Living with T1D for 25 Years: Philippe's Inspiring Journey

Step by step, Philippe learned to tame this new reality. "I have become somewhat of a cyborg!" he says jokingly, referring to his daily blood glucose checks that he monitors from his smartphone screen. "A cyborg is a mix of human and machine. Thinking about it, I've almost become that! Sure, monitoring your sugar level can be restrictive, but you can also turn it into a game. I try to stay stable between two numbers as often as possible. When I succeed, it motivates me to stay efficient in managing my diabetes."

Profoundly optimistic, Philippe believes in the future and the progress of artificial intelligence: "I eagerly await the day when a machine, as small as possible, can fully manage the disease and automatically inject the necessary doses based on my activities: whether it's sports, a walk with friends, or a day of work in front of a screen."

Passionate about building Legos, online dragsters racing, and badminton, Philippe admits that his beginnings were not easy: "At first, what scared me the most were the injections. I made a mountain out of it. But in the end, on a daily basis, it's nothing at all. The needles are tiny. What's a bit more annoying are the blood tests, but that's generally once a year..."

Adopted, Philippe knew nothing about his family history. It was only much later that he learned that his biological grandmother had died from diabetes. But for him, this diagnosis was a turning point, not an end. Philippe bounced back, little by little, and learned to live "with" the disease. "After a year or two, I fully integrated diabetes and didn't even think about it anymore. It is now part of my life. It's a part of me. We are linked to each other. I have it, I have it, and how I got it... I move forward!"

At work, Philippe played his cards right from the start. "I told my employer right away. Everyone is aware. Yes, I sometimes have hypoglycemia, but I explained the situation. I have a reserve of sugary drinks within reach. My colleagues warn me if my alarm goes off. Fortunately, I have an intellectual job, behind a desk, with water nearby. It would surely be more complicated to manage in a physical job..."

He humorously recounts some anecdotes: "I've already found myself having a hypo in the middle of a meeting. You're there, you want to say something, and no way! The brain stops first in these cases. It lasts 10 minutes, the time to re-sugar myself, and then it passes. It even happened to me on the phone! I just told the person, 'I have hypoglycemia, I'll call you back,' he smiles.

Over time, Philippe found his bearings, learned to listen to his body, and anticipate the warning signs of weakness. His cat Izis, who has shared his daily life for 8 years, has also assimilated his glycemic fluctuations. "Two or three times, she woke me up in the middle of the night when I was hypoglycemic, where I hadn't even realized it myself."

Even in specific contexts, like ski vacations, his friends take care to ask him: "Are you managing with your sugar?" But he has never been treated as disabled: "It hasn't changed anything in my relationships." He also found sources of inspiration, like Alexander Zverev, the world number 2 tennis player, who also lives with type 1 diabetes. "It's a great example to show that nothing is impossible. You can even reach a level of competition; diabetes doesn't limit us."