#1678 Sneaky Chocolate Bar - Part 2
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Danny shares his raw journey from decades of denial and neglect with type 1 diabetes to losing his leg—finding strength, purpose, and a mission to help others avoid his path.
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DISCLAIMER: This text is the output of AI based transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors and should not be treated as an authoritative record. Nothing that you read here constitutes advice medical or otherwise. Always consult with a healthcare professional before making changes to a healthcare plan.
Scott Benner 0:00
Welcome back, friends to another episode of The Juicebox podcast.
Danny 0:14
Hi. My name is Danny. I'm a type one diabetic for 37 years. I am from the UK, and I want to start raising awareness to the dangers of not looking after your diabetes.
Scott Benner 0:28
This is part two of a two part episode. Go look at the title. If you don't recognize it. You haven't heard part one yet. It's probably the episode right before this. In your podcast player, the podcast contains so many different series and collections of information that it can be difficult to find them in your traditional podcast app sometimes. That's why they're also collected at Juicebox podcast.com go up to the top, there's a menu right there. Click on series defining diabetes. Bold beginnings, the Pro Tip series, small sips, Omnipod five ask Scott and Jenny, mental wellness, fat and protein, defining thyroid, after dark, diabetes, variables, Grand Rounds, cold, wind, pregnancy, type two diabetes, GLP, meds, the math behind diabetes, diabetes myths and so much more, you have to go check it out. It's all there. I'm waiting for you, and it's absolutely free. Juicebox podcast.com, nothing you hear on the Juicebox podcast should be considered advice medical or otherwise, always consult a physician before making any changes to your healthcare plan. This episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. Learn more and get started today at contour next.com/juicebox dot com
Unknown Speaker 1:40
slash Juicebox.
Scott Benner 1:43
This episode of The Juicebox podcast is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes and their mini med 780 G system designed to help ease the burden of diabetes management. Imagine fewer worries about missed boluses or miscalculated carbs thanks to meal detection technology and automatic correction doses, learn more and get started today at Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox,
Danny 2:08
so yeah, on the sixth of May, I ended up having a right leg below knee amputation. And, you know, it completely rocked my world, and it tested me mentally. But I was so lucky that I've got such a good family partner, you know, the family friends, my friends, have been absolutely amazing over these last three years. So I recovered well after the OP. Got sent home after two weeks from hospital, back at home in a wheelchair, everything was going reasonably well. My diabetes was well controlled, and by this point, I was on a CGM. Now I've been put on the Libra two back then, so everything was going well. I was I was constantly checking that app on my phone, constantly scanning, because there was to get funding in the UK, you had to do a minimum of eight scans a day on it. You have to use it, yeah, to get it paid for, to get it paid for. So I was constantly, like, every half hour, scanning it. But it was good. It was that was the life changer for me. But a little bit too late, and it got to June when I was about to go and start some physio, go back to see the consultant to start physio. And went in, they checked the stamp message, yeah, looks good, but we just want to have another doctor look at it. And they noticed that the stump, my stump had been, was infected again. So I got admitted back into hospital, and I spent a couple of weeks on antibiotics again, and they said, you know, we need to take a centimeter off the bottom of the stump to try and keep it below the knee. We'll have a plastic surgeon on standby. There was all this big operation lined up, and about two hours later, I woke up back on the same Ward, not on like a medical ward. It was back on the diabetic ward. And I thought, thanks. Either gone really too well, or sanks not right here, because I could see my stump or bandaged up again. And they said that the bones too infected. We thought we caught it all when we done the first amputation, but we have to go above the knee now. And I was just like,
Scott Benner 4:20
how does that change your your outlook? Like be explain to people why below the knee is preferable.
Danny 4:27
So the below the knee is preferable because it's easier to walk when you've got a knee, just to get up and walk, to stand, everything. So this was a whole new challenge.
Scott Benner 4:39
So I was like, how high up did they? Did they have to take it to me
Danny 4:43
so that they've gone just just above the knee as such? Okay? It's slightly above the knee. So I was like, right, so it's a different type of leg that I've got to learn to walk on now. But I was, I was still quite positive about this. Okay, so this happened on the. Stick for July in 2022 when I got amputated above the knee. But my body took it really badly, really, really badly. I ended up spending nine, nine and a half weeks in hospital at that time. By time I got sent home, it was nine and a half weeks
Scott Benner 5:18
after they took above the knee, nine and a half weeks because you're you just did not rebound well from the surgery and the infection and everything.
Danny 5:24
No, it took weeks for me to settle back down. I think it was because I had too many two traumas in a short period of time. My body just couldn't handle it right. But in this time, in the background, there was a little pin prick also on the back of my left heel, so there was a bit of diabetic neuropathy on there as well.
Scott Benner 5:48
To tell somebody,
Danny 5:51
yeah, they, they, they had noticed it okay, and where I was in hospital for that nine and a half weeks, you know? And I'll, I'll never hold the hospital responsible for this. People saying you should do, you should do. You know, it's not great. They didn't dress the little, the thing that was a pin prick on the back of my heel. They put me on a mattress and where I was fidgeting so much on all the drugs that I was on, you know, some really strong hallucinogenic drugs. I was saying all sorts of random stuff, where it rubbed it, it slightly started making the whole the whole bigger. It got infected. It got infected again. So in and out of hospital in 2022 in total, I was in I was in hospital four months in 2022
Scott Benner 6:41
Danny, are you gonna? Are you gonna tell me you lost your other leg? Yeah, oh, my God.
Danny 6:47
Okay, so that went forward to 20 in and out of hospital. 2022 caught covid Just before Christmas.
2022 why not?
Yeah, if I'm gonna, if I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna get everything. So I managed to get out in the 23rd of, 23rd of December, which was quite good, because I got out of all the Christmas shopping. So that was, it was quite a good little rest up in hospital. And, you know, everything was fine, but that ulcer was getting bigger. It was, it was the size of, you know, it was five centimeters diameter by now. So it was, they were filling me more and more with antibiotics. Me and my partner went away in the new year of 2023, and we ended up having to come home a day early because I was that the foot was smelling really bad. You know it was the infection was it was just eating away at the back of my foot. So this process carried on for a few months, and it was literally a year to the day when I had my above knee amputation. I ended up having my left leg amputated below the knee in 2023 on July the sixth.
Scott Benner 8:03
No kidding, but lead in that entire year, lead up to that, did you feel like this is where it was headed, or were you able to remain positive?
Danny 8:11
At least, I was always I'm always very positive person. I'm always a very positive person with everything that I do. I like to be involved with charity events, doing bits. If I can help someone out, I'll be the first person to put my hand up and do stuff. But at this time, when they told me I was, you know, it got to it was like March time again. And they've said, right, you know, if this that we're going to carry on giving you antibiotics. But if this doesn't work, you know, you know the end result here. And I think in my head, I knew what was going to happen, that I was losing that left
Scott Benner 8:48
leg. Those antibiotics don't work because of the 30 years of Yeah, of damage, right? Like, it's yeah, things are too far gone once it gets to that point.
Danny 9:00
And you know, that is, that's when I really struggled, you know, mentally really struggled. That's when I thought, you know, I wasn't, I wasn't worth anything I got. I went to a real dark place once they told me, in like the May, that that was it, you know, they would put me on this antibiotic called doxycycline. You couldn't go out in the sun in it. And I just felt like a prisoner in my own home. Everyone we had people around who was out, you know, outside. Everyone's outside in the garden having a barbecue, and I'm sat in stores because I can't sit in the sun, because I've tried it once, sitting in the shade, and it actually burnt the skin. Oh, gosh. And I was like,
Scott Benner 9:44
how does this affect your relationship with your girlfriend too? Or does it not she
Danny 9:47
has been absolutely fantastic, amazing through the whole process. So in that same year, we lost her dad as well. So. She is she and she still does. She just takes everything in a stride. She is one incredible woman. Lucky dancing. Her prey is
Scott Benner 10:08
enough, yeah. How involved do you let your kids be with where you're at psychologically? Do you share that with them? Or who do you share that with
Danny 10:17
they know now, because they're at an age you know my daughter is, she's going to be 21 in November. She's studying mental health nursing. So they know of my struggles. My son's 16. Now they knew that I had struggles. I don't think they knew the extent of just before I lost my second leg, is when that was when I felt worthless. There was a lot of tears, a lot of emotions. You know, it got to, we was living at a mum's at the time because it was waiting for a new house to be new house, our house to be ready for me to move into. And I just it got to 1.1 night, I was just sat and was living at a mum and I was downstairs in a room on my own because I fidget, I didn't sleep very well, and I had them tablets in my hand, and I just thought, how easy would it be just to take these and not be here anymore? And that that was the big that was the main struggle for me. And I, you know, I'm quite open about it. I've admitted to loads of people about it, that I struggled at that time, and I think what sort of dragged me out of it, there was two things. Was, you know, my partner and the kids. That was the big factor, my family, you know, looking at photos, I'm in tears looking at photos, thinking of what I'd leave behind, but what was I worth to them, if that makes sense, and I sort of, I sort of snapped myself out of it, but I still had them dark thoughts, and I was in hospital. I ended up have another stint in hospital because of the infection before I had the leg amputated, and I bumped into this little boy who was staring at me outside. Was sitting outside the main hospital summertime, just having a drink and chatting. There was a group of us out there, and this kid was kept staring at me, and his dad came over. So I'm really sorry he's staring, but he's he's about to have his leg amputated. And I was like, send him over. And we had a little chat. We had a little laugh, talking about superheroes and that. And I see his dad a little bit later on, and obviously his son was asleep. And I said, you know, how is he? And he's like, I knew what he was going through. He was going through cancer, and he was gonna have his leg amputated at the age of six. And I was like, that was the big thing for me. I was like, Listen, I'm 40 odd years old. I've had a good innings as as I thought, What have I got to complain about? That little boy is six years old?
Scott Benner 12:52
Yeah. You found some perspective in his situation,
Danny 12:55
yeah. And I see him two weeks later, he was outside the front of the hospital with his leg and potato pulling wheelies. I couldn't even do them in my wheelchair. I was well impressed. And that was like, right? You need to sort yourself out here. You know, not, there's a problem if you have them sort of down days. But that was something that pulled me through and give me the stuff, the inspiration to sort of kick on. And so I ended up having my left leg amputated. And within days of having that left leg amputated, it was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. It was the best I'd felt in like two or three years. You know, there was no infection in my body. My blood sugars were good. My HBA 1c was coming down. Everything was moving in the right direction, but unfortunately, it cost me my legs to realize, to sort my diabetes out. If that makes sense, no, I understand actually, Danny, I think you're
Scott Benner 13:57
you very well may be the first person in 11 years to come on here and talk about amputations. I'm not sure how we made it this far, actually, without somebody coming on and talking about it. I appreciate you doing this. It can't be easy to relive Today's episode is sponsored by Medtronic diabetes, who is making life with diabetes easier with the mini med 780 G system the mini med 780 G, automated insulin delivery system, anticipates, adjusts and corrects every five minutes. Real world results show people achieving up to an 80% time and range with recommended settings, without increasing lows. But of course, Individual results may vary. The 780 G works around the clock so you can focus on what matters. Have you heard about medtronics, extended infusion set? It's the first and only infusion set labeled for up to a seven day wear. This feature is repeatedly asked for, and Medtronic has delivered. 97% of people using the 780 G reported that they could manage their diabetes. Without major disruptions of sleep, they felt more free to eat what they wanted, and they felt less stress with fewer alarms and alerts you can't beat that learn more about how you can spend less time and effort managing your diabetes by visiting Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox the contour next gen blood glucose meter is sponsoring this episode of The Juicebox podcast, and it's entirely possible that it is less expensive in cash than you're paying right now for your meter through your insurance company. That's right. If you go to my link contour next.com/juicebox you're going to find links to Walmart, Amazon, Walgreens, CVS, Rite, aid, Kroger and Meijer, you could be paying more right now through your insurance for your test strips in meter than you would pay through my link for the contour next gen and contour next test strips in cash. What am I saying? My link may be cheaper out of your pocket than you're paying right now, even with your insurance. And I don't know what meter you have right now. I can't say that, but what I can say for sure is that the contour next gen meter is accurate. It is reliable, and it is the meter that we've been using for years, contour next.com/juicebox and if you already have a contour meter and you're buying test strips, doing so through the Juicebox podcast link will help to support the show.
Danny 16:28
You know, now I look at things and yeah, it's different. Days are a different challenge. You know, getting up early in the morning if I've got a hospital appointment just to be able to get at least one leg on so I can drive now. So this was the thing for me. I've done a canoe challenge last year where a canoe 26 miles and raised money for a charity that I work for now called Steel bones and amputee charity. I'm a Family mentor there now, and I look after about 50 odd families just checking in on them, making sure they that they're okay if they need any help with housing forms and, you know, benefits stuff like that. So it gives me a purpose to turn what I've lost into a positive. Yeah. So yeah, I ended up doing this charity event, which I was so keen to do, sang for charity because I hadn't done anything for two, three years, and I was always heavily involved doing certain things for charity. I've always put my hand up to do things. So I've done that. Then I come up with this crazy idea last August, to drive across the states in a hand control car to talk about my story. Talk to the younger diabetes, not you know. And I have had a few negative comments saying, Oh, you're just trying to scare people. I'm not trying to scare someone. I'm trying to give them the realization of what happens if you don't look after it, if you go down that path of, you know, you're looking after you are looking after tomorrow, but you're more preserving 10 to 1520, years time.
Scott Benner 18:07
Yeah, your story is very valuable and incredibly worth telling. I can understand why somebody would, you know, you know there's, there's people who respond and there's people who don't respond. I think most of the people I've spoken to would not respond well to being told when they were 1215, 20 years old, hey, one day you're going to lose your leg if you don't take this seriously, right? Like, that's not, I don't think that that's a good way to get through to people, but, yeah, a story like this in hindsight. I mean, it's got to be valuable for people are taking insulin. It just does. Like, you know, I don't think you're here trying to scare anybody. I think that you're here saying, Look, you know, they say this to everybody, and it happened to me, and, you know, it happened to you, it could happen to somebody else. It certainly does. And I think having that knowledge is valuable. Like, I don't think you should leave this recording if you're listening to it right now and being scared. But, you know, maybe take, I don't know, like, let Danny's experience be your, you know, your thing, instead of having to get to where he had to get to to learn what he needed to know. I mean, just, you know what I mean, like, ride on Danny's shoulders. He's he's here offering the support to you. Just take it and try to leap forward a little bit, because you're not the only one like the Yeah, I mean, the way you just described, you know, your life over the last hour, that's happening to everybody. Everybody feels like they can just do anything. I'm not going to get sick. This isn't going to happen to me. I can smoke cigarettes. I won't get lung cancer. Like, that's a very human feeling. Like, I've made the point in the past, I don't know where we'd be without that feeling, yeah, you know, I think, I think you have to have that, like, nothing's going to stop me. I can do anything. I think that's really valuable. Right into. Until it intersects with not taking enough insulin. And I have type one diabetes, that can no longer be the answer to that problem. It can't be. It doesn't matter. I can overcome this. You can't overcome that. You can take your insulin and then overcome whatever you want, but you can't overcome the need for the insulin, the right amount of it at the right time that's breathing now, you know that's every day. You got to do it every day. So I appreciate you doing this. I like to hear more, actually. I'd love to know how long it took you to learn to walk, to learn to like, how did you figure out how to get into a canoe and do that that trip? What are you doing next?
Danny 20:40
Yeah, yeah, it was great difficulty. It's great difficulty. It was, it really was. I still can't walk fully because I've had complications with sockets and stuff like that, not, you know, the sockets not fitting properly. So I can walk slightly, but I have to do it aided at the moment, so it's difficult, because obviously one's below the knee and one's above the knee, so
Scott Benner 21:07
it changes your gait on either side. Yeah. Okay,
Danny 21:10
so I go to the gym a lot now I'm at the gym, you know, get myself fit, you know, I've come up with this idea of driving across America, which I'm really looking forward to, but I've put it off once in May because I wasn't ready. If I would have come over there, I wouldn't have been ready, like, physically, mentally, yeah, mentally, I'm strong enough to do anything in my head. I think I can do anything now. Yeah, right. Mentally strong. There's nothing that phases me. But physically, as you get older, a little bit older, it gets a little bit harder.
Scott Benner 21:48
Yeah, I'm, yeah, listen, I have my legs and I'm, I'm with you. I'm 54 there's things you go to do and you're like, that was not as easy as I remember it being the last time I
Danny 21:56
did. No, yeah, no, definitely not. So yeah, it's, you know, I'm back driving. Now. I drive on a hand control car, so I'm getting that independence back, you know, I've had to rely so much heavily on people, you know, like I said, a partner. Every time we've been away, you know, we've only been in the UK on holiday, we've had to drive. She's had to do all the driving, so that should be nice this year. Now I'm driving. I don't let her drive at all.
Scott Benner 22:26
Yeah, you can help, not just how I can help it, yeah, yeah. You
Danny 22:31
know, I can get my wheelchair in and out of my car quite comfortably. Now I don't have to worry about that. You know, I am getting physically stronger and fitter. So, yeah, I'm really looking forward to come to the States, and I'm hoping that after this, it may get me some speaking opportunities across the states to tell my story to people, even if it's just popping into a hospital clinic, I don't know, you know, as well as fundraising,
Scott Benner 23:03
why does that feel so important to you to talk to people?
Danny 23:07
I don't want people making the same mistakes I did. You know, I'm from a generation where men didn't talk about their feelings, they didn't talk about their struggles, and I'm a bit advocate now for speaking up about things. If you're struggling, talk to somebody. It may not be a it may be your best friend, it may be a family member, it may be someone medical to talk to, but don't, don't suffer in silence like I did. You know, hiding away all my stuff and my struggles?
Scott Benner 23:42
Yeah, you had opportunities along the way. Your father in law tried to help you, like there were people. Yeah, it just it took you a while to get to it. Can I ask? Can I ask you put such a an importance on on your work and your ability to make money? What kind of a an adjustment was it for that to go away,
Danny 24:02
that that's that was been the hardest thing, because, you know, I was earning, I wasn't, I'm not a millionaire, trust me, by long shot, I was earning okay money, you know, I was able to do things. But from going from that down to literally, pretty much zilch, it makes you realize the finer things in life, you know, there's nothing more important than your own health. Yeah,
Scott Benner 24:27
it's easy to say. I don't know if it's as easy to believe, and I don't know if it's as easy to enact, make sure that you put it first, but I've shared this with my son before. I was like, everything is health, like health is first, and if it's not there, then, then everything else suffers, you know, like it's, it's not just as easy as you just can't ignore it. You know, it's, yeah, got to be first, and it's got to be, it might, it might have to be first, second and third. Like you have to make sure your health's in order. And it sucks. My. To have something like this. You know, do you have other autoimmune issues? Or did you figure out, like, where in your extended family is there type one?
Danny 25:07
I'm the only one. Thankfully, I'm the only one in my family that's got type one. I've ended up, in the last couple of years, as well, developing Graves disease thyroid I've had no end of laser surgery on my eyes to the point now where it's it's now my blood sugars and my HBA 1c have come down. The eyes are getting better. They're never going to be perfect again. I still wear glasses for driving and stuff like that, but I can notice the difference when, when my blood sugars were higher. I don't get these floaters in the eyes, where you get the little black dots and stuff like that. I bet that was all due to poor control. Yeah.
Scott Benner 25:53
Well, it's amazing that they can do that surgery now to help you kind of clear up those problems too, and now that, yeah, what are your goals for your diabetes nowadays? Like, what do you shoot for as far as range?
Danny 26:05
And I've literally just started on the T slim two days ago. So you done a week in the UK. You do a week on saline first. Still carried on in dia but I'm on that at the moment, and I've had telephone consultation with the hospital the last yesterday, and they said, like the first two days, your blood glucose readings have stayed around between the six and eight marks. So that's what,
Scott Benner 26:37
808 to 144
Danny 26:41
Yeah, so I
Scott Benner 26:42
was Danny. I haven't done this in a while, but Juicebox podcast.com, forward slash conversion. And there's a nice little little thing there where I just clicked on millimoles type six, and it told me that's a 108, it's a nice little Yeah,
Danny 26:57
I normally just use the calculator and try and spine by 18, or if I want to work your USA one out, it's divide by 18. But I only learned that on Tiktok for a goal called Titan. She told me that once, so I'd like to take credit for that. So yeah, I do quite a bit on Tiktok. Now. I've met some really, I made some great connections in the States and the UK, but it was the states where I was trying to get the connections from a trip really, yeah, and that, that was the whole reason I started my tick tock. But it's, it's turned into something different from what I expected.
Scott Benner 27:30
Getting a lot of good community there, yeah, massively, that's awesome. What's your expectation when you make it to the US? Where are you going to start and where do you want to finish? I want
Danny 27:41
to start in New York and finish in San Francisco
Scott Benner 27:45
and drive across the country. Yeah,
Danny 27:48
so it works out about, I've got about I've got a notepad full of ideas, and I can't sleep. I have these crazy ideas. So I've got about three or four different routes south, but now they're going to be changing because of the people I've met. I was like, oh, we'd love you to pass through and ask to meet, yeah. So it's like, right? I need to work it out a little bit where everyone is, but not to extend it where I'm not seeing part of the country and doing some talks as well as meeting up people as well. Yeah, you know, I've sort of done it over four hours driving a day, so it's gonna take me about 23 days to cross.
Scott Benner 28:26
That'd be nothing wrong with that, that it sounds nice. You can make stops, talk to people, you know?
Danny 28:31
Yeah, and that's, that's what I want to do. I just want, I want people to learn from my mistakes. I don't want people going through what I've had to do 20 odd years later, try and fix that problem earlier. And you know, it is easier now with CGM and pumps and stuff, and CGM is in my eyes, at a massive game changer. Oh, was, was the biggest game changer in my life?
Scott Benner 28:57
Oh, my gosh. I don't think I could possibly agree more. We used to say a lot, and I'd be happy to say now, like if you gave me, you know, and if you said, Look, you have, you have a chance here to keep either your pump or your CGM for your daughter. I'd hate to lose either of them. I certainly would, especially with a ID systems, which you're about to learn. Danny about how great that tandem pump is going to be for you, yeah? But if you had to give one away, putting that, oh, the pump, you'd have to give the pump away, the seats them, yeah, the CGM is just what it brings to you. As far as the your understanding, it's unmatched, really, yeah, if someone would have slapped, listen, I know they didn't exist, but if someone would have slapped a CGM on 25 year old you even for a week, you would have been like, Oh, this is not going nearly the way I think it is. You were probably walking around. You were probably walking around with what, 300 blood sugars your whole life. Which would be, what were you probably like? Do you think you were in the 30s? Your blood sugar the 20s? 20s? Yeah. I mean, that's, that's how you get to where you are, yeah.
Danny 30:09
I mean, in the last five years, I've managed to get my HPA 1c from, like, I think it was 11.1 or something around 11.1 between 11 and 13.1 in the last five years, down to about 7.1
Scott Benner 30:25
look at you. That's awesome. And people in America that are listening like a 20 blood sugar in Europe is like a high 300 into the into the low four hundreds. It's a significant blood sugar and and you, I mean, besides the damage that was being done to your body, like you'll never really know about how cloudy you were in your mind, or maybe, you know, were you kind of snappy with people? Maybe sometimes, like
Danny 30:51
all that, I used to have such a short fuse. Yeah, such a short fuse. And now I'm probably one of the most laid back people you'll ever meet in your life. I just don't care about certain things, you know, but this is one thing I'm really passionate about now, is spreading awareness.
Scott Benner 31:13
Yeah, yeah, you've gotten pretty far from having a handful of pills to where you are now in a short time.
Danny 31:20
Yeah, and that's the thing for me. I just, I genuinely just want to help others now, and I've never, really, never really sort of thought about diabetes, about raising awareness, where I could have been doing it a long time ago, and even raising money for, like, what I'm going to do now, you know, my just giving page is up to about 600 pounds at the moment, and that's going to go between Diabetes UK and break through T 1d in the States. Yeah. So I
Scott Benner 31:52
hope somebody steps up and hears this and supports you, because, I mean, what an awesome thing it would be for you to drive across the country and stop at different clinics, or, you know, have have events along the way where you could, you know, tell your story to 50 100 people, or tell it at hospitals, to clinicians, you know, anything like anybody who would benefit from it. I can't tell you how, how lucky I feel that I found a way to fund this thing that I'm doing, because it really does take that money like, you know, look, look, nobody's working because they love working for the most part, right? You were working to make money for your family, and you can hear like a loving father in there trying to make money for his kids and provide but now you you have this new perspective. And if somebody would come along and offer you that money that you made before you'd get up every day and go out there and try to help other people avoid this problem, and you'd be really successful at it too. But that's not a thing we pay people for. And not It's not Yeah, and it should be, because in the end, Danny, I don't get paid to help you tell your story, or to give a place to people you know. Like, let's be honest with how all this works. Like, I get paid to bring in ears to hear ads. Like, that's how, that's how I make money. Now, what I do with it is I try to, I try to shine a light on people and their and their stories. But nobody you know if I, if I said today, like, I just want to make this podcast, and I'm not going to worry anymore about saying the ads that nobody would, nobody sending me money to do that. Yeah, you know, you know, so, and I wish somebody would, because, especially for something like you, I mean, I'm trying to imagine you in a, you know, in a conversion van that says, you know, tandem diabetes on the side of it, and you're driving around the country, stopping at hospitals and telling your story like, I think that'd be awesome. You know
Danny 33:48
what I mean? I've put charity proposals out to several of the big firms. You know, your tandems, because obviously I'm on a tandem pump, Novo Nordisk Abbott, because I'm on the labor sensor Dexcom.
Scott Benner 34:04
Yeah, I like this. Abbott buys the van tandem. Sets up the sets up the meet and greets across the country. Let me make the pitch for you here to libre and to tandem and anybody else's devices that you're using the cost to put Danny in a van that's decorated nicely, that goes across the country, put him, you know, make sure, I don't know if you had to put a handler with him or not, because you got to make sure. I don't understand how the insurance of all this works, right? And for you guys to set up stops where he spends a month crisscross in the US, stopping at hospitals, telling his story, taking pictures, the money it would cost you would pay you back in social media alone, like the video you'd get out of that, and the and the and the images you could live off of those for a year on your socials. I mean, it's a no, it's a no brainer, really. And if anybody hears that and thinks like, look, I don't want to. A It's a guy with no legs that's not very upbeat. I think just the opposite. I think this guy's got, this guy's got perspective that that other people don't have. Like you, you want you want you out there telling that story. You know what I mean? Because, yeah,
Danny 35:14
I mean, I'll be honest, but I am a massive idiot. My sense of humor gets me through a lot of stuff. And I do laugh about and I joke about a lot of things, but when it comes to talking about diabetes and raising that awareness, that is where I am very passionate about. I talked to I talked to L it does type one Tuesdays on tick tock. I talked to her frequently.
Scott Benner 35:38
Elle's episode was today on my podcast, right? Yeah, yeah. I'm just about to watch it when I finish, yeah, shooting star. It's called,
Danny 35:46
yeah, yeah. I've seen her share it on her story, so I will be watching that tonight.
Scott Benner 35:51
Awesome. Yeah. I mean, listen, I'm not pressuring anybody, but I know what. I know what people's budgets look like. A van's not that expensive. You know,
Danny 35:59
I've priced it all up in roughly with flights, car hire. I'm not even worried about Hotel. I'll sleep in the car if I had to. I think it could cost about 5000 pounds. Oh, please. Five, 6000 pounds.
Scott Benner 36:15
I say we put you in a hotel and spend the extra money. But I mean, honestly, like, really, people have to think about it. Like he could stop at, and you guys have the connections already at all these different hospitals, like you could set up places. Imagine, like, if everybody came out at at lunchtime and and got to hear Danny's story, you know? And, and if you I don't know, like Danny's, he's met people on tick tock, right? So, like, have them, instead of him, meeting these people at their homes. Like, have it happen at a restaurant, and invite local people. Maybe 10 or 20 people will show up with diabetes. You have a nice event. Take some, you know, send a videographer along. Danny, I can't do everybody's job for them, but this is cheap and easy, and it'll, it's gonna draw a lot of good attention, which is what you're trying to do.
Danny 37:02
I think it is what these pharmaceutical companies and that lot make a year. I think it's a drop in the ocean that's that's something that they would write off in scrap. What I would cost? It would cost for me to
Scott Benner 37:18
do it. I've been at this a while. Danny, the pharma companies aren't where you're going to get the interest. It's going to be divisive. Going to be devices. It's going to be devices that that would be interested in something like this. Yeah, I think that would be amazing. I think it would be amazing if they worked it out. So you stop and saw, Oh, my God, what's her name? She's been on my podcast twice. Oh, I feel terrible. She races bicycles. She's paraplegic with type one. Oh, she's awesome. Kate. Kate, brim. Brim. Kate, hold on a second. I'm gonna, I'm gonna get this. Yeah, Kate, Episode 819, I think was her first episode. She's a quadriplegic with type one, and I think she wears a tandem pump. Like, I mean, let's find out where she is. And the two you get together, awesome. Like, you know what? I mean? Like, go out and meet people. Like, all right, Danny, listen, I've laid this out. Well, if somebody doesn't pick this up, it's their fault. But like, this is, like, you said, it's not, it's not a very expensive thing. You're not asking to be paid a ton of money. You just want the the trip covered. You're trying to, like, that's
Danny 38:26
what I mean. You know, for me to lay out that sort of money is unrealistic, and I think it's a valuable story to tell myself. You know, I'm not, I'm not a medical profession, but I'm a person that's been through diabetes for over 37 years now, probably by the time this trip comes around, could be 3038 years. Yeah, now, because realistically, you know, I had it booked in for this September. It's, it's getting closer and closer now, and it's, I'm just getting nothing back before these companies are contacted. You know, I've had a few no's from a few airlines, and even one of the enterprise rent a car when I reached out to them, asked me to remove them from their mail in this so I've had a few knockbacks. But I will, I will carry on. I will, this will happen. I mean,
Scott Benner 39:19
listen it. I mean, I'm looking at this, you're telling me that if, you know, if, if one company threw in 1015 grand, the other company threw in 1015 grand, that's, that's a lot already, you know, that rents the vehicle, gets it wrapped, you know, for the company, or for you, even, like, maybe they don't, maybe they don't want their name all over it. Maybe it's just for you and and, you know, when you get to the each event, it's, it's a little more, Listen, I'm not going to tell you. It's easy. I've had stuff planned for this year, like, I pulled off a cruise with 100 listeners this year. It was no small feat. And, yeah, I had. A four city tour setup that was supposed to start soon, that now has to get pushed off into 2026 because it's hard to put funding together for. And to your point, it's not a lot of money. And I tell you something, Danny, I'll draw a lot of people when I get where I'm at, yeah, and it's still not, it's not a slam dunk, like, it's hard to because it's not just the money. It's also, like, if I'm looking at it from their perspective, they're going to want to be involved, and they might not have the time to be involved where, you know, you're going to be in a car. So maybe there's insurance issues, like, you know, like, what happens if you have a medical issue while you're here? Who's going to take care of that? That's, that's the the adult questions that start getting asked. It's not just, yeah, yeah. It's not just about the money. If it was just about the money, then, you know, well, then hell. Like, we could probably raise, you know, I would imagine we could raise 610, $1,000 for you to pay for it, like, you know. So I don't know that that would be impossible to do. You could probably crowdfund that money?
Danny 41:02
Yeah, I've got my GoFundMe page, and it's ticking along nicely, but I've not really pushed it, you know. And the little event I've done last year that I raised 3000 pounds for that one lovely so I know, you know, whatever I raise I want. I want that GoFundMe to stay for the charities. I don't want that going on, x, y, z. I want some of these companies to step up and say, Yeah, I think this story could work. I think
Scott Benner 41:31
I'm going to give you my best piece of advice. Then, based on the last 11 years I've been doing this, you make the thing on your own and then sell them ad space on it. Don't look for them. Don't look for them to pay for it. Because the truth is, is they'd pay you more for it if it was done and they didn't have to do anything. Yeah, then, because what you're asking them to do is you're asking them to pay for it, which is you saying, like, I think I could do a thing if I had money. And that makes them nervous, I would guess, yeah, I would say, say to them, we're doing the thing. Here's the itinerary. It's paid for. This is a day It starts on. Would you like your name on this that I think you could get somebody interested in, but he but other, I think the other way probably feels to them like you're asking them to do it for you, and they don't have time to do what they're doing.
Danny 42:18
Yeah, I'm quite happy to do, sort out an itinerary, you know, I want to be able to sit down and work out an exact date I can do it, and at the start date and end date and the cities that I want to stop in, yeah, while I cross, you know, like I say, I've got two or three different routes. One takes me down into Florida, which is really going to be off the beaten track, if I'm honest, but I'll do it.
Scott Benner 42:47
Okay, listen, I That's my best advice. Is I'd put it together, plan it, pay for it, you know, and then contact these people. I'd start with the devices that you use, and I would get them all set. You know what I mean? They say, look, here's what's happening. Would you like to sponsor it and that? I bet you. I bet you, you could at least get your money back and maybe put a couple dollars in your pocket, you know, so that it's not costing you money too.
Danny 43:12
I'm not even interested in making money for myself. It's more whatever, whatever isn't spent, will will go straight back into the pot for the two charities I'm saying.
Scott Benner 43:21
I don't want it to cost you money when it's over. You know what I mean, I wouldn't want to see you come home and be in the hole over it. Yeah, yeah, financially. All right. Danny, I have to tell you, this is awesome. We're up on time. I'm gonna need to say goodbye, but I really appreciate you doing this with me. Can you tell people where they can follow you? On on tick tock.
Danny 43:39
So on tick tock, I am under double amputee, diabetic, and on my Facebook and Instagram. It's Danny spud Smith,
Scott Benner 43:49
okay, and are you in my Facebook group? You are, aren't you? Yes, I am. Yeah. I post them there now and again. Awesome. Okay, I really appreciate you taking the time to share this with me. It was, it was eye opening, actually. And the way you laid out your story was inspirational. Actually. I I thought this was going to be sadder, and it didn't feel that way to me. You made me sad one time. I forget when it was I think it's when they called you and they said, we want to do the amputation tomorrow. I think I got upset then, yeah, listening to you talk about it, but, uh, but otherwise, no, I think, I think this is a, you know, it's unfortunate, obviously, what had to happen for you to get to where you are. But I find it uplifting that you found that place and that you're healthy at this point now, and you're there. This is probably, oddly enough, with your amputations, the healthiest you've been in 35 years.
Danny 44:41
Oh, massively, yeah, apart from, apart from the little belly, but we won't mention that.
Scott Benner 44:48
Well, listen, that was probably going to happen one way or the other. We're all getting we're all getting older, so gravity isn't it might be all right. Danny, hold on for me one second, this was awesome. I really appreciate this. You.
I having an easy to use and accurate blood glucose meter is just one click away. Contour next.com/juicebox That's right. Today's episode is sponsored by the contour next gen blood glucose meter. Thanks for tuning in today, and thanks to Medtronic diabetes for sponsoring this episode. We've been talking about medtronics, mini med 780, G system today, an automated insulin delivery system that helps make diabetes management easier day and night, whether it's their meal detection technology or the Medtronic extended infusion set, it all comes together to simplify life with diabetes. Go find out more at my link, Medtronic diabetes.com/juicebox.
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