Meet Kevin

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 13, and my two siblings and mother have type 1 diabetes as well. Growing up, there were always things that I was told I couldn’t or shouldn’t be able to do. I wanted to join the military but knew that was out of the question. I still wanted to serve my community like both my mother and father had done. My mother was in the US Army when she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, so I had grown up around the disease. My mother had told me I could still do many of the same things other kids could, just differently. My father had been a volunteer firefighter when I was younger, so I decided that was how I was going to do my part in serving my community. I signed up and joined a volunteer fire department and went through and passed all of the state-required classes and training to become a state-certified interior firefighter. I am proud to say that even if life takes a different direction than you plan, there is always something a diabetic can do. Even if it is fighting fires or something else.