In his own words: Wade Wilson
The Rocky
Friday, May 2, 2008
Former Cowboys quarterback Wade Wilson, now Dallas' quarterbacks coach, has lived with diabetes for more than 20 years, first discovering he had the disease when he was with the Vikings in 1985 as part of his 18-year NFL career with five teams. He discussed the disease with Broncos writer Lee Rasizer.
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His advice for Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler: "You have to get your diabetes under control. It's about balancing the diet, exercise and insulin shots and making the adjustments that it does take to get your body under control. Once you get that under control, it shouldn't have any effect on your athletic abilities or the way you play quarterback."
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How he found out he had diabetes: "I had played probably four years in the league and started losing weight, losing strength and just feeling lethargic. The initial shock was that I didn't know anything about it, so I didn't know if it would have an impact on my professional career. So I was concerned having the disease might be the end of my football career. But my doctor was very, very encouraging."
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How he dealt with diabetes on NFL Sundays: "The technology has really evolved in the last 25 years. On game day, I tried to eat and make the day as routine as possible. But if you're playing a noon game, a 3 p.m. game, meals were at different times. But I would always check my blood sugar. My monitor was wherever I was. Never on the sideline, but in the locker room. . . . If I needed to take a shot, I would."
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On Cutler getting back to normal: "Being diabetic, in a twisted kind of way, can make you a better player because of the discipline it takes to manage the disease. It's the same discipline it takes to play quarterback in the NFL. You have to approach it with the same tenacity."
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On the possibility that symptoms are sometimes overlooked: "I weighed about 210 and I got to about 185, and I had no idea what was going on. I could eat anything I wanted and I was losing weight, which I thought was great. But in retrospect, of course, it was, 'Gosh dang, you're losing all this weight. Something's wrong.' Friends saw me and asked what's going on. And I didn't know. I just wasn't knowledgeable about the disease."
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On whether he will offer Cutler some quarterbacking tips: "Well, I don't know about quarterbacking tips. He's a lot better quarterback than I ever was, but I'll offer him advice on how to play quarterback while managing diabetes, because I spent 15 years doing it myself. I would love to talk to him. I know we scrimmage and practice against them in the preseason. If it doesn't happen now, maybe we'll talk down the road. There are medical professionals who can probably talk to him about it better than me. But I'd relish the opportunity to say to him that it's not the end of the world and definitely doable. It's up to the individual."
Living with Diabetes
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