Scott Dunton

Professional surfer Scott Dunton was hit by a major wave at the age of 16 when he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Living the typical teen-age life, he had to learn how to take control of this new disease and in doing so, take control of his health and his life. Scott is now ranked 119 by the Professional World Tour of Surfing. When the Hawaii resident isn’t surfing, he’s golfing, hunting, or traveling.

In the diabetes community, Scott’ s inspirations are numerous – his doctor, Kevin Kaiserman; Ryan Martz from the PADRE Foundation; Chris Jarvis; everyone at Medtronic; and most of all the kids that he gets the chance to talk with. “Kids are inspiration for the world,” he says. He wasn’t always so inspired by diabetes, as dLife found out. We asked Scott to tell his story:
You were diagnosed at age 16, was it hard coping with this disease as a teenager?
When I was first diagnosed I was 16 and it was really the hardest time in my life. I was just a normal teenager going to school spending every penny I had on one of two things – gas in my truck or candy and junk food. So to find out one day that I couldn’t eat candy or anything really that I once lived off was a big step in my life.
What was life like during your first year after being diagnosed? How did your family and friends react?
I didn’t take to it good at all, I thought if I didn’t tell anyone I was a diabetic and I didn’t take my shots and just ate the way I used to, that it would go away. Turns out, life isn’t like that but it also turns out diabetes isn’t like that either. I just need the right doctor and team behind me to inspire me to do good in life and take care of my diabetes. I found that in my doctor. Kevin Kaiserman is the most inspirational person in my life and continues to help me stay healthy.
What are some of the diabetes organizations with which you are involved?
I try to be involved with as many things as I can with diabetes. I am a professional spokesperson for Medtronic, which has been such a blessing in my life because I have had the chance to travel around the world and talk with diabetics from all areas of the world and I am happy to say I know I personally have changed the way a lot of people look at their diabetes and I know in that I have made their lives a lot better. What that has done for me personally is remarkable. I can’t really explain how good it feels to be in a spot to help so many people. Dr. Kaiserman did that for me and its all I could do to try and be half the person he has been for me.
CWD (Children With Diabetes) is a great, great organization that I love to help out with. Everyone is like a big diabetic family and its great.