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Student battles Type 1 diabetes, leads Red Strider program
NEW MIDDLETOWN
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28.
When Type 1 diabetic Nick Workman starts to wonder, “Why me?,” he turns to Romans 8:28 for solace.
Diagnosed at 12, Nick, a member of the Church of the Rock in Poland, says what he takes from the Bible verse is that God has a plan for him that may be starting to reveal itself.
The 14-year-old Springfield Local Intermediate School student recently was selected as the American Diabetes Association’s 2014 Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes Red Strider Ambassador to lead the Youngstown Step Out on Oct. 19 at the Canfield Fairgrounds.
Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes is the ADA’s signature fundraising walk. Thousands participate in the event throughout Northeast Ohio, many of whom are Red Striders.
Red Striders, children and adults living with Type 1, Type 2 or gestational diabetes, are the reason for the walk and fundraising efforts, said Jennifer Knechtel of the association’s Northeast Ohio office.
As the Red Strider Ambassador, Nick leads the event’s Red Strider program, and shares his journey with diabetes and why he and his family support the association.
Nick will help welcome more than 800 participants to the 2014 Step Out Walk in Canfield as one of the keynote speakers during its celebration ceremony.
“Maybe God’s plan for me is for me to be someone who raises awareness for diabetes,” Nick said during an interview with his parents, Melanie and Scott Workman, at their New Middletown home.
Melanie is a guidance counselor at Nick’s school, and Scott teaches eighth-grade science at Crestview schools in Columbiana.
Nick, who plays basketball and runs track for his school, said when he was first diagnosed, he was nervous and scared.
“I thought that my life was going to be ruined and I was not going to be able to do the stuff I like to do, like playing sports,” he said.
But, after a few months of living with the disease, Nick said he and some of his friends, who like to hang out at the Groggy Monday Cafe in the village, decided it was time to step out and make a difference.
With the help of his mother, they organized a diabetes-awareness fundraiser at the school that raised $147 in 2012. In 2013, the event raised $613, and this year’s goal is $1,000.
Up to and through Diabetes Awareness Week, the second week in October at the school, they are selling T-shirts, white with a gray ribbon and Tiger paw and blood drop, with the wording “Springfield Tigers” and “White Out Diabetes.”
Also, during Diabetes Awareness Week, there will be raffles and at the end of the week, a one-mile fun walk in which students can participate for a $3 donation.
Nick said students and staff at his school are aware that he has the disease.
“All my friends are really good about knowing when my blood sugar is low or high. They know where the supplies are and what to do,” he said. The school is just phenomenal, said Nick’s mother, who described Susan Springer, school nurse, who trains teachers on what to do, as a “godsend to our family.”
Nick has another unexpected supporter, Star, the family’s 10-year-old yellow Labrador who used to belong to his grandparents Fran and Max Heinl, who live next door.
When Nick’s blood-sugar numbers are off, Star, who has no training as a diabetes alert dog, barks and whines and dances around to let the family know something is wrong.
“It’s comforting to us. That is why we sleep at night,” Melanie said.
“It is scary ... just knowing he might not wake up in the morning. It’s hard to know there is a device [insulin pump] that keeps him alive,” she said.
Having Type 1 diabetes is not fun, Nick admits. According to the ADA website, the body does not produce insulin with someone with Type 1 diabetes.
An insulin pump is a small, battery-powered device, about the size of a small cellphone, that gives him a dose of insulin every three minutes, or more if programmed, depending on what he eats.
A wire and tube from the pump are inserted into a port or site that has to be inserted under the skin and changed every three days.
“It hurts,” Nick said. He said he tries to eat as healthy as he can and has learned that exercise helps control his blood sugar.
“My biggest motto, even though diabetes is a harsh disease, is that you can’t let it bring you down,” Nick said.
And he doesn’t.