And yeah. And so when it's funny to hear you talk about it a little bit, because it is. It's It's what you do every day is an incredible amount of effort. And it takes a ton of focus. But I think it's probably just by you being a ballplayer, it's just who you are. You know what I mean? Like, I don't I don't imagine, you know, another way to live. Like, if you stopped playing baseball today, I don't think you would suddenly stop taking care of your diabetes, because there was no one counting on you anymore.

Brandon Morrow 21:10
No, no. But yeah, but I think the baseball just with with all the other kind of aspects that that you think about like you think about your your health and diet, and because you want to be successful at baseball, then obviously, controlling and managing your diabetes as well as you can it falls falls into that category of you know, physically preparing yourself to compete.

Scott Benner 21:40
Yeah, yeah. Hey, are there other any other endocrine issues in your family? Do other people have type one or are other endo issues?

Brandon Morrow 21:50
No,

Scott Benner 21:50
no. You just a lucky one, Brandon.

Brandon Morrow 21:53
Yeah. Yeah, no diabetes. My grandfather was type two, but

Scott Benner 21:59
not like celiac or thyroid conditions. My mom

Brandon Morrow 22:01
has a thyroid condition that she takes postwar, I think.

Scott Benner 22:09
But you find that a lot. My wife has a hyper thyroid and had it for years after she had Arden and then ARD was diagnosed. And we didn't even see the correlation until a doctor bottle up one day and said, you'll probably see other endo issues near family line, if you look. And it was interesting that they were there. It was almost like, there were a number of people on the female side of my wife's family who had different endocrine issues, but not one of them repeated. Nobody had the same thing twice. It was a It's weird.

Brandon Morrow 22:36
Oh, interesting. Yeah, I haven't really probably researched that so much.

Scott Benner 22:42
So listen to your you're drafted really high. I mean, five is you must have been pretty thrilled. And and you head out to the Mariners. Was it your intention? like did you hope to start? Did you think you're gonna come out of the pen? How did they use you when you got there and I read your draft profile do I bet you haven't heard this in a while. fastball splitter duo will be tempting for any team looking for an advanced college arm with these two pitches, he could move to the bullpen where he has previous experience. Here's the part that I don't know if it's hurtful or not his weight, and his diabetic condition maker relief are all more possible. Do you think baseball saw you as a reliever just because of your size? Or do you think do you think the diabetes had some thought and how people saw you? Or is this just some guy writing bs for a blog?

Brandon Morrow 23:30
It's probably bs for a blog. But that doesn't mean that other people didn't see it that way.

Scott Benner 23:35
That way,

Brandon Morrow 23:35
I know that the Mariners did not. And that the reason I moved to the bullpen early was not because I was diabetic, but because that they thought they were going to compete and had a need in the bullpen. Okay. And I know that when drafted, they saw me as a starter and allowed me to stretch out and have some starting experience at different points throughout my firt my three seasons there. Yeah, I don't think anybody has ever been pigeon holed me, just at least, at least in the like, baseball development you know, front office, guys, I don't think they've ever cared about the diabetes or thought that it was gonna hold me back. I think there's been plenty written on it and you know, conjecture as to whether or not I would be able to start or whatever because of it or what I would be better best suited to do, but I don't think it ever came into any actual decision making. They don't make baseball decisions based on on that.

Scott Benner 24:38
on things like that. They wouldn't let you pitch and if it didn't work out, then they would have did would have cut there they would have made a change but but not so you don't see because that's what I meant. So I because I've interviewed people on here who whose kids have been kicked off a sporting teams for having diabetes because the coaches were so scared of it. Like I didn't know it, at what level do the coaches not even think about that they think of that as something that's between you And maybe the trainer and it's not even something they get in volved in you know, it's it's funny because I've talked to Sam fold a couple of times and and he said that, like he's he's heard from Joe Maddon like that man so that you'd forget that even had diabetes. Like it wasn't something I thought about when I thought about it right?

Brandon Morrow 25:17
Yeah, I'm sure that pretty much every coach that I've played for would would say that about me, it's just it's never I've never made it an issue, it's never been an issue, you know, when you have it good. And I've always been self sufficient. The trainer's have never had to do anything other than maybe helped me, you know, get the phone number of a doctor to get some insulin on the road or something like that.

Scott Benner 25:43
But they're not involved at your character in the game, or they're

Unknown Speaker 25:45
not involved in

Scott Benner 25:46
my care at any point. It's funny, because even even when I go to back to school night for my daughter, one of the things they'll say is, you know, I was so worried about having someone with diabetes in my class. But to be honest with you, I didn't I don't remember it anymore. As if my daughter's CGM beeps, the teacher sometimes don't even recall what it is because it just doesn't happen that often. And she takes care of it on our own. And I just think it's a good, I want to say a lesson. But I think it's good for people to hear that you were able to get to such a high level in such a competitive part of life. And you're not waving your hands around going, I need help or you know, like, you know what I mean? Like, it's, it's valuable for people to be able to hear you say that, I think and yeah,

Brandon Morrow 26:26
I've been I've been a free agent. I think this is the fourth or fifth year in a row. I've been a free agent. And every time you know, a team asked me like, hey, what what do we need to do for you? As far as the diabetes? We need to connect you with the trainer now? Or, you know, what do we what do we need to have set up when you arrive in the snatch say nothing? Right? You literally don't have to do anything. I take care of it all. Yeah, trainers, like won't even, you know, you don't even see it. Like, I maybe change my insertion site, like a couple times at the field. And maybe that's the only time you would ever notice. No,

Scott Benner 27:03
yeah, do you. Um, so it's funny, I just to wrap this up, as I brought, I brought up my son's height when we started talking. Because I see that as somebody's like, preconceived notion of what a baseball player is. And I knew at some point, we would talk about this. And I wanted to know, if you were ran into people who just had a preconceived notion of a baseball player doesn't have a health issue to think about while they're playing. And it's great to hear that that's not been the case for you. Because it gives everybody hope that, that they can be kind of, you know, counted on their own merits and not and not have to, you know, not have to worry about people doing that to them. It's that's it's really uplifting to hear, actually.

Brandon Morrow 27:42
Right. Yeah. And I think in professional athletics more than youth, athletics is more of a meritocracy. Right? Like, they don't, they don't care if your diabetes is well controlled, or poorly controlled, as long as you're, you know, if you hit 25 home runs, or you know, you win 15 games, like they don't care what you do. Yeah, right, right. And if you can, you know, and obviously, you want to do everything you can to, you know, play as well as you can. So, you know, taking care of your diabetes is is obviously one of the bigger things that I have to focus on.

Scott Benner 28:20
Someone told me one time that I think the team I play for just sees me as a commodity, I'm just a, I'm a piece of meat, they pay me I'm supposed to do what I'm supposed to do. And if I can't do it anymore, then that's gonna sort of be it I have to perform to, to stay. And, and I think that, you know, it's not a harsh thought, it's, it's a business, it's a great sport. And it's, it's a beautiful piece of, I mean, I could wax poetically about baseball forever, and how kind of beautiful it is to watch and, and the game inside of the game and everything. But in the end, you guys are out there, somebody's paying you to do it. And, you know, they need you to do it. So So you think as long as you're not having a problem, and you say you don't need anything, they're not going to worry about you again. And that's gonna be it. That's, it's, I like it. I think it's great. I think that people worry about it. One of the reasons I love talking to you today is because parents who, whose kids get diagnosed when they're younger, one of the first things they consider is what are all the things their kids can't do anymore. That's the first that's their first worry. And to see somebody doing something, it's such a great, you know, a great way to great level, it really does give people hope that there's really no limits, and I shouldn't be placing them on my kids.

Brandon Morrow 29:31
Yeah, well, I think I was fortunate to be diagnosed later. And, you know, kind of already like, my parents were like, Hey, you can't do this. I would have been, you know, like, leave me alone. Of course, I'm going to keep playing baseball. Like he didn't tell me not to go out there and play baseball. They would obviously never have done that. Especially at that point in my life. I mean, I was already going to college baseball like it was. But yeah, when when. I mean, I'm sure my mom Had sleepless nights thinking about what I was doing at school, you know how my blood sugar's were controlled and if I was, you know, doing well or not, and those are probably, you know, well thought out thoughts because I know there was times where, you know, I left my vial of insulin in my dorm room or, you know, whatever until I switched to the pump. Really it was it was probably a bigger struggle. But yeah, I know like, it's it's tough on, on parents with younger kids. I've spoke in front of groups before and they're always it's when you have a group of, you know, kids and parents, you're almost always speaking more to the parents than you are to the children because they're, I mean, they don't care. They're like, they feel right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. The parents are the ones with all the worries.

Scott Benner 30:51
Yeah, it's interesting. So you see you were a tubes, pumps. So you disconnect the pitcher, I would say, obviously, right. In when you were starting, did you reconnect during innings? Or how did you handle that? Because now you're I mean, listen, they pulled you, you you through I can't remember what game it was. But in the World Series. We were we're Phillies fans, but we were cheering for the Dodgers because of you and because I want good things for chase la no matter what. And so I I spent my life pointing to chase Utley and telling my son, if you play like that guy, you'll be okay.

Brandon Morrow 31:22
Right? That's a good, good thought I

Scott Benner 31:26
was thinking the other day about this Dexcom ad. And then I would have to record it. And I thought continuous glucose monitor. Those are not sexy words. How do you make that sound exciting? Well, here, if you're living with Type One Diabetes,

Unknown Speaker 31:39
here's one way

Scott Benner 31:40
right now it's Saturday morning, and I'm editing this podcast, and Arden is sleeping in. Do you know what our blood sugar is? It's ADA. And it's nice and steady. And she's sleeping away and resting up. And I am as comfortable as can be. Now that that is peace of mind. So continuous glucose monitor might not sound fancy or exciting. But it really is. The dexcom g five, mobile is amazing. And you should have one, I'm not kidding. If you should immediately go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box to find out more is x com g five features share and follow apps that are available for Android and iPhone. It is FDA approved to make treatment decisions, which means you don't need a finger stick to dose insulin. Really, the best part is that you know when your blood sugar is moving in what direction it's going in, and you can make these small adjustments to stop it. So instead of getting a high blood sugar that you have to crush later with insulin and you end up low, you just say Oh, it's creeping up, you give it a tiny little bit, you bump it down, you nudge it down. And it's right back again. Just tiny little bumps and nudges that make everything so much easier and keep your blood sugar so stable. It's how we do it. Go to dexcom.com forward slash juicebox. To find out more. If you don't want to use your phone to use your Dexcom It comes with this really great new receiver. You could just use that if you want to. Not everybody has a cell phone. I mean, you might be one in like, you know, bazillion, but hey,

Unknown Speaker 33:06
you'd be you.

Scott Benner 33:25
There was one game you through such a beautiful ending and he lifted you afterwards and I was heartbroken for you. And I don't remember which game it was but you know, that's your role. Right? Like you finished that ending no matter how good you're going. You're probably not going back out again at this point. At least with the Dodgers this year.

Brandon Morrow 33:40
Yeah, most of the time. I mean, you know there there's Yeah, there's there's lots of different reasons for that. It's you know, the the point in the order is how they want to craft their you know, bridge to get to Kenley Jansen and who's coming up next. The fact that if I just throw the one in that day, then I can throw again the next day, which during the World Series I did you did every time. Did you set a record with that? Well, you you tie a record because there was actually no, the gentleman that he derald Knowles is the only other guy to pitch and all seven games of the World Series. I think it was in 73 with the A's. Okay, um, and he was a he was a pitching coach in the Blue Jays organization when I played with him, so I actually knew that about him before I did it, so you can't break a seven game record when there's only seven games and there's only seven K so you

Scott Benner 34:39
take the hall afterwards.

Brandon Morrow 34:41
Yeah, they did. They they a pair of cleats that I wore and my hat.

Scott Benner 34:46
That's excellent. But you take a trip when you're older with your you have kids?

Brandon Morrow 34:51
Yes, we we have a 15 month old son.

Scott Benner 34:55
Oh, congratulations. Yeah, there'll be a road trip in your future one day where you pointed out issues. And it's really it was really cool. I mean, you were so your Can I ask you something because I, I became aware of you, I guess in Toronto, you and I actually tweeted back and forth years ago, which you would have no idea. Okay. But I became aware of you there because of the diabetes Did you? My first question is did you cross over with Roy Halladay? Or did he leave you where

Brandon Morrow 35:22
he was? So, in the oh nine 2010 offseason, Toronto hired a new General Manager Alex anthopoulos. And his first move as general manager was trading Roy Halladay to the Phillies embrace every day for that mistake. Yeah, sure. Well, they had to they had to do something they were they were starting to rebuild and was still great, but nearing the end of his career. Sure. And they got really good prospects in return. And then, but anyway, the second move that he made maybe four or five days later was trading for me from Seattle. So we know we never we never played each other. We never been teammates for any period of time by about a week.

Scott Benner 36:16
I'll tell you a couple of years. I got to watch him like throw every day. He just it was amazing. He just He appeared to will the ball to go where he wanted it. Yeah, it was really something to watch him just to go and we were actually in my sunlight. We're in Florida. In his last season first spring training, and I watched him pitch. I was up on a hill. So where was I did the Tiger Stadium. I was in the outfield up on a big berm. So I might have bet that we might have met the Tiger Stadium and he was laboring and laboring and I've never felt so bad for a person I didn't know personally in my entire life. Like he you could see how badly he wanted to do what he wanted to do. And he couldn't get his body to do it anymore. It was Yeah, it was heartbreaking. Yeah, you know, but but you're not having that issue later in your career. You're on fire?

Brandon Morrow 37:02
Well, not not anymore. I had I had shoulder surgery a couple years ago, that, you know, has seemed to clear everything up I had, I was lucky to just have a debridement surgery. So that means they just, you know, trimmed the fraying tissues and cleaned it up and made it all nice and tidy. So nothing was rubbing on, on different things in their intention and no anchors or sutures to fix any tears. gag I really like with that. And it really felt really, really good this year and everything just so much better and seem to clean up a lot of issues that I hadn't passed.

Scott Benner 37:45
Yeah, that's excellent. So you were you. You weren't out but you, you. You went to the miners at some point before you came back up, right?

Brandon Morrow 37:52
Yeah, I have two years in a row. I signed a minor league deal. I signed. Don't 15 after I was done with in Toronto, I went to San Diego I signed signed a deal to start with San Diego and I made five starts with them and then was ultimately shut down with what ended in the shoulder surgery. And then I resigned with them after that winter and spent 16 with them. Mostly in the minor leagues. I tried to start a little bit at the beginning. And then started relieving about the all star break. I made it back up to the major leagues in the middle of August. with them. I pitched great, but I didn't really have like my stuff back. Okay. It was okay, I was getting out during the ball where I wanted to but nothing was I wasn't impressing anybody obviously because I had to sign another minor league deal the next year, which was before this season, so I signed with the Dodgers. And I was able to have a full offseason. I mean because I going back to the year before even after right after the surgery then that winter I came down with valley fever which is a it's like it's basically fungal pneumonia, which you cannot Yeah, it was miserable. So I was bedridden for three weeks and really couldn't work out at all. So that was a huge wrench in my plans. But I had you know, a full healthy offseason before this last year in the spring training I knew things were immediately different for the better with my body and I started in triple A with them after well in spring but I just have so many guys I have so much that snack last year it was crazy. Yeah. And they just had you know it's just roster management. And you know they could afford to stash me in the minor leagues for a couple months. So I so I stay down there and pitch and then obviously through through great when I came back up and say the rest of the time

Scott Benner 40:00
you sat around him You sit right around 99 you hit 100 ever? Yeah. Is it frequently? And that was it like that before the surgery?

Brandon Morrow 40:10
It was Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I could I could run it up. I could always get probably hit 98 in almost every startup ever. Okay. Made minus like the last couple years before shoulder surgery probably. And I probably sat like 94 starting. But relieving. Yeah, I mean, everything gets bumped up a little bit.

Scott Benner 40:34
And so it's funny. I can't think of his name now. But he's in the club system. But a few years ago, we were my son was working out somewhere locally here in New Jersey. And there was a kid in there and he was throwing, he was already in the minors with the cubs. And he was pumping just like that. But I asked, we were talking a little bit and he said, Yeah, I don't know if I'm gonna make it. I'm like, dude, you're throwing 100 miles an hour. It's like he's like, but I get hit. And I was like, wow, that's first of all. That's insane. And he really had to learn how to pitch even just throwing that hard wasn't enough. Yeah. He said, you know, through college, and everything, it didn't matter. He's like, I stood up there and just blew people away. And he's like, and I got that a minor and these guys knocked me around, like, like, it was nothing. And I was like, wow, that's insane. So I guess my bigger question is about that as I mean, it's you obviously can pitch you're fantastic. But I was wondering how much the hitting theories in baseball right now affect pitching. I don't know if this is to baseball geek, you're not but I really care. So is the idea of guys swinging for launch angles? Does it change how you have to pitch?

Brandon Morrow 41:41
Yeah, that is real baseball geeky and yeah,

Scott Benner 41:43
sorry.

Brandon Morrow 41:44
Right. Yeah, I think I think guys going for launch angle. And, you know, the way they have to manipulate their bat path to get to that I think that does fall into what at least the Dodgers did. Our philosophy was high fastballs and you obviously have to have the velocity to throw it there. And then also other fastball characteristics, characteristics like spin rate and rise and all that other stuff. And I think that guys just have trouble getting getting get Terrell to the top of his own like that. And we had a lot of guys with that. Were really good at doing that.

Scott Benner 42:34
Right. Especially in the bullpen, when they hit her can actually catch one of those. It's shocking. It just the pitcher look shocked. The hitter look shocked. I look shocked sitting at home. like everybody's like, wow, how did you did you barrel that up up there? You know, but yeah, but it seems to me that the way the game ebbs and flows, at some point, pitchers are going to like, you know, would have been able to devise a way to pitch around what they're trying to do. And yeah, it goes back and forth. I mean, you see, you saw so many sinker ballers in the late 90s, early 2000s. And that was combating the, you know, huge home run numbers that you saw then and, and then now, guys,

Brandon Morrow 43:14
Bennett, you see a lot of good low ball hitters. And that's probably partially because there were so many sinker, ballers And guys, so much pitching philosophy was just throw it down, down down all the time, right.

Scott Benner 43:29
And you'll learn how to get your hands out then to get under that and

Brandon Morrow 43:32
yeah, and then now you see it just kind of going the other way. It's like a, you know, constant back and forth. By it's fun when you're they'll continue you know, it's probably cyclical the way you know, everything else is

Scott Benner 43:44
Yeah, I know. My son hopes it doesn't go the other way too soon, because he just figured it out about a year and a half ago. So

Unknown Speaker 43:49
I'm pretty thrilled at the moment.

Scott Benner 43:52
Which Jamie Moore you're in Seattle when you get out there. He just he talked about his

Brandon Morrow 43:56
Yeah, his his last year in Seattle was the year before it was the year I signed with the Mariners. But the year before that, I got to the major leagues. I actually played catch with Jamie the day that I signed my contract after being drafted Wow, that's crazy. They bring they bring you up to Seattle and you know do a little mini press conference and then you send you sign your contract and I went out and I changed and play catch with the guys on the field and Jags and batting practice and stuff so I played catch with Jamie wire but that's pretty cool. I don't think I ever met him again after that.

Scott Benner 44:29
He's very he's very involved in in supporting good causes. And I and I know you you really have thrown a lot of your weight behind the jdrf which I I really appreciate i think i think a lot of the things that the jdrf does is exciting. But I I'm always most impressed with the work they do in Washington on behalf of people living with diabetes like I think that's incredibly behind the scenes but very, very important.

Unknown Speaker 44:55
Do you

Scott Benner 44:57
do you have other things You do around diabetes? Or is the jdrf sort of your main focus for your, your advocacy for type one?

Brandon Morrow 45:07
jdrf has been the easiest. Yeah, because they're the most prevalent. So they've been the easiest organization for me to reach out to or have them, you know, reaching out to me. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do as much as I would have liked. You know, after kind of starting to get settled in my career, then I had all the injuries. So when you're not on the field, it's hard to do all the other stuff because you're, I spent so much time rehabbing either in Florida or Arizona that I, you know, I was starting to get especially when I got to San Diego, there's there's so much in that areas with medical research. And they, one of the owners is is diabetic. Peter Siler and I met him right away when I was there, right. And his wife is, like the director of the San Diego chapter of the jdrf. So they were already involved. So it was it was a really nice situation for me to get involved in. And I did some stuff early where, you know, kids come out and you meet them on the field, and you talk and just kind of a meet and greet and, and I went I did a couple events. There was a jdrf, one walk or something that yeah, that I got involved with, and, and then I was hurt. So it's like, if you're not around? Yeah, it's hard to do it. Yeah. Yeah. It's hard to be involved. So then there was the whole, you know, the next year and a half was pretty much a focus of trying to trying to get back and go back to the major leagues. And it's hard. And obviously, there's, you know, when you're, you're not out there, like, you're not, you're not getting the call is that? Yeah, help anybody out?

Scott Benner 46:52
Well, you know what, though, it's, I mean, every time I've heard you speak, you talk about it with no fear, like, it's, I can see a situation where somebody might want to keep that more private, because they don't want to get judged. They don't want people to have cross thoughts about them. But I've always seen you be very just out in front of it. And you know, I have diabetes doesn't change doesn't change what I do, it doesn't change how I eat, you know, like the kind of messages I think that people need to hear about it, which is, you know, it's, you know, it's seeing you talk about it, or, you know, watching the World Series and having, I think you I think they started to talk about it one night, and then you got the guys out so fast. They couldn't get the story out, which was funny, and sad. At the same time. I was like, oh, they're gonna talk about diabetes. Unless Brandon just Nazis guy. Yeah,

Brandon Morrow 47:34
that was actually I think that was game one. I actually I tweeted out a picture because Ken Rosenthal was wearing his jdrf tie. Okay, he wears a bow tie every game with a with a different organization, a different charitable organization, with their logo printed on it. So for game one of the World Series, he had a jdrf tie, which was actually it was voted in. As you know, the game one time, he added on whatever website or, you know, a fans vote on which tie they want him to wear in the jdrf that they voted for game one. So he's wearing that I tweeted out a picture with me and him in the clubhouse before. With him with it on But yeah, I think I watched the back that somebody said they were, you know, the same thing. And yeah, it was funny. I was, I think I threw like six or seven pitches, and they use and he was like, Alright, and come up next. Yeah, exactly. I

Scott Benner 48:29
don't think I've ever heard about Yeah, I didn't. I've never written for anybody to plunk somebody before. I'm like, but he needs a guy on base and get the story out.

Brandon Morrow 48:36
And yeah, and then I don't think they ever got through the rest of the series. But

Scott Benner 48:41
yeah, it's got less than that. You're doing other things. And it's really cool. So like, just watching you out there playing. So I don't know, if you like how aware you are of it. Like my daughter. My daughter plays salt. Like my son lives and breathes baseball, right? So he's right now wondering why it's not warm out where we are. So he can go outside. You know, he's only paying attention in school. So we get to college and keep playing baseball, like that. But my daughter is good. My daughter is very good at it. But she's also the minute she walks away from it. She doesn't really talk about it anymore. But I saw her stop in front of the television a couple of times during the series. And she's like, Is that him? And I'm like, yeah, and then she just sort of sit and watch it through. And then you know, and she get up again, but you could just tell it meant something to her that other person with diabetes was, was there doing that thing? You know, like it was me it was meaningful to her to see you there. And what I saw on social media and in the circles that this show travels in, is it there are a lot of people who felt the same way. Like if it was you know, I don't know if no one was cheering for you, except for the people with diabetes, you still would have had a lot of people cheering you know, so it's just really I'm thanking you when I have no business thanking you but I it really does mean a lot. You're just living your life but by being open about It means a lot to a lot of people. Yeah.

Brandon Morrow 50:01
Yeah, that's great. And it's something that I just I, I guess you don't ever think about.

Scott Benner 50:07
Yeah, there'd be no reason to usually you're living your life. It's, you're just doing it. So. Alright, so this podcast is gonna go up the second week in November. But I am gonna ask you some questions. I don't know if you can answer that. So you are a free agent right now. I don't even know if you if it's smart to say do you have a place you hope to go? I hear some people talking about you should be going to the cubs. Some people say the Dodgers are definitely gonna resign you again. You're You're a hot commodity and baseball. First of all, it does that feel great.

Brandon Morrow 50:37
Yeah. Yeah, no, no, no, it's good. For sure. I mean, like I said, last year, I signed a minor league deal. And it wasn't until the end of January. So to have, you know, teens already, you know, calling on day one of free agency is definitely a different, different situation. And different fans definitely. Obviously the situation you'd rather be in. Yeah.

Scott Benner 51:03
Well, you deserve it. That's, that'd be first of all, you worked at it. And you mean,

Brandon Morrow 51:07
yeah, a lot of a lot of hard work a long, long path to navigate my way here. As far as the teams go, I mean, going back to LA would be great. They're set up to be good for a really long time. I don't really care if I start or close, that's not as important to me as playing for a contending team and having a chance to win a World Series. I mean, this is my first time playing in the postseason in my It was my 11th year in the major leagues, and my first time playing in the playoffs. So and you hear about it, and it's different. And I mean, once you get there, you don't see you don't want to play regular season games again. Just want to get it again. Yeah. So I think that's that's obviously the number one thing on my list. Yeah.

Scott Benner 52:03
And are you are you hoping for more than one year this time?

Brandon Morrow 52:07
Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think I'm in a situation where where I can get commands, you know, two, three, maybe four years. So it's I don't have any you know, there's it's still a little bit slow. Things are you know, teams are obviously checking in and gauging interest and you know, we've been receptive to all of them. I don't I don't have any Korean but crossed off my list. I think in the next couple of weeks leading into the, to the winter meetings, which are like the second week of December I think, that's that's when all the action happens. So it's just kind of, you know, sit and wait until then. Well, I

Scott Benner 52:49
listen, I don't think the Phillies are in a position that you want to be in yet. But you could always fall Gabe Kaplan out here to Philly for us because my my son came home about 20 minutes before you and I started talking. I said you have any questions for Brian? He goes, No, Tom would come to Philly.

Brandon Morrow 53:03
And he kept log ins like, okay, they're gonna be good. I think I mean, we put we played him in August, maybe or early September. And it's a really they got some really good offensive pieces.

Scott Benner 53:16
Yeah. Yeah, no, absolutely. I just I don't know. I don't know if it's time to buy a ticket. Somebody with your specific skill set?

Brandon Morrow 53:23
I don't know if they're up to that yet or not? Well, it just, I mean, objectively speaking, it just didn't really kind of doesn't really make sense for them. Right. At that point to add, I guess I would be like a complimentary piece. Right. You know, that there's they're still working on getting all their all their pieces together. And I guess I would consider myself just somebody like, if you're knocking on the door, just to somebody that can help get you over the top.

Scott Benner 53:50
You're You're really nice add to a team who's there? Yeah. And and for a team who's struggling or not there yet. a position like yours is I don't want to say it's a waste of money, but they might not be in a position to use you that much.

Brandon Morrow 54:04
Right? Yeah. And you might as well just have, you know, you know, see what your 23 year old prospect can do at the same time then rather than signing you know,

Scott Benner 54:13
you know what, speaking of that, you guys were you had so many young guys on the field with a Dodgers issue. Do you think that's a trend in baseball, or do you think those guys are just special? Because in football, you know, you remember it used to be football you got drafted. You sat on the bench for a long time you watch them play football for a long time before you got in the field. Now. It's a race to get you on the field. Is that happening in baseball or we are Korean and Belgium. They just they just special? Do you think at a young age? I think

Brandon Morrow 54:39
they're just special. I mean, I don't I don't think most teams are in a real hurry to get their guys there. I think actually, they'd probably rather have them take their time. But those guys are different.

Scott Benner 54:54
It's just different. Oh, yeah.

Brandon Morrow 54:55
Yeah, that's I mean, they're, you know, They're Mike trout and Bryce Harper, and they're there. And Chris, Brian, they're lumped in with those guys like those guys. They're just Yeah, they're just different players like they belong there. And there's, you know, no reason. I mean, if there was a league higher, that'd be in that league. So,

Scott Benner 55:15
yeah, but my wife walks us over enjoying one game, and I think they had the camera on first patient. She goes, is that kid like 12 years old? I said, he does look young, doesn't it? I think it's a game you learn. Right? Like, I think that I think that is I watch. Listen, it's my son's not a professional baseball player. But I watch him absorb the game and take lessons out of things. And, you know, we've we've had weekends where I think an untrained person who didn't understand baseball would think, well, what a waste of a weekend and my son will come off the field go, No, you know what, that's the first time anybody ever hit a ball that high over my head, it was great to see that. And, you know, like it, he's like, now I know, when it leaves the bat like that. I know where it's going next time, there are these little lessons you learn as you're going through, and you have to play the game and watch the game be played to, to absorb that stuff. Unless you're such a super, you know, athlete and talented it just, it just comes that simply to you, I guess. Right? Well,

Brandon Morrow 56:16
I mean, as talented as the guys that we just talked about are I mean they're they still work as hard as anybody and you know, in between at bats are still, you know, going to the batting cage and trying to figure out what they did wrong with that just one swing and you know, everything, you know, everything you just talked about. Yeah,

Scott Benner 56:34
it's funny how videos come into play. Like I I'll actually because through the recruiting season, I was the camera monkey. While I was trying to train myself trying to gain interest. You know, somebody's busy just holding up like getting at bats and stuff. And at the first we just thought we were just doing it to have the video to show people this is how he plays. But at some point, he'd start coming over the fence. He's like, Can I just see my like, second and third swing of that bat? And I was like, and you could really see it helping like I was like, wow, these these like advanced holes are real and Oh yeah, it's really sad. I mean, do you watch yourself pitch ever? Like and Oh, yeah. Do you watch the hit of what's more valuable to watch the hitters react to the pitcher? Watch your mechanic Sterling or is there is there value in both?

Brandon Morrow 57:17
Um, yeah, there's value in both I mean you're watching we were watching for different reasons I don't I don't try to do a whole lot of mechanical analysis on myself. I'm one I'm pretty physically intuitive, I guess. So I can feel a lot of things and make a lot of changes on the fly. But I don't I think I think it can be detrimental to stare and watch it yourself and watch yourself do the wrong mechanics. And if you're trying to fix stuff that's what you're watching a lot of is really self care and rocks have sometimes times I actually watch more video of myself doing well which guys kind of call it like a digney video right? So you're watching yourself either like hitting homers or striking guys out but you're also reinforcing like good mechanics. Like in your mind, if you're watching yourself throw great pitches, then you're kind of like, I guess one building your inner confidence like like I don't know how nasty I am or whatever but you're also watching yourself with good mechanics because to throw a good pitch you have to have good mechanics to throw it and to make it you know to hit a home or you have to have you know good bat path and good swing mechanics to get the barrel they're

Scott Benner 58:37
amazing. You have to believe in yourself like you have to believe you can do it yeah, and not think about and I'm thinking about you pitching right now. You're you're you're an athlete not some There used to be a there used there can be a delineation some guys are just pitchers. Do you know what I mean? Right there. Yeah, throwers they get up there, then they throw but you're athletic. So you, you it's I'm really drawing a line here with my son because it's where my bits where my experiences, but like, like seriously when I'll say to him sometimes like I saw him catch a ball one time, like it was every bit of 400 feet and over his shoulder and it looked like he we were standing the backyard. I just flipped it to him. It was amazing how clean and easy he got to the ball. And I pulled him aside as his father amazed. I said, How do you do that? Like that's, that's amazing. And he's like, I don't know, he's like, you just, I just go and I'm like, wow, that's he doesn't even realize how athletic he is. And see an athletic so what I'm so excited about about baseball nowadays is watching real genuine athletes play baseball has elevated the game incredibly. And they're not just guys who play baseball anymore. They're like legit world class athletes. And I think maybe that's what you have going on is that your body just does what it does, and you trust it and and you can feel it. You know, it's a it's just very cool to watch. I sounded like I was gonna ask you out in the date there for a second. I apologize about that. But um, it's just if you will Baseball. It's really great to watch, you know, and so

Brandon Morrow 1:00:03
yeah, definitely. I mean, you definitely don't see. I mean, it's more of a, I guess, with the body types anyway, it's more of a throwback body type like a Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Ted Williams style like body where obviously with the PD era you saw big hulking guys busted out of their uniforms and yeah, clicking home runs out and yeah, I think the value teams put on speed and defense has gone up a lot. So, obviously to play good defense, it's going to help to be faster and in better shape and be able to get to balls. And yeah, you definitely see a lot more just pure athletes than he did maybe 1015 years ago.

Scott Benner 1:00:48
I appreciate watching. Like, I think it's I think it's amazing. I appreciate watching you this year. And I know everybody else did, too. I'm gonna I'm gonna let you go in a minute. But um, I just let me tell you, thank you for for coming on and doing this. I genuinely appreciate it. This is my last question. Right? Like it? You You made a statement earlier about like, now you almost don't want to play a regular season game you want to get back to the World Series? Did you have that moment where you're like, Wow, I can't believe I'm here. Like I we did it. I did it. I'm here. And and I don't want to bring you down. But like, how? How was it crushing to lose? Or was it amazing just to be there. Because if as people who watch those games, there's two, there's two teams were amazing. Like, every at bat, I didn't know which way it was gonna go every inning you didn't know which way to go. You had a feeling like if this game kept going on, they both could win it. Like it had that weird like vibe. Like you almost didn't get lucky to come up against a team that was just not quite your equal. Right? on both sides. You know? And what does it feel like? I mean, I don't know if you can or you want to articulate but what does it feel like to get that close to something and then not quite get there? Does it just keep you hungry? or How would you describe it? Yeah, I

Brandon Morrow 1:01:59
think it. I think when you did it? Yeah, it's cliche, but when you get a taste of it, then you're hungry for more, I guess to be to finish off, you know, huge cliche there. But it's true. I mean, but yeah, it was there was every emotion involved. It was exhilarating and thrilling, and the best thing ever, but also the worst and crushing and heartbreaking. At the end. And and but I mean, it was obviously an amazing, amazing experience. And like I said, like the regular season, just the grind of that is different. And yeah, the postseason was it was awesome. Yeah. Well,

Scott Benner 1:02:50
you guys gave me a real gift. And I'm sure a lot of other people too. But I was at one night, the game just went on forever. I forget how many innings it was, but my son like sat up together. And Cole and I were watching the game. And at some point, and I got a little melancholy and I said, Hey, this is probably the last time we'll sit down and watch the World Series like this, you're gonna go, you know, go to school, you know, and you'll be in college the next time the series is on and he he's, you know, he's, he's a but he really is a ballplayer, kind of, he's a quiet kid. He doesn't say a whole lot. And he just really like very just kind of earnestly said to me, it goes down, though. He's like, the Phillies will be in it next year, I'll come home and watch it with you. I was I was like, Oh, god, I'm gonna cry. And so like it. But it gave me that moment, one o'clock in the morning, where I was having such a great time with my son and just watching the game. And I mean, the only complaint I have is it would be nice if they started the game a little earlier. But other than that, it's it. It was really, it was just a really nice moment to watch. Yeah, I just think that the baseball is is is it's so much more than people who don't love baseball think it is. And I just I appreciate having it. You guys created that sort of moment for probably a lot of families. So it was really cool. To do it again. I hope you go back to wherever you wherever you want to be. And, and you're crushed again the way that because it was it was really exciting to watch. Yeah, no

Brandon Morrow 1:04:07
doubt.

Scott Benner 1:04:08
Thank you very much. huge thank you to Brandon for coming on the show and talking about playing in the World Series and living with type one. Thank you also to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation for helping me set this interview up.

Brandon Morrow 1:04:19
Thank you jdrf.

Scott Benner 1:04:22
Enjoying the Juicebox Podcast. press subscribe in the app you're listening in right now you'll get a new episode every week. Thank you dex comment on the pod for supporting the podcast so generously go to dexcom.com Ford slash juice box or my Omni pod.com Ford slash juice box to find out more.

Announcer 1:04:38
So this is his moment. Morrow delivers. I'm gonna grab ball fully hit the short seegers got it throws the first thing is over and moto gets the job. Second pitcher all time each of the seven games of a World Series.

Scott Benner 1:04:55
Hey guys bold with insulin t shirts are available now at Juicebox Podcast. dot com. Let the world know you're bold,

Unknown Speaker 1:05:02
could become a free agent. Dodgers gave him that chance and today find lightning in a bottle with Morrow who strikes out three batters. He's been doing that all postseason law. What a pitcher

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#140 Dr. Eric Johnson, T1D

Doctor, doctor...

Eric was diagnosed just after completing medical school. 27 years later Dr. Johnson is here to offer his perspective on living and practicing with type 1 diabetes. 

You can also listen to the Juicebox Podcast on: itunes/ios - google play/android - iheart radio -  or your favorite podcast app. Now on Spotify.

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Donate

The Juicebox Podcast is a free show, but if you'd like to support the podcast directly, you can make a gift here. Recent donations were used to pay for podcast hosting fees. Thank you to all who have sent 5, 10 and 20 dollars!