The Chelsea Standard
A Heritage Newspaper
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Living with diabetes
Local man may hold the secret to a long life with diabetes
By Sean Dalton, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: January 1, 2009
Larry Wiertella is somewhat of a modern medical marvel having lived intact with type 1 diabetes for 51 years of his life.
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That's why the Boston-based Joslin Diabetes Center wanted to study the Dexter-area man who has thus far exceeded expectations by surviving with a disease that has a veritable minefield of complications.
When looking at the statistics, Wiertella, 67, has a lot to be thankful for and it's obvious why the center was so interested in studying him, even going so far as to strongly urge that he donate his body to science - a request that the family refused for personal reasons.
The center surveyed and physically examined Wiertella last May. The aim of the study is to document the presence of eye and kidney complications related to the disease, and to examine DNA and substances in the blood and urine of people who have lived with diabetes for 50 years or more. The study will also produce findings on genes that affect a person's chances of developing the disease.
According to joint studies by the American Diabetes Association and the Center for Disease Control, diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death listed on American death certificates in 2006. The previous year diabetes contributed to a total of 233,619 deaths, based on the most recent complete year of study by the association.
Just being diagnosed statistically doubles a person's chance of death, according to the ADA. The dangers include heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, kidney disease, nervous system disease and diabetic ketoacidosis, not to mention blindness and amputation.
Getting as far as he has, Larry Wiertella is thankful.
"So far I haven't even lost the tip of my finger," Wiertella says while sitting across a table from me in his dining room. His home is a warm, inviting place full of beautiful furniture, pictures, antiques and other comforts.
The lean, silver-haired man is marked by an outgoing nature, positive attitude and love of storytelling. Through glasses his eyes do as much talking as his arms and mouth as he shares his tale of a 15-year-old Michigan boy who loves the outdoors and sports, and how that boy eventually came to be diagnosed with early onset type 1 diabetes.
"I had been pheasant hunting with my dad and my uncle when pheasants were all over Michigan," he recalled of his family hunting trips. One day he went out hunting despite feeling ill and was even feeling worse by the time he arrived home.
"My dad took me to a hospital in Wayne to Dr. Carpenter, who was the guy who helped give birth to me," Wiertella recalled. "He said put some crackers under his tongue. He just needs some moisture."
That didn't work out so well, as he kept "getting sicker and sicker."
A trip to Henry Ford Hospital and then resident Dr. Fred Whitehouse, a former president of the American Diabetes Association, led to an answer to the mystery illness that cut a hunting trip short - the first of many lifestyle changes and sacrifices in Wiertella's life.
"I only took one shot when I first came down with this and then started mixing doses per day," Wiertella recalls of some of the first demands that the disease made on his daily routine. He can only physically exert himself for three hours at a time before having to "take care of himself."
Since then he has had to watch his diet with regularity and manage his glucose level, which in and of itself has evolved over the years. Diligence, regular doctor visits and heeding guidelines established by those in the medical field are musts. Living a good healthy life in a common sense fashion is something Wiertella prescribes to everyone.
Technology has given way for disposable needles to replace glass needles that needed to be boiled in water. Since 2000 Wiertella like many other diabetics wears a catheter fed mechanical insulin pump on his torso that holds 12 shots or 30 units of insulin that are fed into the wearer's body steadily over the course of the day.
The diets have also evolved from measuring food group ratios at each meal to monitoring and balancing carbohydrate intakes.
With all of the advances in medical technology, it's gotten easier to manage the condition in some ways, but one thing has remained consistent through the over five decades that Larry Wiertella has lived with diabetes. He has been diligent about his care, with the support of his parents and later his loving wife Joanne, but he has also remained positive and cheerful in the face of a disease that many people have a difficult time coming to grips with.
"I would imagine people with diabetes worry themselves sick a lot of the time," he says. "It's not that tight of a thing. You can make a mistake over the course of the day and come back from it, but you never neglect.
"And you can't constantly worry. Some of these folks live their whole lives weighing their food. If you spend all your time weighing your food you're not thinking about anything else in life."
Almost right from the get-go, Larry didn't let diabetes get him down. He recalls the month he spent at Henry Ford Hospital fondly, despite his reason for being there.
"They had to stick me, a 15-year-old; in the juvenile ward ... the kids would squirt me with syringes and yell "he's got hair on his legs!"
Instead of letting things get him down, Wiertella responded in much the same way he would respond to most things in his life: with a laugh and a sense of humor.
"I got the biggest syringe I could find and really showed them!"
Sports, outdoor activity, chopping wood and building their current home and even a little bridge over a small brook on their property were never out of reach.
Wiertella, an art teacher, has always made the best of his situation both personally and professionally. He is known to turn "junk" into artwork since he often has shoestring budgets. His diabetes treatment supplies are no exception.
"He can't bear to throw anything away," Joanne jokes. "He has made darts, inserts, golf tees and everything else out of his syringes."
Larry holds up the golf tee proudly, the top of which is a syringe plunger, "You have to look on the brighter side of things ... if I moped all the time I wouldn't have gotten very far."
The Wiertella's both take a step back and reiterate that one should never underestimate the importance of balancing diet, exercise and insulin to have a long fulfilling life as a diabetic.
But both agree that simply leading the same healthy life that a non-diabetic should lead and focusing on the best that life has to offer are the true keys to not just living more than fifty years with diabetes, but living a quality fifty years despite diabetes.
It's unclear when the study will yield results, if any. The Joslin Diabetes Center has achieved a number of "highpoints" in their studies over the past several years, including breakthroughs in understanding the tissue of those with diabetes, how certain treatments function in the bodies of certain patients and the benefits of intensive lifestyle intervention, among others.
In the meantime Larry and Joanne are getting ready for a great new year and another chapter in their lifetime of stories.
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