Diabetes can't slow Rice defensive end
| • | Warriors' health improves |
By Stephen Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer
Motivators speak of living "one day at a time" and coaches speak of playing "one game at a time." To Rice University's Brandon Green, such time spans are much too generous.
Since 1990, when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, Green, 22, has lived life four hours at a time.
Each day, Green takes three shots of insulin, a hormone that helps the body's cells use glucose for energy.
He constantly checks his blood-sugar level, making corrections with either drinks of Gatorade or water.
It is a routine made more difficult because Green is a college football player. Often, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound defensive end will monitor his blood-sugar level on the sideline.
"That's something I have to watch," he said. "I'm used to it. I've been doing it most of my life."
Green grew up in the small Texas town of Vanderbilt. When he was 10, he lost 25 pounds during a short period.
"That's a lot of weight at that age," he recalled.
Medical tests showed he suffered from type 1 diabetes, the most severe form of the disease. The World Health Organization estimates that about 151 million people worldwide suffer from diabetes. In the United States, type 1 accounts for about 10 percent of the diabetic cases.
Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease that occurs when the beta cells within the pancreas are gradually destroyed and eventually fail to produce insulin. Type 1 is treated with daily insulin shots. At first, Green's parents helped with the injections. But soon after, he was able to give himself the shots.
Despite the inconvenience, Green has refused to stop competing in sports. That perseverance is traced to the fourth grade, when a physical education teacher told him, "Forget about football and playing stuff."
Those words, Green vowed, would "serve as motivation."
"They gave me inspiration," Green said. "I want people to know that you can do anything you want to do."
Green said the disease has not prevented him from missing any games in two seasons at Vanderbilt Junior High, four at Industrial High and four at Rice.
What's more, Green, whose team hosts Hawai'i Saturday, has emerged as one of the top pass-rushers in college football. He leads the Western Athletic Conference with seven sacks in 10 games. His 24 career sacks is the highest among active WAC players, and a Rice record.
It is a remarkable achievement for a player whose best position was tight end in high school.
But Green said his rapid development was spurred by the wide-open offenses in the WAC.
"You have two choices," he said. "Either you'll get owned or you'll get some kind of a pass-rush. If you want to keep playing, you have to get better."
