Elizabethtown College sophomore swimmer Marco Niosi checks his blood sugar after getting out of the water. Noticing that it is low, he rips open a packet of fruit snacks to raise his blood sugar.
To some people this would be a big deal, but to Niosi, it’s just another day.
“It’s really just a major inconvenience in everything that I do,” Niosi said. “Sometimes I don’t even think about it”
Niosi has type 1 diabetes with which he was first diagnosed at 14 years old, and despite initial panic, he has learned to live with the disease.
“It was definitely something I was thinking about in the hospital after being diagnosed, could I continue swimming and stuff?” Niosi said. “Overall, I think it all worked out… I was still able to swim [and] do everything that I wanted to do.”
Niosi typically prepares for a swim session by consuming carbs 30 to 45 minutes before getting in the water and then monitors his blood sugar levels while he is swimming.
“Marco is pretty good at monitoring what his blood sugar is,” Jess Lane, coach of the Elizabethtown’s men’s and women’s swim team, said. “Sometimes he gets out if he has to check it.”
Practices often require Niosi to pay more attention to his blood sugar levels due to being in the water for a continuous period, but swim meets tend to be no issue.
“At meets, you’re not swimming the entire time,” Niosi said. “You swim for 30 minutes at warmups, and if I’m swimming four events that are each a minute… I’m probably swimming in the water for a total of 40 minutes.”
However, even with Niosi’s experience with monitoring his blood sugar levels, there are still times he has to readjust after longer periods between swimming.
“There’s the start of the season and coming back from break adjustment period,” Lane said. “He has to figure out what and where he eats [before practices] based on his class and practice schedule.”
Coming back from breaks may be the most recent adjustments Niosi has to make regarding his diabetes, but when he first got diagnosed with the disease, he had to adjust his whole life.
“He’s done a very nice job adjusting and learning a new normal,” Lane said. “[diabetes] is not something he’s always had, so he’s learned to adapt.”
While there have been difficulties managing type 1 diabetes for Niosi, he has learned to live with the disease and enjoy life, a large part of which comes from swimming.
“If I didn’t swim, I’d be a very different person,” Niosi said. “It is a nice break from the responsibilities in my life…it’s two hours of my day where I can shut my brain off and just do something.”
