Sean Busby

In 2004, pro snowboarder Sean Busby was on the top of the world.
“I was 19, living in Colorado and competing in the U.S. National Snowboard Championships,” Busby said. “I had little to worry about, aside from the occasional pimple or girlfriend. My head was pretty far in the clouds.”
With the 2010 Olympics in sight, Busby’s trajectory ceased suddenly when he became severely ill, losing over 30 pounds in two weeks. Doctors misdiagnosed him with type 2 diabetes, and Busby spent three months taking pills to “improve” his health. They did the opposite.

“It was frustrating not knowing what was happening to my body,” he said. “Being told the pills would improve my condition and still wasting away on my parents’ couch

[in California] was extremely depressing.”
In a final effort to return to Colorado to restore his snowboarding career, Busby nearly passed out at the airport and was rushed to the UCI Joslin Diabetes Center in Irvine, California. There, he was given the correct diagnosis of type 1 diabetes on July 3rd-his mother’s birthday.

“That first shot of insulin was absolutely amazing,” he said. “I could finally feel life pumping back into me.”
“Diabetes really grounded me,” Busby continued. “I had to learn about this entirely new person I had become. What inspired me most were the stories of three-, six-, and 12-year-olds who cannot recall life without diabetes. Those kids-the ‘heroes of diabetes’-inspired me to keep snowboarding.”
Giving Back

In 2004, Busby started an organization called “Riding On Insulin” that holds ski and snowboarding camps around the world for kids with type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
“Riding on Insulin is an opportunity for kids ages seven to 17 to try a winter sport in a safe environment, share tips on managing their disease, and make new friends who are just like them,” Busby said. “I always find myself learning from the campers. Spending time with them has been the best medicine, aside from insulin, for managing my diabetes.”
In 2007, Busby put Riding On Insulin on hold to finish his college education. In 2009, he graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion and Education with an emphasis on diabetes.