Nick Jonas won’t let diabetes stop him
Published: August 06, 2020
Nick Jonas is a young man of many talents. He was only seven years old when he first appeared on Broadway, and has since graced the stage in ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ and ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to name only a few.
But performing on Broadway isn’t the only part of his repertoire: he is a member of the uber-successful teenie rock-pop band The Jonas Brothers (alongside his older brothers Joe and Kevin) and also acts in a Disney show called JONAS. He is an extremely focused individual who doesn’t let hiccups or bumps in the road get in his way.
One such hiccup was Nick’s diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in 2005, when he was 13 years old. His career was on the up and up when he began to feel irritated, was constantly thirsty and began to lose weight – all usual symptoms of type 1 diabetes. He went to see a doctor who immediately sent him to hospital – the level of sugar in his blood was extremely high.
Type 1 diabetes is when the body’s immune system attacks beta cells in the pancreas that know to produce insulin after a person eats a meal. Insulin is designed to move the glucose (sugar) from the food into cells all over the body. The sugar is an energy source allowing the cells to function. A person with Type 1 diabetes does not produce insulin, and therefore has too much sugar in the blood. The most common form of treatment are regular insulin injections. To find out more about type 1 diabetes, click here .
Nick didn’t come out about his diabetes until well over a year after he was diagnosed. He says he always knew he wanted his fans to know about it, it was more a matter of the right time to tell them, as he felt like he wanted to become more accustomed to having diabetes before letting the whole world know. Nick came out about his diabetes at Carnival For a Cure and days he has received nothing but support from his fans since.
Nick uses an OmniPod, which is an insulin pump used to treat his diabetes. (Find out more here)
Nick says he realizes that diabetes “is a huge part of my life and I can’t just forget about it. I have to keep taking care of it and managing it, and learning more things about it. Hopefully one day they’ll come up with some type of cure.”
The Jonas Brothers have launched a charity called Change For The Children, in which Nick supports diabetes awareness (brother Joe supports the Special Olympics and Kevin supports volunteerism). On the group’s website fans can buy items from the D-Collection, such as dog tags and T-shirts, the proceeds of which the Jonas Brothers donate to their charity.
Other celebrities who suffer from diabetes include Bret Michaels and Sharon Stone.
Type 2 diabetes sufferers include Brittany Murphy and Halle Berry.
Salma Hayek battled gestational diabetes during her pregnancy.
Click here to go to The Jonas Brothers official website.
Find out more about type 1 diabetes.
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