#1941 I Chose Wealth Over Health
I Chose Wealth Over Health
Danny has had type 1 for thirty-eight years and has lost both legs to it. On September 1 he lands in Newark and drives to San Francisco alone, to meet as many people with diabetes as he can.
Jump to a moment
- Danny is driving across America alone, and he planned it for two years. He lands at Newark on September 1 and reaches San Francisco on the 24th — roughly 3,500 miles through Philadelphia, DC, Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, Memphis, New Orleans, Houston, Colorado Springs, Moab, Vegas and LA. He has never been to the United States, has never driven on the right, and is doing it as a double amputee. He'll stream on TikTok as he goes.
- He is unusually direct about how he got here. Diagnosed in 1988, Danny took his insulin but stopped testing — sometimes for six months at a stretch — and stuck with meal doses a doctor set when he was about 21. He describes eating a lunch that needed perhaps 25% more insulin than he gave, running in the 20s mmol (roughly 360+ mg/dL), and reading his own weight loss as a sign of health. DKA in 2019 was the turning point.
- The complications came anyway, and are still coming. A right leg amputated above the knee in 2022, a left leg below the knee in 2023, and in May a consultant confirmed he is losing central vision in his right eye with no timescale. That news is what moved this trip from an idea to a deadline. His message to anyone in burnout: don't hide it, tell someone, even if it's a friend over coffee.
- His A1c tells the other half of the story. Around 84 mmol/mol at his DKA admission (roughly 13-14%), now 54 (roughly 7%). He started on a closed-loop system in March, is in the gym five days a week and twice a day, and has lost close to two stone. His own summary of the years before: he chose wealth over health, skipping appointments for overtime while saving for a house deposit.
- Nobody would sponsor him. Danny approached a long list of companies and got three replies — two polite declines, and one asking to be removed from his mailing list. He raised just under £4,000 himself through a GoFundMe, friends are covering fuel, and anything left over goes to charity. Scott's read is that liability keeps companies away; Danny's response is that the trip happens regardless, even if he sleeps in the car.
- Danny on TikTok — @doubledant1d — Where the trip will be streamed live from September 1. The GoFundMe link is in his bio.
- Danny's first episodes: #1677 and #1678 — Sneaky Chocolate Bar — Danny's original two-part conversation with Scott.
- Diabetes Pro Tip series — Episodes 1000-1025 — settings, insulin timing, and corrections, the gaps Danny describes going decades without.
- Small Sips series — Listener-voted takeaways on insulin timing, carbs, and managing highs and lows.
Every word of the conversation
Cold open & sponsors0:00
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Danny is back2:02
Everybody, Danny is back. Danny, we just figured out you were on episode sixteen seventy seven and sixteen seventy eight where they called Sneaky. Sneaky Chocolate.
That was the one. Sneaky Chocolate Bar.
Oh, that's right. Okay. Awesome. Well, welcome back.
Thank you for having me back.
Oh, of course. Well, you have some news about what you're doing. We wanna let people know you're gonna gonna take a trip in across the Yeah. Yeah. You wanna tell people about that first?
Two years in the making2:28
So, yeah, I'm I've been planning this for nearly two years, and I had some unfortunate news back in May, which has made me wanna do this, and I've I've done a little fundraiser in February to raise the funds to do this trip. So, yeah, I'm on the September 1, I will be landed in New York, and I will be driving coast to coast. And I want to meet as many diabetics as I can, share their stories, share my stories. Hopefully, I can inspire others to look after themselves a little bit better from all the complications I've had from not looking after my diabetes.
Yeah. Oh, that's gonna be
So there's a route set out, and we're we're all ready to go.
And we're we're recording now in July. I wanna give some context. You said something happened in May, which we'll find out about. This is July now, and you're landing on September 1. You said New York, and that's fair if you haven't been here before.
But you're actually coming into Newark. Is that right?
Yeah. Yep. Yeah. I'm actually It's Newark.
You can see the city, but you're
in Jersey. Yeah. It was it was so I've sort of done this on a tight ish budget. It it's I've been quite fortunate where I've had quite a few people sponsor the trip Mhmm. Through a GoFundMe page, and I wanna keep the budget as tight as possible.
So in the end, there's money to be raised towards diabetes.
K. Well, how much how much were you able to raise?
I'm just under £4,000 now
That's amazing.
Which is giving us a little bit negative like, positive money now. You know, the the
On the right side?
Was yeah. The car the car has been the most expensive part, renting the car.
No kidding.
That was nearly £2,000.
They have unlimited miles now. Right? Mhmm. Yeah. But it's about time.
And how long do you think the trip's gonna take?
So I start on the first, and I fly home on the twenty sixth.
Oh my gosh. Danny, by yourself?
Yes. I'm doing it all by myself.
Oh, no kidding.
I've I've planned to meet other people at the time. There's people that I will be meeting that I've I've met through social media, through various different platforms, Facebook, mostly TikTok, few on on Instagram that I'm gonna be meeting in Atlanta. And one guy that I've literally met on LinkedIn last week, he's in Atlanta as well. So I'm gonna try try and find once I know people were gonna wanna meet in in certain areas, I wanna find one sort of central area and we can just meet up even if it's at a bar just to have a chat for an hour or so. I I just wanna share my experiences so other people can learn from them.
Yeah. And you're gonna do this on TikTok, did you say? Did you tell me before?
Yeah. I'm I'm gonna stream it live on my TikTok. So I'm I'm gonna get an eSIM when I get over there. I've got a good really good friend called Ashley who lives in Atlanta. She's been helping me.
She sort of helped me through the route a little bit. She knew the cities I wanted to go to. And it's been difficult because I've spoke I've met some really good people on on various different apps.
Mhmm.
And I I I just haven't got time to visit all of them.
Yep. I wonder if they would have time to to come to, like a like you're saying, a centralized location and Yeah. Do little hangs. Can I ask you, like, to refresh people on your physical situation so they understand that it's what what what's happening for you and what you're gonna have to deal with while you're making the trip?
Two amputations6:26
Yeah. So in 2022, I was amputated on my right leg below the knee through, obviously, not looking after my diabetes for a very long period of time, which then got infected and had to be amputated above the knee on the right leg on the sixth of sixth of July twenty twenty two.
Mhmm.
And then I was still having complications on my left leg, so then I had to be sick for July 2023, fast forward to there, and I was amputated below the knee on my left leg. So this is what I'm trying to you know, these complications can happen with diabetes with various other complications, but I wanna I want people to realize that if you're suffering a diabetes burnout, don't hide from the fact. Talk about it. You know, it might just be a friend that you can have a coffee with and say that I'm really struggling at the moment. Yeah.
He does that. Don't ignore it.
Burnout, and six months without a finger poke7:26
Was that what was happening to you? Did you were burned out? You let it go?
I I think over the years I I never really knew about burnout until last year, and I've been type one thirty eight years now. And everyone's always known I was diabetic, but I'd I'd never realized I just got to a point where I just got fed up with it. Mhmm. I got so fed up with pricking my finger, doing insulin. I I I never missed my insulin.
That was one thing I always kept on top of, but blood testing. We we spoke about this last time. You know? I I'd go six months without even doing a finger poke.
Wow.
Six months and, you know, yeah, I was losing lots of weight. I thought I was doing brilliant, but my blood sugars were running so high. That's why I was losing all the weight. Yeah. Then it all came to a head in 2019 when I DKA.
And and that's when I was trying to start sorting myself out, but the damage had been done damage had been done. And I'm I'm I'm now suffering with my eyes as well. Yes. So My right eye, especially.
So part of the reason I'm now wanted to make sure people I mean, obviously, they get it by now. But part of the reason the car is more expensive is because the car has hand controls. Is that right?
No. It's no. It's not even that. That they so I've gone through Alamo who are part of enterprise, but they them and enterprise don't charge any extra for the adaptions.
Okay.
It it's just the expect because I'm going New York to San Francisco. They charge you an extra £300 because it's being left in San Francisco. You're not bringing it back to New York or New York. Sorry.
Oh oh, I see. Oh, because there's no return there's no return. There's a there's a Yeah.
It's actually in San yeah.
Which is crazy because somebody's driving a car from San Francisco to New York. So what's it matter? But Yeah. Yeah. Can you believe the number one prescribed automated insulin delivery system is now even better?
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Dexcom.com/juicebox. Check it out. You know the route, so tell me the route you're gonna take because Atlanta is not a straight shot to San Francisco. So so how are you
The route, top to bottom11:13
gonna go? You're gonna leave Jersey? So people are gonna think I'm a little bit crazy doing this one. A few people in hindsight, I should've started at San Francisco and finished in Newark or New York. That's that's what what I should've done.
But I'm
So that your return flight was shorter?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But, you know, there there is some big driving hours and miles between them. So I I I land in New York on Newark on the first. I sort of give myself a a land about lunchtime. So by the time I get through, pick the car up, it's gonna be late afternoon. So I just thought, get myself familiar with, obviously, driving on the up outside of the road and the steering wheel being on the opposite side of my car to sort of, like, familiarize myself a little bit.
Mhmm. I plan to meet a couple of ladies that I've met on TikTok. You've had one of them on your podcast before. I'm gonna meet her and Danielle because they're in New Jersey.
Okay.
Then I'll be in New York on the second, then I'm gonna make my way down to Philadelphia on the third, then down to Washington DC on the fourth, then to Charlotte, North Carolina on the fifth, Atlanta, Georgia on the sixth, then we're gonna go back up. This is where people are like, you're a bit mad doing this. You should've just kept going straight across. So then I wanna go up to Nashville on the seventh, Indianapolis on the eighth, Chicago on the ninth, then I'm gonna come back down again, right back down. So I'm gonna come on the tenth, I'm gonna be in St.
Louis. The eleventh, I'm gonna go and I've sort of added this stop in for this is no personal preference for myself, but it's something that means a lot to one of my really close friends.
K.
I was stopping in Memphis on the eleventh, and his mom passed away from cancer a few years ago, and she was a massive Elvis fan, and she always wanted to go to Graceland. So I'm literally gonna go there with a picture of lay some flowers down, or whatever I can do that day just in memory of her, just just for my friend, just because it's saying that means a lot to him. Then I'm gonna move on to Jackson in Mississippi on the twelfth, then down to New Orleans. So I've I've gone from top to bottom.
Yeah. And and maybe one one and a half times.
Yeah. Right. Then then I'm gonna start going across. I'll go to Houston on the fourteenth where I I maybe it's still in the pipeline meeting a diabetic group in Houston that day. Then then we're gonna head up to Dallas on the fifteenth, Amarillo on the sixteenth, Colorado Springs on the seventeenth, Moab on the eighteenth.
Sort of just trying to break it down so it wasn't too long a drive all the time.
Four hundred miles a day14:15
Well, yeah, I'm gonna say. I'm I'm wondering, like, how many miles do you think you're gonna drive in a day?
Cup some of the days, there's some big miles, four four hundred plus.
And that's something you're up for? I I'm I'm trying to imagine doing that. That's a lot of drive. I mean, when you said you were gonna go from DC to North Carolina in a day, I was like, oh, that's gonna be a that'll be a hump. So
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, without being funny, part of it's gonna be easy for someone like myself because if my legs get tired, I can just take them off. So I I don't suffer from getting tired legs when I'm driving no more, and I and I do like driving.
You do? Well, I mean, you would have Yeah.
So where was I? Moab, then we go that's on the eighteenth. Then we go to Cedar City on the nineteenth, then down to Vegas on the twentieth. Twenty first, we're gonna go to LA. I say, we, me.
The twenty second, we go up to Santa Maria, and then on the twenty third, we go to San Jose. And on the I'll arrive in San Francisco on the twenty fourth. So I've got, like, two two days in San Francisco.
Okay.
And I think it works out at nearly it won't be it's between three and a half and 4,000 miles that I'll be driving in that period.
Jeez. Well, you should've got Tesla to sponsor you with the the the self driving thing. Let it drive you around.
Yeah. I've do you know what? I I I have since we had our conversation in September last year, sorry, I've sort of I've reached out to so many corporate companies, and I've had nothing, literally nothing back. No response.
Not even a, hey. We're sorry. No. Thanks?
No. The only one the only one that ever give me sorry. I'll I'll say that again. I've had three responses. One was from British Airways and Virgin Atlantic saying, you know, we have our own charities, but at least they have replied.
Mhmm.
And I always reply back saying, thank you very much for your time anyway. Then enterprise emailed me back saying, please, can you remove yourself from my mailing list? So I was like, I'm not gonna get any joy there. So I've I've I've done a an event in February, which didn't go as well as I thought it did for what I wanted to achieve, but the fundraising did. So it was it was money to raise to do the trip.
You know, this has come at a financial cost to myself, but also a personal cost as well. You know? So it it's it's something but it's saying I've wanted to do now for nearly two years. Yeah. This is two years in the making.
Danny, I gotta tell you. Get getting responded back and saying, please stop contacting us, and and can you please make sure we don't contact you by mistake is that that must
I had to last, like,
you know. Imagine. Yeah.
What else can you do? The they're the only three companies that ever responded today.
No kidding.
And, obviously, it's a lot harder to get connections in The UK with people like Tandem and Dexcom because that's who I I'm on a Tandem t slim pump and the the g seven.
Mhmm.
And I've reached out to them, and I bet Dexcom sort of replied and said, oh, we'll do this Dexcom warrior program, but I've never really received anything since.
I'm gonna
So I've just
don't know, Danny, but I'm gonna guess that that by giving you money, they are concerned any of these companies would be concerned that they're now funding your trip. And if something happens to you on that trip, that then they're they have liability in it.
Yeah. So the then there's no cost to anybody now. It it's whatever goes in the pot. So I'm not even worried about hotels now. I'm booking my first hotel in New York, and I'll book my last hotel in San Francisco.
If I have to sleep in the car in Walmart Walmart car, I shall do that. This trip is going ahead no matter what. I am fully focused on this now.
Yeah.
The news about his eye18:43
I've been this last month, I've been, well, two months since I had the news about my eye, I have been fully putting myself into getting fit. I've lost two stone in weight. I've near near on two stone in weight. So what's that? 13, 12 kilograms?
I mean, we gotta go stones to kilograms to pounds to get me there. I'm not sure.
Yeah. So I'll I'll waive you on my pay grade.
We'll find out. But, Danny, I swear to you, like, I'm sitting here I mean, I I make a lot of social media. You know, it's part of my job. But I'm sitting here thinking, like, they're pushing it so hard lately. Why would Tesla not, like, put you in a car, even send somebody with a camera with you to take the ride with you?
And Yeah. And document a man with with no legs driving all over America, having not been there before, etcetera. Man, that just seems like well, that seems like a no brainer to me. Hold on a second here. If someone in England loses two pound is it two stone?
What did you call it? Two what?
So it's nearly two stones.
Nearly nearly two stones. How much is that in pounds? Be quick. Don't give me the whole explanation. Oh.
Two stone is 28 pounds. Simple as that. I wish Chad GPT.
Yeah. I'll I'll be sitting there for tonight. I'm on it. I'm need to get my phone out.
No. That's really that's impressive. So but tell people what happened a couple of months ago that, first of all, got you refocused on I gotta do this now and, you know, helped you get lose the weight and everything else.
Yeah. So the plan was always to be going in September, but I I started getting complications in my right eye last year. And they've they've done intensive laser surgery on there, And then they started doing these injections. So I had I had three rounds of the injections. And I think it was, like, the May 25 I went in to have a consultation with the with with the main consultant, eye consultant to say about having this procedure done where they remove the jelly from around your eye, then you'd have to have a second operation to remove the cataract.
Mhmm.
But they were when I went back in, they said that the damage is too much, and I'm losing the central vision in my right eye. There's no time scale on it, so that sort of hit me like a ton of bricks
Yeah.
Thinking, you know, I've I've battled these last few years, but since 2019, getting my diabetes back under where it should be. Would you And then just getting more and more complications as it goes along.
Yeah. Bad bad news after bad news.
Yeah.
Would you give people context for how how long do you think you were like, how many years did you I don't know what you wanna call it. Ignore it. I don't can you tell people even what your care was like? Were you taking insulin just basal?
“I chose wealth over health”21:47
Or what? So so I I was doing all my I was just literally from the age of 21 to probably 21, 22 to mid thirties. Not really not looking after it well. Just literally, I had a regime of what the doctor would give me when I was about that age of what my basal unit should have been and and my, like, Nova Rapid during the day.
Mhmm.
But it has changed it has changed so much over the years. So I was just sticking to them. You know, I could have been eating a meal that was a 100 carbs, and I'd be giving myself, like, eight units or something. So I was always running high.
Okay.
Just but I would never know that. The only time I'd ever know that I was running that hot, like, in the twenties, which would be what's that? It's, like, three sixty plus in The States. I'd get I'd get, like, a burning sensation in my nose.
Okay.
It's it's it's really bizarre when I go above that sort of threshold. And, obviously, then I was wean a lot, and I knew I was running high. But I never knew even back then, I never knew about correction doses. You know, I was literally just living on them units that they told me to take for my breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yeah.
And then my basal rates at night in the morning.
So it it it's as simple as they gave you settings, basically. You didn't you didn't know how to adapt them. You knew something wasn't right because you're burning in your nose, you're going to the bathroom too much. So you know your blood sugar's high, but, contextually, you don't know. Now are you not testing so that you won't know?
Or
I I I was at first. Mhmm. But, you know, as as a, like, man in my age, you think you're invincible, and that's clearly not the case now. You know? I I was so fucked.
Like, I was I was driven on earning money, like, work, work, work.
I remember that.
I chose wealth over health, and that that's why now I always say, you know, if you've got any sort of little complication or you're worried about anything, contact your endo, speak to someone straight away. Don't don't think, oh, I'll do it tomorrow. I'll do it tomorrow and keep putting it off. Do it straight away.
Yeah. Just felt like there was always time.
Yeah. I just you know, I'd I'd have a hospital appointment, and it would be, Danny, can you do overtime today? We really need you to do this job. There's no one else about. And I and it's not that work were putting pressure on me.
It was just me thinking more money more money. So I was trying to save for a deposit for a house.
Mhmm.
So it was just like, right. Work. Work. Work. And I was just ignoring appointments.
So I sort of got lost in you know, no fault to AHS. I sort of got lost in the system because I wasn't attending appointments.
Yeah. How do you manage today? What do you do?
Where he is now24:49
I'm really well now. On I've just started on the closed loop system back in March. You know, my h b a one c is has come right down from if I told you what it was back in 2019 when I went in with DKA, it was '84, I think they said.
Wow.
I I know it's they work out differently compared to you guys. But that was I think it was, like, thirteen thirteen, 14 sort of area.
You were hold on one second. I think I can find
I'm just gonna try and get my result up here.
Yeah. You have them. Tell me again what was your a one c initially?
Put my test now. Come on. Come on. H
one c. Because it gives me
it showed me a graph. There we go. So my h b b a one c now is 54
Mhmm.
Compared to I mean, the this eve this only goes back as far as June 2022, and it was 7078.
You're moving things in the right direction.
Yeah. Massively. And I don't think the pump has helped me. The pump has give me sort of a new lease of life. And but I am also I'm going to the gym five times a week.
Well, five days a week, twice a day.
Okay. So you're getting exercise as well. How do you exercise? Is it mostly, like
So I do a lot of cardio and weights. Mhmm. That's in my first session. And then my second session, I go I go now with my prosthetic legs on, and I've slowly started building it up, getting more confidence. So I'll go on the treadmill, and I'll start it off doing ten minutes.
Now I'm up to fifteen minutes, then I'll go into the studio next door, and I just practice. That's getting up, standing up on the legs because, obviously, I've got no calves. It's it's a lot harder to push yourself up out of a chair.
Yeah. Is it it's mostly midsection arms?
Yeah. Yeah. No six pack yet, though, unfortunately.
It's under there somewhere. Don't worry, Dan.
It's it's hiding well.
Yeah. It's under the keg, they say.
Right? Yeah. Party pack.
Party pack. While you're doing this trip, like, I mean, obviously, it's gonna be a it's gonna be a personal triumph doing this trip. Like, if no one if no one sees it, it'll be amazing. Counting on TikTok to show it to people on TikTok live, do you have expectations for how many people might see it, or is there a world where where you'd be disappointed?
What he wants out of it27:57
I think it will be slow to start off with because I don't I I have nearly 5,000 followers. I think it will be slow to start off with, but I'm hoping it will pick up as we go across one to get some more traction. But like you say, this is this is something personal to me. You know? Raising the raising money would be great, but just speaking to other diabetics, just trying to get my point across about how I didn't look after it will speed certain processes up.
But that that is my main thing. I I just you know, I talk to a lot of diabetics on TikTok, mostly on TikTok. Mhmm. But it's it's sometimes it's difficult with the timing because if I'm talking to someone that's in California, that's, like, eight hours behind me. So I'm I'm sitting up at, like, four in the morning talking to them.
Yeah. Yeah. It's tough. Is there not a big presence in The UK?
What is in the diabetes community?
Yeah. Yeah.
Influencers, and the days nobody posts29:00
It it's okay, but a lot of them are very not negative, but there's some really good people I've met. But some people, they say they're doing type one diabetic diabetes awareness, but they're not. They're just on there to earn money. That makes sense?
Well, I mean, it's it's something I was talk I I was talking about with somebody recently. I was at a at a a big event, and it just it feels like at this point, there are there are people who are influencers who happen to have type one. So that's the kind of content they make. Yeah. Versus a person who stands up and says, I I would like to raise awareness for this or try to help people, and then it becomes a thing.
It it's almost like they start with it being a job, and then they adapt it to that. And I think that what I'm noticing is that instead of maybe I mean, listen. I I everyone could do whatever they want. And, you know, obviously, I don't I'm not right about everything. But I I'm I'm focused on trying to help people.
Yeah. And then I think whatever comes of it after that is what comes of it. I think if you start with, I need to make money, then you get stuck doing things like following trends on Instagram, following trends on TikTok, and and then trying to adapt diabetes to the social media trends that are that are, I don't know, popular at the moment. And in the end, that stuff doesn't make money.
You know? No. I'll I'll be honest with you, Scott. I've been on TikTok for two years, and I've earned £60 on there.
Oh, look at you're almost done. Probably why don't you just buy your own personal plane and fly here? Why you
why you're for the
cruise, you know?
Yeah. So that that's gonna pay for my first hotel motel when I get to New York. That's that's all it's gonna do. You know? I'm I'm not there.
I'm I'm mine is you know, I'm not a expert. I'm not an endo. I'm not a dietitian, but I just want people to learn from my, you know, my experience. Not every not everybody's diabetes is the same. That is that is the problem with some of these people creating content is that they want everyone to look and say they always show, like, oh, look at my blood sugar.
It's marvelous. It's always in range. They never show the bad days.
Well, I've also seen people just run their blood sugars high and then be like, look how high my blood sugar is. It's it's just I don't know. It doesn't lend itself to social media doesn't lend itself to much that's real in life, if we're being honest. Like, forget diabetes for a second. Right?
It's it's people being bombastic or silly or, you know, I don't know, half dressed. Like, that's pretty much how this works. Right?
If look to my content, it's a mixture of everything. I have a I have a laugh and a giggle about not having any legs because I have got a real dark sense of humor. A lot of it will be lately, a lot of it a lot of my content is me in the gym.
Okay.
But I I do put content on about certain little bits of diabetes. I put it for about a bad night. I'll put that up, you know, a cannula for I pulled a cannula out in my sleep, and I slept through the Dexcom, and all of a sudden, you're hearing that really nice noise that it makes when you go high.
Are you gonna document everything? I I know you're gonna do live stuff, but are you gonna record video too so when you get home, you can put together, like, your own kind of documentary of your trip?
Yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm I'm speaking to a guy at the moment because, yeah. I put videos on, but I I want someone to be able to try and do it properly for me so it looks good.
Well, I mean, I I'm thinking about your I I'm thinking about the trip and and trying to think of it from, like, a production, you know, like, a producing, like, directing standpoint. And there's gonna be your experience, but there's gonna be also what other people see when they see your experience. And they're two different things.
Yeah.
You you know, because you're gonna struggle in places that you don't think of as a struggle because it's part of your day to day life. But other people are gonna witness it and say, I got there's a guy here who's never driven on the right side of the road, who is driving with hand controls in a rented car, you know, blah blah blah blah blah. That's interesting.
Never been to The States in my life.
Been there before. Danny, listen. I live here my whole life. Okay? If you make it from Newark to New York City, I'm gonna tell you you won already.
Okay? Because you can't even imagine what the traffic is like here.
Yeah.
It's it's it's different, man. Like, you know, our highway that runs from Philadelphia to to to Newark Airport, for example, is four four lanes going in each direction. And if you're not going 85, 90 miles an hour, you're not moving fast enough. Like, it's Yeah. You know what I mean?
So, like, you you're you're not wrong to say I wanna get out there and just make sure I know how everything's working before I go. I'm not I'm not kidding. Listen. If you don't call somebody four blocks from the airport and say, please just help me get back to the Newark Airport, I'm flying home again. You've already won.
So
Yeah. No. The the this is happening. I am
Oh, I know.
I am mentally strong, and I you know, I know there'll be days where I'm gonna get frustrated. I know there's gonna be days where I might even get a little bit emotional, a bit upset because I'll be frustrated with myself. Yeah. But then I'll I will stop. I'll have a drink.
I will have calmer nerves, and I'll reset, and I'll go again.
Yeah. Listen. You're gonna get frustrated with people too and traffic and not knowing exactly where you're going all the time. I mean, I don't want you to be disappointed the first day you don't make it from one city to the next in the amount of time that you considered it was gonna take. You know?
There's I mean, you're gonna travel up and down the the Northeast Corridor. You're gonna hit traffic at some points that like, going through DC, for example. You go through DC at the wrong time of day, you you know, you'd be better off, you know, walking. Shit. You know what I mean?
So Yeah. It's gonna be a it'll be a I'll tell you what, you'll have a hell of a story when it's over.
Yeah. And that that's what I'm I'm looking for, but it it was more the interaction with you know, I tried reaching out to colleges, clinics just to go in and do a talk. Not even if it was just a meet and greet, just to say, hi. You know, I'm a diabetic for thirty eight years. Just to have a little chat with people.
There was nothing major about it. You know? It was just something that I've always wanted to do. Mhmm. I've always wanted to go to America.
You're gonna see a lot of it if you follow that path. That's for sure.
Yeah. You know, there there was a I'm a little bit I wanted to go to Detroit because of there's a real nice family that I met on TikTok, and I I speak to them. Really nice family, and I'm just not gonna be able to fit it in.
Detroit's pretty far north.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's gonna be out of your pathway. How does it like, is it hard to, like, conceive how big America is compared to your or to, I mean, Europe and and
to I mean, I've got a road map.
I know. But may
it's not enough.
But it and I in a day, you could drive across England. Right?
Oh, yeah. 100%.
Yeah.
So You know, you if to put it in the grand scheme of things, England is Texas is probably bigger than England.
Yeah. Yeah. And you're talking about you're talking about going up and down in Texas once or twice too.
Yeah.
Yeah. It's a I mean, how are you gonna pay for the gas?
So a friend of mine doesn't wanna put the money on a page. He wants to give me some money to do it. So he's gonna give me some cash before we go. So I've got two friends that are gonna sort of sponsor that. So it doesn't come out of the pot.
I wanna keep that pot where it is now. You know, there there's money come out of that pot, but whatever's going on top now is is actually going towards whatever charity I choose at the moment. You know? I was set on two different charities, then I was set on one, and I I think I'm still set on that same one.
It's very nice of you. I I I might be set on Danny Charity if I was you. But Yeah. I mean, I would use them I listen. I don't know how much you're gonna have left over.
If you have a lot, you wanna donate to somebody, that's fine. But I'm I'm talking about, like, I'd stop every time I had something to say, I do, like, a diary, like, vlog diary. I'd save it, and then I'd use the money to put it all together and and make it available for people to see. Because that's because, you know, it's gonna be hard to spread awareness through TikTok live. It's gonna be it's gonna be, you know, fantastic for you and for the people you find locally.
But once it's over, if you could you know, even just to get it on YouTube and let people see it there, I think that'd be really something. You know?
Yeah. I I have made a YouTube account now. I'm I'm not a 100 I'm a dinosaur when it comes to technology. I'm not I'm not tech savvy and stuff like that. But, yeah, I do wanna get something where I can make a film of what happened and just cut it down to, you know, maybe do it in a couple of parts.
Yeah. Yeah. Sure. How how many miles do you think you're traveling?
I think when I wrote it down in my book the other day, I I did work it out a little bit wrong. I think it's about it's anywhere from 3,500 upwards.
Around 3,500. And what what kind of car are you renting? What what kind of gas mileage does it get? I'm sorry. This is boring, but I'm interested.
No. No. No. I've we don't have the cars that I've chosen or this so at at first, I chose an Audi a three, then I had a rental car turn up here because my car broke down a little while ago.
Mhmm.
And for someone like me to get out of a car that low down was no good.
Yeah.
So it's a Ford Edge or Nissan Pathfinder that I'm gonna be having.
You know how many miles they get to a gallon?
No. I will just I'm I'm just I I don't care no more. I you know, this this is not that I don't care. Obviously, I don't want it costing a fortune. I've sort of budgeted a thousand dollars to drive across.
I got 27 miles a gallon, 3,500 miles divided by 27. 129, I think it's you're gonna pay about $4 a gallon right now times four. Let's see. Yeah. I mean, it it'll probably be between 5 and $600 in gas.
Yeah. Yeah. I've I've sort of I've sort of budgeted around the thousand dollar mark. So anything that's left over will go back into the park, or it might even get me a treat motel for one night. I don't know yet.
Well yeah. Because we don't want you sleeping in the car, Danny. That that'll get you arrested around here someplace. Especially in the South, I ain't gonna like that very much.
Yeah. I've I've got some places to stay. I've got between Philly and New York, I've got my old school friend. I'll be possibly staying there for the night if it's if I can manage to get in and out of the property. That that's the biggest problem.
I'll let a lot of friends and a lot of people say, oh, you're more than welcome to stay at mine.
But they're on the
3rd Floor
of an apartment building or something like that?
Yeah. Yeah. So it it's gotta be that's why I'm I'm a little bit funny with things like that. I don't like I don't like putting people out.
Well, I don't think if somebody's inviting you, then you're not putting them out.
Yeah. No. I get that. But when they sorry. When they offer the first time and you don't wanna ask, but then nothing else is mentioned afterwards, it's like, how do you approach that conversation again?
Do you say, oh, do you remember when you offered
Well, it's exactly what that's exactly what
you said.
Yeah. It's exactly
what you Scott, honestly, I'm not like that. I'll I'd I'd rather sleep in the car and have a shower in a leisure center the next day or a gym somewhere.
No. I mean, there's a million ways to accomplish it. I don't want you to be uncomfortable. But, you know, if people are offering, then they're interested in helping.
Yeah.
You know? And then let them say no if they, you know, if they've rethought it. It's not a big deal.
Yeah. No. I I need to be a bit more going in there and saying, is there any chance? Do you remember?
Yeah. I mean, it's Candy, you're doing this thing that's like a it's a big swing. You know what I mean? You might as well you might as well keep swinging. Yeah.
Yeah. Seriously. I mean, it's a I'm I can't wait to see how you how you pull this off. I mean, half of me thinks you're gonna get done and have this, like, really fantastic little series that I see on on YouTube that chronicles this whole thing and brings a lot of attention to to type one for for people. And half of me thinks that, you know, you're gonna turn up dead in Arkansas.
I'm not sure. I can't wait to find it.
Hey. The surprise is gonna be to for me and you. We'll we'll see what happens.
He wasn't even going to Arkansas, they'll say.
Yeah. No. Honestly, I could end up anywhere. But, like, even with, like, the car rental with the extras that it they wanna charge you, like, £400 for the sat nav.
For the nav?
Yeah. They charge they wanna charge you for, like, 400. I think it was $3.50 then if you want is it serious you have that there, the radio station? Yeah. If you want that, that's an extra $50 or £50.
Jesus. Just just so you don't have the No.
I'm just I've I'm at the moment, I'm just when I do a TikTok live, I'm saying, right. I I want songs. I I want songs for a road trip. So the playlist is wild. The playlist is going wild.
There's some but it will get a final cut if I don't like it. It's not being played.
Yeah.
So there there's a there's a wide range of music going on there at the moment.
Well, there is. Yeah. I mean, listen. I I I I I don't want you to not be have your favorite music with you, you know, while whatever's happening is happening. I I don't know.
I I
So so but what I'm gonna have done with the live, it'll be obviously on my phone, and it will be at the windscreen so people can see the view of what I can see when I'm driving.
Okay.
So they can see the scenery, but especially once I start going down south and I'm gonna be, you know, sort of Mississippi. Many people in The UK wanna see always wanna go down south.
Mhmm. So you think people will enjoy seeing what you're seeing down there?
Yeah. That's that honestly, I've done a a couple of weeks ago, my son text me and said, daddy, you're awake. And it was about half seven on a Sunday morning. I was like, yeah. Yeah.
What what's the matter? He's 17. He's like, I've gone to a party. Mom can't pick me up. Is there any way you can come and get me?
And I was like, yeah. Yeah. Send me your location. He sent me the location. It was a three hour round trip.
Oh.
It wasn't just local. We'd gone, yeah, quite far away to this party. So I just put my phone on and done six at live, driving to pick my son up, and I was I was I was more than happy. There was, like, a 100 people it. If I've got a 100 people watching it, that's fantastic.
If I've got five people watching it, I don't
care. Okay.
This is my experience, and then people wanna join it and share their stories, talk about things, I'm I'm more than happy. I'm very open about everything. You know, I I won't if people ask me questions, as long as it's not about my personal life, I will answer anything.
Mhmm. Yeah. No. I'm like, jeez. Nobody's gonna ask you about your personal life.
That's ridiculous. Only I would do that.
Yeah.
Yeah. I've been told recently that I ask a lot of questions to people like, I can't believe you asked that, and I think it's the only thing I'm wondering.
“Just tell me”45:40
Yeah. No. I do you know what? I'd rather people I'm very black and white. So when they told me about my eye, it was they sort of skirted around it, you know, well, miss Smith, this can happen.
This can happen. And I was like, just just tell me. Am I gonna go blind in my right eye? And they were like, yeah. You you are.
You're gonna you're losing your central vision. And I was like, thank you. I I can deal with it once you tell me.
How how long did they don't know how long until something like that happens?
So I go back in a couple of weeks for another checkup, and they're all about giving me an injection in August before I go just to try and keep it nice and stable while I'm away. Mhmm. Because I've you know, the health insurance costs, that was just over £300 for the month.
Okay.
I mean, it's probably cheaper than what some of you guys pay anyway.
Actually yeah. Yeah. I guess so. My son just my son just had to go out on his own for health insurance because he's older. And, you know, he we legally can't be on our insurance anymore.
So he gets it through his work, and he's like, I I think like, I don't really use my health insurance very much right now. I'm younger. So we got him what they call, like, a high deductible. And Right. But he doesn't pay a bunch every month.
And, you know, he's had, you know, he's had this insurance now for six months, and he has to just switch doctors because our doctor leaves. So he has to go do, like, an initial like, just with a general practitioner. So Yeah. He gets the bill just to go to the doctor for $900.
Wow.
And it still costs less than it would have cost to pay the payments on the insurance every week every month for six months.
Wild. I I just but this is what you know, I I feel bad when people I speak to a lot of Americans, and they're telling me how much they're paying for their insulin. And then there's the insurance side of it, you know, the CGMs, the pumps. And and us in The UK as type one, you you don't pay for anything.
Yeah. Well, I I would I mean
Yeah. That may change.
I I I don't know if it will or not. I've been watching people argue about this for fifteen years now. More maybe. I what I'm I'm having a bigger hope. I I hope Eli Lilly makes so much money off of GLP meds that they're just like, just let them have the insulin.
We're not making enough money off that anyway. Like, I would like, yeah, I would like them to say you know, take a little piece of that of that windfall from the GOPs and say, let me see if we can help people out with this. You know? That's not even boring. That's not gonna happen.
Don't get me wrong. But it'd be nice if somebody did something, especially for people with type one. There's just, I mean, given the entire population, it's not that many people compared to the population to what you're selling with other drugs. It'd just be nice to just drop it to something reasonable that everybody could have as much insulin as they need. You know?
Yeah. It it's very frustrating. It's very frustrating for for you guys. Like, obviously, it's easy for me.
Oh, it's it's frustrating for everybody. That's for sure. You you need to have the insulin you need. Also, you need the the information and the education and like, I mean, just imagine. You didn't just slip through a crack.
You know what I mean? You fell you fell through a canyon. And Yeah. And that you could have gotten in the situation you were in without like, for like, take your personal responsibility out of it for a second. That someone didn't step in and go, hey.
You can't do that is is kinda crazy to me that you didn't have one physician just say to you, you this is not okay. Yeah. So it's it's
I I remember back in like, obviously, I was diagnosed in 1988. We we didn't have CGMs or Sure. I think the pet like, the disposable pens only came out in 8990. So it was vials and syringes, ketone sticks, and blood testing sticks. That that that was it, basically.
And the the finger pokers were not comfortable back then, I can tell you.
Wasn't something you were looking to do.
Oh, yeah. It was it was like you was putting a nail through your finger. They they were horrible. And I think that's what put me off after a a long period of time. Yeah.
And and I'll get that from diabetics to have to finger poke or can't afford a CGM. You know, I I still do finger poke now and again, maybe not as often as I should, but I do compare the Dexcom with it, and it's it's not far off these days. Mhmm. I must admit.
Danny, I must have pointed out the first time you were on that you were diagnosed right around the time my friend Mike was. And Yeah. Yeah. And, I mean, he's not with us anymore. And it it it ate him up in a a number of different ways.
And his story isn't much different than yours really that he got set up in that time period, and then the quality of care shifted. He did not shift along with it. And he was probably doing the same thing you were doing, like giving himself some insulin. It's probably enough. Getting high, you know, eventually getting low, dealing with that, driving his blood sugar back up for probably days at a time again.
And and doctors are telling him all along, like, hey. He's you're fine. You're doing great. So, you know
I I I look back now to what I was before 2019, what I was taking to work every day for me is, like, my packed lunch. And I'd I'd be eating four four slices of bread, a banana, like, maybe having a sandwich. I'd have so that'd be four slices of bread, banana. I'd probably eat two or three bags of crisps or chips, and I'd eat a whole packet of biscuits. And I wasn't even testing my blood sugar.
And and looking back now, the the amount of insulin you were you had then was deficient by what percentage do you think? Like, how much more do you think you would have needed for that lunch than you were taking?
Easily another 25% on top of that. Right. I the amount of carbs I was having, to the amount of insulin I was I was doing was ridiculous.
Mhmm.
Now now I'm back on this straight now, and I look back and I think, Jesus. You know, I was doing a hard Benny insulin, and I was having a lot of carbs.
You weren't even close. And then that that drives you up into that three, four hundred blood sugars and then
Yeah. I think the the only saving grace for me, Scott, was that I was the job that I was doing was very physical.
Yeah. Even
So I was burning quite a lot off. And you were being you
were being fooled by the weight gain or the weight loss thing too
Yeah.
Because thin thin meant healthy to you.
That that exactly that. So now I'm doing it. I'm I'm not following any diet. I've just cut my portion sizes down. I'm just not eating so much rubbish food.
I'm not even having a sneaky chocolate bar anymore, isn't it? I I can't remember.
Yeah. At least bolus for it if you're
having it.
How to follow along52:53
Yeah. I'm a dude. Danny, tell me tell everybody again. I wanna make sure they hear it. So first of all, how do they follow you on TikTok?
So my name on TikTok is double dan t one d.
It's d d o u b l d a n?
Yeah. Dub double dan t one d.
Okay.
I'm on Facebook and Instagram as danny spudsmith. Spud is my nickname from a child. Not a very nice one, but it's there's a guy that lives in my hometown who's called Danny Smith as well. So I had to put the nickname in because he was getting tagged in different photos and all sorts. You know, someone was like, oh, did you have a good time at a wedding?
And I'm thinking, I haven't been to a wedding, and that was a photo of him, but I've been tagged in it. So because I was a younger one. I he he took seniority over it.
You couldn't make him be spud?
No. He he he could be spud. He's he's a year older than me at school as well.
So they can follow you, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok. TikTok's where you're gonna live what you're doing starting on September 1.
Easier to stream it live on TikTok just because I've got more of a following on there now.
Yeah.
And and I'll hopefully, it will build up from there.
That would be nice. I I don't know how social media works anymore. I'm I use it every day, and I'm confounded by what it does at this point. So but, again, I think he I would do vlog style, like, diaries the whole way.
Yeah. So so the plan is, obviously, some of the days is gonna be sent up worked out just just on a, like, a Google Maps one day of a certain time of what it'd be like driving between one place and another, and one of the trips was about five hours driving.
Mhmm.
So the plan is to, obviously, have a couple of hours driving, get out, have maybe have a bite to eat, then I can stop the live, and I can click that live then.
Okay.
Because you get your live recordings after each live when you do TikTok.
And then it'll send us a recording afterwards?
Yeah. So then I can go back through through the trip. I I won't do it, but because I was gonna take my laptop with me, and I just think it's more stuff that potentially could get stolen or lost. Right. So I'm literally going with a couple of phones, my wheelchair, my legs, crutches, clothes, and I've gotta bring some crispy m and m's over from my friend in Atlanta because apparently, he can't get them in The US no more.
Know what you're talking about, so you definitely can't get them here. Yeah. Chris Eminem. I I it's a it's a shame one of those people, you know, isn't like a film student. You know what
I mean?
Yeah. Like an art an art an art school kid that would wanna make a movie or something like that. It's tough.
Yeah. I'm I am talking to a couple of guys that in The UK that do documentaries, but one of them is, I'd love to come with you and stuff like that. Yeah. That's a great idea, but he he wanted me to pay for it as well. And I was like, I'm doing this on a shoestring budget.
It's not something where I've got I can open the cupboard and there's another £5,000 in there.
No. No. I hear you.
I've been very fortunate where people have paid for me to do this. And like I said, I I I've it's come at a a slight financial cost to myself, but I've been very lucky with a sponsorship of people.
Yeah. No. It's nice when people step in. Okay. Is there a place where they can, I mean, even if they get this right before you leave, are there is there, like, a a GoFundMe still running?
Something that would help
you Yeah. The GoFundMe will will run until I come home. I'll I'll leave it running until probably first week of November, then I will shut it down. I I may even shut it down on the last I don't know. I was aiming sort of, like, the first week of November, but there there is a link in my TikTok bio for it if people do wanna donate.
You know, I don't expect people to donate. It's more the interaction I want. It's more meeting people. Yeah. I I wanted I want people to share their stories.
I want people to say, oh, oh, you know, I've been doing that and say and for me to say, well, this is the outcome that happened to me because I I was doing that.
Well, Danny, I wish you a ton of success. I will yeah. Of course. I'm gonna put this up for you, I don't know, maybe, like, a week before you go. Give people a little time to get it.
And then, I mean, hopefully, this will help you a little bit. I I don't know if it will or not, but I but I have my fingers crossed. Heck of an episode today, wouldn't you say? Let's thank Dexcom and the Omnipod five for sponsoring. That's right, my friends.
We were sponsored today by the Dexcom g seven. Dexcom.com/juicebox. Head over there right now. Look into that fifteen day Dexcom g seven. Fifteen days a long time.
It's like half a month. Don't check my math, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. And let's also thank the Omnipod five. My goodness gracious. Omnipod five tubeless.
That beautiful algorithm's updated now with that new 100 target. Get in there. Find out more about it. Omnipod.com/juicebox. You want some tubeless insulin pumping?
Yeah. You do. By any chance, have you tried the small sip series? It's curated takeaways from the juice box podcast voted on by listeners as the most helpful insights for managing their diabetes. These bite sized pieces of wisdom cover essential topics like insulin timing, carb management, and balancing highs and lows, making it easier for you to incorporate real life strategies into your daily routine.
Take a deep dive, take a sip, and discover what our community finds most valuable on the journey to better diabetes management. For more information on small sips, go to juiceboxpodcast.com and then go oh, actually, we changed the website. Let me see. Go to juiceboxpodcast.com. And from there, there's these two little lines on the right side top.
That's the menu. Then click that, then click series, then there's pro there's small sips right there, pro tips at the top, all beginnings, bolus four, asks that. There's a lot of them there. There's actually a little search there too. Could you just type small sips into the search?
Oh, wow. That search works great. Look at that. And then you could go right to, like, all results for small sips. Oh, and that takes you to the FAQ.
You should check out the FAQ page too. I think that's juiceboxpodcast.com/jbfaq. Seriously, that thing's amazing. Actually, the whole website is I mean, have you, like, seen it? You should you should go check out the website.
The website rocks. It is a potpourri, a never ending cornucopia of support for you and your diabetes journey. That's right. It really is. What else we got over here?
Oh, I don't like the way that works. I'm gonna fix that. Note to self. Change the change the masthead on the frequently asked questions page. Yeah.
I don't like that. Fix that. Oh, Claude. Oh, hell. I forgot to say thank you.
Thank you so much for listening. I'll be back again very, very soon. What is that noise? Stop it. Stop.
Can you hear that? It's my chameleon squeaking. Are you squeaking? What are you rubbing the branch against the don't tell people I have reptiles. They'll think I'm weird.
Thanks so much for listening. I'll be back very soon with another episode of the juice box podcast. Believe me, get all deep in there with another episode of the juice box podcast. You can hear it. What was that?
Oh, I'm getting alarms and alerts on my phone. I was gonna get real deep and tell you about the juice box podcast.
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