Living with diabetes can make you stronger
I’ve proved it
40+ years with diabetes. Six marathons in six days. Ten ultra-marathons in ten years. Now I use the moves I’ve learned to help people living with type 1 diabetes exercise more, train smarter for sport, and pursue the things they love. Keeping your mind and body fit with T1D is not easy, but it is possible.
Free | 20 minutes | online | no pitch
40 years lived experience · T1D endurance athlete · Advocate Diabetes Australia · Adjunct Fellow, Macquarie University AIHI · Presenter, Australasian Diabetes Congress 2026 · Community Representative Rio Tinto Children’s Diabetes Centre
What does
Fitter for Having It
mean?
Diabetes never takes a day off. Every meal, exercise session and night's sleep comes with extra decisions and higher risk. As your confidence grows, that daily load builds real strengths: problem-solving, resilience, and knowing your body better than most people who exercise ever will. That's what I mean by fitter for having it. The things that make life harder when you live with a complex condition can also make you stronger.
Moves to live well with diabetes
From decades of diabetes and sporting experiences, I developed some practical moves that turn daily difficulties into performance advantages.
Over time they formed my Fitter for Having it mindset. An approach that increases my resilience, determination and problem-solving ability.
My moves are simple, personal, steps that might help you deal with diabetes, or approach adventure, exercise and sport differently.
Drawn from real life, not a textbook, they are practical and effective. I’ve proved it.
Now I share them through group talks, coaching, and mentoring.
Exercise is empowering
Living with T1D since childhood meant that pursuing my passion for team sport was harder.
At the age of 40, after mixing sport and exercise with more than 35,000 insulin injections and countless blood glucose tests, I was curious to explore the impact diabetes had on my fitness and my future.
So, I set an ambitious goal to run six marathons in six days across Australia's Simpson Desert.
And guess what? I finished, coming first in my age group. It wasn't easy, but it taught me valuable lessons on how to train my body and mind to be stronger.
It also showed that diabetes wasn’t holding me back. In fact it had helped me become fitter and faster than other competitors as the race became harder.
And I didn't stop there. At the finish line, I set an even bigger goal. This time to run ten ultra-marathons in ten years.
And, you know what? I did that too, finishing with an epic 100km one day race over Sydney’s Blue Mountains. And, I’m still running.
Why is this for you?
You don’t need to be an athlete to be here. And, you don’t need to live with diabetes either. Fitter for Having it applies to everyday life for everyone.
Although I developed the moves to follow my love of sport, I discovered they helped me just as much walking the dog, going to work, or cutting the grass.
They apply to everyday life. You don’t need to run through deserts and over mountain ranges.
I developed the moves to help me deal with life’s daily difficulties and continue what I need to do, and dream to do, when conditions aren’t perfect.
Resilience shines in extreme conditions, but it’s built in difficult daily routines.
I know. I’ve proved it.
Listen to how elite athletes, gold medalists, and everyday people make sport and exercise work with the same T1D routines and difficulties we all face.