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'Just go attack it:' Jaguars' Chad Muma tells kids with Type 1 diabetes life's goals are attainable
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- 'Just go attack it:' Jaguars' Chad Muma tells kids with Type 1 diabetes life's goals are attainable
Jags In The Community: JDRF One Walk
An unusual activity regularly took place nine years ago at the Cimarron Middle School lunchroom in Parker, Colorado.
It involved a needle, and was called, "let's give Chad his shot."
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Each day, friends of Chad Muma , who was diagnosed at the age of 13 with Type 1 diabetes (T1D), would take turns giving him his daily injection of insulin.
It served two purposes: it was another coping mechanism for Muma after receiving the stunning news that he had T1D, and it helped ward off the feeling of isolation that many adolescents experience when they find out they have a disease that currently affects one in 400 under the age of 20 in the U.S.
Muma, who was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft out of Wyoming, first invited his friends at school to watch him give himself the shots.
Eventually, he taught some of them how to do it, and soon, friends were taking turns giving him his jabs.
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"I made a game of it," said the Jaguars rookie linebacker. "I think once they saw me give myself shots and when I invited them to try, they realized there wasn't any kind of stigma about Type 1."
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How could anyone think that after watching the 6-foor-3, 242-pound Muma rampage through Mountain West offenses, earning two all-conference honors and making third-team All-American last year after finishing second in the nation with 142 tackles?
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Muma is already drawing rave reviews from Jaguars coaches — and from officials with the Jacksonville office of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
'Just go attack it:' Jaguars' Chad Muma tells kids with Type 1 diabetes life's goals are attainable
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Just one week after rookie mini-camp on May 21, Muma came to the JDRF's "One Walk" on the University of North Florida campus. He spoke to around 1,500 children with T1D and their families and joined their walk, which was held for the first time since 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic and raised more than $300,000.
Brooks Biagini, the Jacksonville marketing director for the Northern Florida JDRF, said her phone "blew up" shortly after Muma's name was called in the draft. Jaguars fans on the JDRF board read stories about Muma online and called her with the same message: an opportunity was there to showcase Muma, who joins Baltimore Ravens tight end Mark Andrews as the only NFL players with T1D.
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"We've had a great relationship with the Jaguars, so we contacted them and Chad came out to our walk," she said. "He was fantastic. Seeing him get up there and talk to the kids and families and offer himself as an example of how he battled Type 1 and was living a healthy life and living his dreams was an inspiration to everyone."
Muma said the message is simple: T1D doesn't define your life.
"It was awesome getting out there and telling my story to the kids and their families," said Muma. "It was huge for me, voicing that message, meeting them, talking with them, doing the walk ... it was really special. I want any kid to know that T1 doesn't have to hinder their dreams. Whatever goals they have, sports or other walks of life, just go attack it."
T1D was in Muma's family
It all started in 2013.
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Chad Muma was one frightened 13-year-old boy.
He was sitting in a doctor's office at the Barbara Davis Center for Juvenile Diabetes near his home in Denver, waiting to find out why he had been kept from eating for 24 hours, then poked with needles while having blood drawn during a battery of tests.
The numbers didn't lie: his blood sugar was 550. The normal figure is 75-to-150. The tests confirmed that his pancreas wasn't producing enough insulin, which keeps blood sugar under control.
The diagnosis was Type 1 diabetes, which, at the time, was diagnosed in more than 18,000 children in the U.S. per year and now affects more than 200,000.
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"It definitely was scary," Muma said. "I remember it like it was yesterday."
His father, Ty Muma, a principal at Black Forest Hills Elementary School in Aurora, Colorado, said there are two family members with T1D and one, Chad's cousin, died at the age of 19 due to complications.
"We've dealt with this in our family," he said. "But you're never ready to hear this kind of news."
However, fear gave way to Chad Muma seeing Type 1 diabetes as another challenge to be overcome, no different than making the football, baseball and basketball teams he had been on, earning starting roles, then leading his teams to victories and championships.
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"He had a lot of questions, mostly what will this look like for sports," Ty Muma said. "We sat down as a family and figured out a game plan that really empowered him to understand that it was a little adversity, but nothing he couldn't handle. He could still do great things."
And after the initial shock wore off, Muma went straight for his computer. He Googled athletes who had T1D and then felt a bit better when a name jumped out from the screen: Jay Cutler, who a few years earlier had played quarterback for Muma's beloved Denver Broncos.
"Just being able to see one guy who was playing in the NFL with Type 1 was a huge motivation," Muma said.
Excessive thirst was a signal
The warning signs were typical of T1D. Muma began drinking water excessively, unable to slake his thirst. He was up numerous times during the night to use the bathroom. His parents, Ty and Kara, noticed he was falling asleep during the day.
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Then, when he was at a friend's house for a sleepover, his friend's father noticed that young Chad had downed an entire gallon of milk. The concerned parent called Ty Muma and after he told his wife, she connected the dots.
His initial fears were twofold: fear of not being able to live out his dreams of playing college football but also fear of being set apart from his friends, perhaps one of the worst nightmares for any adolescent.
'Just go attack it:' Jaguars' Chad Muma tells kids with Type 1 diabetes life's goals are attainable
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"I wasn't sure if I could continue to play sports," he said. "It was always a goal of mine to play college football and I wasn't sure if that was a possibility. But it was also a fear of being different. How are my friends going to react to me?"
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Biagini said it's a common reaction for children who are diagnosed with T1D, especially those in their teen years.
"They feel alone and they feel that they won't fit in anymore," she said. "It's completely normal and it's something we stress to family and friends, that they don't have to be treated any differently."
He found out that the only differences involved lifestyle. Muma could no longer eat what he wanted when he wanted. He said the toughest thing he had to give up was soda but he also had to stop before he ate anything and know the carbohydrate count, even if it was just half a sandwich.
But he was an athlete and athletes rise to the occasion. Muma said he tackled T1D as if it were part of a disciplined routine, not unlike training and weightlifting.
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"I saw it as a challenge," he said. "But it's a challenge you have to stay on top of and manage. I realized I had to grasp this and deal with it if I wanted to have the life I had always dreamed about."
Aside from diet, the other big changes to his life were the insulin pump and daily injections. Most kids don't like shots and blood tests. Initially, Muma's mother administered the injections with an insulin pen and other members of the family were taught how to do it.
Eventually, Muma got up the courage to begin giving himself the shots.
Then he began to involve his middle school classmates.
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His father said it was part of how Chad dealt with the disease: taking it head-on, with no self-pity.
"From the get-go with his mindset, there were no tears, no feeling sorry for himself," Ty Muma said. "His whole attitude was, 'it's okay ... let's attack this. What do I need to do? He's really self-driven and self-motivated."
A growing health crisis
According to figures supplied by the CDC and the JDRF, around 1.6 million Americans are living with Type 1 diabetes. Those figures are expected to triple by 2050 unless medical advances and lifestyle changes are made.
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Doctors say they need more help from their patients. Less than one-third of the people in the U.S. with T1D are consistently achieving target blood glucose levels.
Those with Type 1 diabetes can't process glucose for energy when their body has stopped making insulin. When the pancreas doesn't make insulin, glucose stays in the blood, driving up the high blood sugar.
Medical science still isn't sure why people get T1D, other than some hereditary factors. It also has been linked to diet, past viral infections, weight and having genes that make the predisposed.
T1D is not preventable and can happen at any age.
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Biagini said Nemours Children's Health treats between 1,500-to-2,000 children per year.
The JDRF raised more than $425 million in 2021. But the 37.3 million Americans suffering from all forms of diabetes (11.3 percent of the population) resulted in estimated healthcare costs of $327 billion (according to figures in 2017), an increase of 26 percent over 2012.
Florida has a higher rate than the national average with 12.5 percent of the population living with diabetes of some type.
Muma's dreams stay alive
Muma went to Legend High School and became a star on the football team, playing safety and linebacker. As a senior, despite missing half his team's games with a knee injury, he had 77 tackles, eight for losses, and was second-team all-state.
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His college decision was pretty easy. His father and maternal grandfather had played football for Wyoming, so he headed for Laramie.
Cowboys linebacker coach Aaron Bohl said Muma and his family were open about his T1D and it never affected their recruitment.
"They were very transparent, very upfront about it," he said. "And Chad handled it so well we never had to worry too much about him staying on top of his blood sugar levels and his diet."
Wyoming had to make some concessions. Muma would need to eat some high-sugar foods such as fruit or candy during practice and games, and trainers learned how to take his blood sugar count.
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It helped that Cowboys running backs coach Gordie Haug had T1D and helped educate the staff.
"We all figured it out pretty fast," Bohl said. "The trainers knew how to prick the finger, check his blood sugar and have the snacks he needed between series."
After spending his freshman season on special teams in 2018 (where he played with Jaguar safety Andrew Wingard), Muma had 51 tackles in 2019. In an abbreviated 2020 season, he was second in the Mountain West and sixth in the nation with 11.8 tackles per game and last season led the conference and was second in the nation with 142 tackles, along with three interceptions.
"We knew he would be a special player," Bohl said. "Physically, he was one of the most explosive athletes we've seen here in a while and his discipline is unmatched, just how he goes about every day with a desire to get better. But he had to do stuff when he was 13 years old, taking care of his body and his health, that people don't have to do as adults, and I think that translated into how focused he is about everything else. And he's so smart, extremely intelligent."
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Muma also began to connect with kids who have T1D, such as Camp Hope, on Casper Mountain in Wyoming.
Bohl also said Muma has a humanity about him that surfaces under any situation.
Two days before Wyoming's pro day, Bohl was hosting the Cowboys' linebackers for dinner at his house. An elderly neighbor knocked on his door and asked if he would help her move some furniture.
"Now Chad has pro day coming up," Bohl said. "It's his biggest job interview yet. But he went next door and moved the lady's furniture for 90 minutes. He didn't think about pro day. He just thought about helping someone."
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Muma loves Jaguars' scheme
Muma has been working through OTAs at inside linebacker and special teams and coach Doug Pederson said he's absorbing how to play in the NFL at a fast pace.
"He's versatile, can run ... a young player who's picking up the defense," Pederson said.
Training camp and full contact will tell a bigger story.
"It will come down to when you put the pads on in training camp and just see the physicality with these guys," Pederson said. "But he's doing a really nice job, he's a smart kid, a lot of energy every day, doing well."
'Just go attack it:' Jaguars' Chad Muma tells kids with Type 1 diabetes life's goals are attainable
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Muma said he's having a blast so far.
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"Every day I'm enjoying being out and living in the moment," he said. "I'm continuing to work and be better than the day before. I love this scheme. It's rip and run, get downhill and play fast. I'm learning a lot from [defending coordinator] Mike Caldwell, and the main thing is that I can always do something better. The NFL is way different from college."
Muma also looks forward to keeping his relationship with the local chapter of the JDRF and interacting more with children living with T1D.
His example is "powerful," Biagini said.
"It brought up so many emotions from the kids and their families," she said. "Seeing someone who is dealing with the same health challenges they are who is an NFL linebacker gives them the confidence to go out in the world and fulfill their dreams. The kids here in Jacksonville have someone to look up to now. He's going to be a tremendous role model. I think this is going to be a game-changer for us to have Chad with the Jaguars."
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Bohl said Muma has faced life on his own terms.
"He's a great example that circumstances don't dictate your outcome," he said.
Need information on diabetes? Contact the Northern Florida chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund at northernflorida@jdrf.org.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jacksonville Jaguars LB Chad Muma shares his Type 1 diabetes story with kids
