Diabetes,

You showed up right on schedule – 42 years old, same as my dad. Guess it runs in the family, right along with bad knees.

I’ll be honest, I didn’t see you coming. I was still eating like I had the metabolism of a defensive lineman, still thinking I could out-train anything. Then one day, I skipped breakfast and nearly hit the deck during a workout. My doctor looked at me like, "Mike, you’re not 25 anymore, this isn’t a two-a-day.” He told me to treat you like football – “get a game plan. Study the film. Figure out your opponent."

So that’s what I did.

Turned out everything I learned in the league applied here too. You prepare. You adjust. You don’t wing it. I started eating breakfast like it was mandatory. Regular, real meals. A1C checks every quarter – no skipping it because I felt “fine.” And eventually, I started using technology that showed me how my sleep, my stress, my food – all of it – connects to my glucose levels in real time. That part was a game-changer because I wasn’t guessing anymore.

The harder part was talking about it. My dad's generation didn’t talk about this stuff – they just dealt with it quietly and moved on. I decided I wasn’t doing that. My kids needed to see their dad handle something hard out loud, not shove it under the rug. And if it helped somebody else feel less alone in this – even better.

Look, some days you don't win. My levels are off for no good reason, I did everything right and it doesn’t matter. I’ve stopped trying to be perfect and just try to be consistent. Most days, that's enough.

What you've done is make me pay attention – and maybe even more disciplined than I was as a player, honestly. But you're not just messing with me, either – there's a lot of us dealing with you. My dad did. Plenty of guys I know do. And here's what I've learned, and what I'd tell any of them: this takes work, it takes honesty, and it takes seeking out help when you need it. But it can be done.

I know I'm not who I was before you showed up. Fine. But I've still got a career and a family who needs me around.

And I'm still running this show.

Mike