Noah Moore

Noah Moore was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes the day after Christmas, 1998, at the age of 16. "At the time, I didn't even know what diabetes was," Noah says. "All I knew was I couldn't eat the candy I got that year."

Living with diabetes didn't change Noah's life as much as becoming a diabetes advocate did. Noah accepted an offer from the local chapter of the American Diabetes Association to become the Southern Oregon Youth Diabetes Ambassador. Although he had been shy before taking the position, he soon found that he enjoyed speaking-and enjoyed the feeling of making a difference.

Recently, Noah spent 11 months in South America on a mission to "advocate, educate, and reach out to people throughout the world who are affected by diabetes." His travels took him to Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

While in South America, Noah added juggling to his athletic repertoire. "There's a huge traveling youth circus culture in South America," Noah says. "We'd do shows in the plazas and collaborate with other performers."
A break-dancer before he left the United States, in Brazil he learned Capoeria, a 400-year-old Brazilian martial art that many break-dancing moves are taken from. He was recognized for his accomplishments with the 2005 LifeScan Award for Athletic Achievement.

Backpacking through foreign countries with diabetes is a challenge, but it didn't faze Noah. "My friends all asked me, 'What if your insulin gets hot or goes bad?' Well-it didn't." Noah had his diabetes supplies shipped to him or carried down by friends. His most difficult situation arose in Peru, when he had to wait three weeks for his insulin to clear customs. "Every day they said, 'Oh, we still need this signature or that signature.' Then, after three weeks, suddenly it was: 'OK, here it is.'" A local clinic provided him with supplies while he waited.

Noah used an insulin pump prior to his trip to South America, but decided that insulin pens would be more suitable for minimalistic traveling. He used Lantus® for his long-acting insulin, and NovoLog® for his short-acting doses. His monitor is a OneTouch® UltraSmart®. "I made the switch from pump to pens the day before I left the United States," Noah says. "In retrospect, maybe it would have been smart to change over a week before! I used the electronic logbook and graphs on my UltraSmart to help me adjust, and it helped a lot."

Noah's advice for other young people with diabetes? "It's your life and you can do whatever you want with it," Noah says. "Take care of diabetes for yourself, not because someone else tells you to."

"I've had people tell me that 16 must have been a very hard time to be diagnosed. Just when you're fighting for your independence from your parents it's one more thing where they can make rules. But really they're just looking out for you. I realized that taking care of myself was what I should be doing. There are ways to party and do whatever you want as long as you keep in mind what your body needs."

For more information, check out www.NoahsVoyage.com.

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Article reprinted with permission from: "Diabetes Positive!" © Copyright August 2005