Meet Christopher Thomas -- a man on the mission of his life. Chris was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in May 2007. Since that time, the 27-year-old has completely changed his life and his focus. He left his hometown of Canton, Michigan, moved to New York City, got work, set up a new life, and oh, by the way, started a website for people with diabetes geared toward raising funds for those who can't afford their medication and supplies.
Talking to Chris is like trying to harness the energy from a streak of lightening. "Becoming diabetic is the best thing that ever happened to me," he says.
Before he was diagnosed with diabetes, Chris was just a typical college graduate -- working, partying with his friends, and saying that someday he'd go to New York City and pursue his dream to be a writer.
That laid back attitude all changed when he went to the doctor one day after losing 40 pounds over the course of 6 months. His blood sugar was over 500. During that doctor visit, he was told he had diabetes. They handed him a box of supplies and sent him home. While still learning how to manage his diabetes, he decided that now was the time to act on his life plans and move to New York City. He packed his car, and took off. "I never would have moved if I hadn't been diagnosed," he says.
The first thing he did, after finding a job and a place to live, was set up DiabeticRockstar.com, a website, and Fight It!, his newly founded fund-raising campaign.
His declaration at the top of the website says it all:
"Diabetes is a disease, but I'm not diseased. I don't need medicine, I'm not ill. I just need a fix, I am merely addicted to the cloudy drug we know as insulin. I am an insulin addict. I don't have diabetes, but I am a Diabetic Rockstar."
DiabeticRockstar.com is not your typical diabetes website. It started as an offshoot of Chris's MySpace page. He was frustrated, angry, and totally blindsided by his diagnosis and needed an outlet. "For 26 years I'm completely healthy. With the snap of the fingers, 40 pounds later, all of a sudden, I'm a type 1 diabetic," he says. "And the nurse said to me, 'Have you done a lot of drinking?' If that's the case, then everybody I went to college with should be a diabetic."
After a while, the MySpace page became too constricting for the ideas that were formulating in his mind. "I was originally just going to post blogs on it. Then, I'm riding on the subway, and I was looking at this tattoo on my wrist [now the symbol for Fight It!] and I was thinking, 'You know what? I'm luckier than a lot of people... oh, shoot... help people.'"
He wanted a place for himself and others to be able to go to rant, rage and vent about diabetes and life in general, but not in a "oh, poor me" way. His thought? It's okay to be angry, but just don't sit there whining. Get up and do something about it. Now.
And Fight It! was born.
Fight It! is a non-profit campaign. Half of the money collected will go to individuals in need and the other half to charitable organizations that support financial and medical aid programs. The website explains: "Thousands of people diagnosed with diabetes, both recently or for a while, struggle with the daily costs of medical care. It is a shame that people must decide between groceries and test strips, paying the electric bill or visiting a clinic."
I asked Chris about how he deals with being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult: "For me, because I was recently diagnosed as an adult, finding support systems, answers to my questions, and people like me was impossible. All the literature and Internet stuff was geared for people who had been battling it since they were young. Everything was about juvenile diabetes research, and everything else was geared towards older type 2 diabetics. And it's like, where am I? Where do I fit?"
What would Chris tell someone who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult? "It's not the end of the world. You gotta go through the stages. The surprise, the shock, the ohmigod...stage, the anger stage, the why me? -- and then you get on with it. Life sucks. Life's not easy. Not for one person. Are you gonna give up, or are you gonna fight back? I'm not going to baby anyone. It's tough love."
Chris is also a writer. He self-published his first novel, An American Scene, written before his diagnosis. Writing is something he feels strongly about, and he knows that he will always be a writer. But in the meantime, DiabeticRockstar.com is consuming his days and nights as he gets everything up and running. As if he didn't have enough going on, Chris is currently organizing USA Rock Against Diabetes, several multi-band concert extravaganzas in various cities across the country that will take place on World Diabetes Day, November 14, 2007.
Chris's website sums up his approach to fighting diabetes: "If you are looking for a "Poor Me, I'm diabetic" support group, you've come to the wrong place. This site is dedicated to those living life the way it is meant to be lived, the true Rockstar way."
There are several ways to donate to Fight It!. People who wish to support Fight It! can choose to offer a general donations, purchase Fight It! merchandise, or participate in celebrity auctions and fund raisers.
