It was like taking that thunderous body check that you just don’t see coming. An opposing defender levelling his shoulder into your chest, leaving you gasping for air as you wonder what just hit you.

It was last November, relatively early into the Major Bantam season for Patrick Lepage and his Walden Devil teammates. Returning from a game in West Ferris, Lepage chatted about some physical oddities that he was dealing with: ever increasing trips to the washroom, continuous thirst.

Thankfully, his father Robert, a physician, listened intently as the pair traveled back from North Bay. A trip to the emergency ward and a weekend in hospital confirmed what he half expected – Patrick had been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. For a youngster who had always known an active lifestyle, the questions were bountiful.

“In the winter, I do hockey, biathlon, volleyball and some downhill skiing – in the summer, rep soccer and triathlons” noted the 14 year old middle of three sons of Robert and Leah Lepage. “I also like to do track &  field,  but I’m not very good at it” he adds, with a laugh.

Thankfully for the Grade 9 Lively Secondary School student, answers were easy to come by as he rested initially at the hospital. It turns out the resident doctor was a 27 year old diabetic himself. “At first, I wondered if I could still continue to play sports. My teammates wanted to know if I was dying and if diabetes was contagious”, said Lepage, rolling his eyes.

Receiving pretty much the answers he hoped for, Patrick Lepage made a challenging promise to himself as he sat thinking on his hospital bed. “I was planning on doing a run as part of the Rocks Marathon anyways. I decided I wanted to help find a cure for diabetes.”

The partnership of the Sudbury Rocks Marathon and the Canadian Diabetes Association provided the ideal avenue for Lepage. Initially toying with the idea of raising funds and running the 26-mile marathon, the energetic teen was talked into sticking with the half-marathon, still a good haul for any person of his age.

By the time the race date arrived in early May, Patrick Lepage had accumulated almost a thousand dollars in pledges, a goal at least as satisfying as the 2:00.16 time that he logged in finishing the 21 km course, just under eight minutes faster than his mother. As for the pledges he collected, Lepage was quick to share the credit with a very caring community that he calls home.

“I think it started with my hockey team and lots of people found out”, he noted. His parents were amazed as the support gathered momentum. “Lively is definitely a close-knit community – but we had people calling us to donate” admits Leah Lepage. Even eldest sibling Rory provide some help, biking alongside Patrick and helping out the race committee as a volunteer along the way.

There in no doubt that Patrick Lepage’s life has changed over the past 10 months – insulin shots on a daily basis, even closer monitoring of his diet, constantly aware of the trouble signs. “You don’t really feel bad – but you’ll notice your vision is a little more blurry”, he said.

But he knows that some of the very same lessons that proved helpful in so many sports-related settings – the will to move on in the face of adversity and simply never give up, will be drawn on often as he continues to challenge the limits of his athleticism. “It (diabetes) doesn’t have to slow you down. In fact, it kind of helps – my diet is better than before.”

Given this type of response, nothing that Patrick Lepage has done since his diagnosis back in November comes as much of a surprise for a youngster who provides yet another role model for teens dealing with diabetes.
 

Patrick Lepage
Sudbury Rocks Half Marathon

“In the winter, I do hockey, biathlon, volleyball and some downhill skiing – in the summer, rep soccer and triathlons”