Virtual Health Center

On the morning of May 21, Aaron Jaffe climbed out of the water in the Memphis in May Sprint Triathlon in Tunica after his 31-hundreths-of-a-mile swim and headed for the competition’s transition area.

Instead of changing clothes and jumping on his bicycle for the second leg of his triathlon, Jaffe pricked his finger to draw blood. He had to know his blood-sugar reading before continuing.

Photo by Kyle Kurlick Buy this photo »

Blair Ball/Special to the Commerical Appeal

That, in a nutshell, is life for the 34-year-old vice president of a Memphis debt management company.

From the age of 3, when he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, Jaffe has faced — and learned to manage — the challenges of living with a pancreas that does not work and never will.

“I am my own pancreas,” he says.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease — the pancreas stops making the insulin that the body needs to control blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes, which can be cured, is a metabolic disorder — the pancreas doesn’t make enough insulin, or the body doesn’t use it correctly.

Raven Hicks is in charge of development for the West Tennessee branch of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She says that of the 24 million people in the U.S. who suffer from diabetes, 3 million have Type 1.

The mission of JDRF, Hicks says, is to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes.

In the meantime, foundation staffers focus on supporting those who face a lifetime of taking blood-sugar readings, injecting insulin and finding ways to avoid the complications of diabetes that can kill.

Jaffe has used his affinity for physical activity to forge a lifestyle that has kept him healthy and free of complications for more than 30 years.

He doesn’t stop there, however, acting as a mentor for newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetics as part of the JDRF outreach efforts.

A native Memphian, Jaffe has been involved in some athletic endeavor for as long as he can remember, playing football and running track at White Station High School, while also enjoying tennis, baseball and basketball.

It wasn’t easy for a diabetic to be so active, but he was well prepared thanks to his mother, Lisa, who died in 2007.

When Jaffe was 3 years old, his mother noticed that he was often thirsty and urinating frequently. A visit to a physician produced basically a pat on the head for mother and son, but Lisa knew something was wrong, and more tests proved her right: Her son had Type 1 diabetes.

Lisa Jaffe learned everything she could about the disease, and she set up a regimen to help her son cope.

“My mother laid the groundwork for everything,” he says. “She made it her priority to make my life as normal as it could be for a Type 1 diabetic.”

Jaffe took snacks to school and used an alarm to tell him when to eat. In the middle of class in grade school, he got to pull out peanut butter and crackers. His mother made sure he got into the habit of taking blood-sugar readings.

Lisa Jaffe developed a system for helping her son keep his blood sugar at the proper level no matter what he was doing, which was mostly sports.

“That has always been my passion,” he says, noting that the “system” was basically “staying ahead of the game,” making sure the diet was right for the activity and that he had what he needed with him at all times.

Of utmost importance, he says, was “being responsible,” eating right, exercising, monitoring his blood sugar and taking action when necessary.

It has all worked out extremely well, Jaffe says, noting that when he goes for regular medical checkups his doctors often marvel at the absence of diabetic complications. An ophthalmologist once told Jaffe he had “the best eyes for a diabetic” he had ever seen. Deteriorating vision and blindness are common side effects of diabetes.

For years, Jaffe injected himself with insulin up to five times a day. His fingers are callused from thousands of pricks. He still has to check his blood sugar the old-fashioned way, but nowadays he wears an electronic pump that shoots tiny amounts of insulin into his body throughout the day.

Jaffe is eager to pass along what he has learned to other Type 1 diabetics, especially adults facing monumental changes in their lives.

“Some people,” he says, “don’t handle it well — or worse, they ignore it, and if you ignore your disease, you will die in about a year.”

In his role as mentor, Jaffe says, he starts off with advice about being physically active, which promotes the kind of healthy eating that diabetics need. Younger diabetics, he says, have an advantage because many “are already athletic.”

Hicks agrees with Jaffe about the benefits of exercise for diabetics: “It’s one of the best things a diabetic can do.”

Becoming involved in athletics, Jaffe adds, “more or less makes you do what you should be doing to manage your blood sugar.”

When Jaffe and his wife, Devon, greeted their new daughter, Ellis, in early 2010, he became interested in endurance running for the first time, acquiring a base on a treadmill. He ran the St. Jude Half Marathon in 2010 and the Germantown Half Marathon earlier this year.

It was the first time in his athletic career that he had become interested in running for more than a short distance.

Jaffe’s best training buddy is Greg Jarrett, also a Type 1 diabetic. Jarrett credits Jaffe with helping him drop more than 100 pounds over the past two years by pushing him when they bike and run together.

“We are both competitive,” Jarrett says, “and we want to prove that just because we’re diabetic, it doesn’t mean we can’t play, too.”

Jaffe is taking “play” to a serious level next year as a regional captain for Triabetes, part of a nonprofit organization known as Insulindependence. Triabetes will send a team of about 12, including Jaffe, to compete in the Boulder Half Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, 13.1-mile run) next summer in Colorado.

Jaffe’s first step to prepare for the big race was the sprint triathlon (31-hundredths-of-a-mile swim, 12-mile bike ride, 3-mile run) in Tunica.

When he exited the water and checked his blood sugar, he found it was high. He had not been able to swim with his insulin pump, so he had to put it on before starting his ride. When he completed the 12-mile ride, he checked again and found his blood sugar was lower than he wanted it to be. He grabbed a snack and was still eating it when he took off on the run.

Jaffe wasn’t overjoyed with his finish time, but he wasn’t disappointed.

“I wanted to complete rather than compete,” he says, adding that he has his eye on another triathlon later this summer.

Preferring to lead by example, Jaffe notes that by being responsible he has avoided restrictions in his daily life.

“Diabetes,” he says, “has never stopped me from doing anything. With proper management and awareness, that can be the case for anybody.”

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