by Eli Soderberg
Addisen (Addie) Freeman’s soccer bag carries everything she needs to be a college soccer player—cleats, shin guards, her uniform, a water bottle, etc. But there are also items that none of her other teammates would ever need, but that could be essential to saving her life.
Along with the soccer necessities, she also carries glucagon nasal spray, in case her blood sugar level drops to a dangerous level; an insulin pump; her glucose meter; her Dexcom; peanut butter crackers and Gatorade.
“I know I am capable of doing what everyone else is doing but diabetes can be very inconvenient sometimes,” Freeman said. “It doesn’t have a specific set of time where your blood sugar is going to drop at. It’s just very unpredictable.”
In fifth grade, she unexpectedly lost 30 pounds and was constantly drinking water and using the bathroom every 15 minutes. When her teacher called her parents to complain that she always got out of class to use the bathroom, they took her to the doctor. There, the bomb dropped — her blood sugar level was 500 mg/dL, in comparison to a nondiabetic’s 125 mg/dL.
She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, a condition that only 5% of diabetics in America get according to the Congressional Diabetes Caucus. Her body could no longer produce insulin which is a hormone that allows sugar to enter cells to produce energy. As if that wasn’t enough, she was also a brittle diabetic, causing sever swings in blood sugar levels, which is especially challenging to manage.
“We wondered if she would ever be able to manage it on her own,” said Freeman’s father, Joel.
Now, finishing up her first semester and first season as a college soccer player at UNCP, she is completely self-sufficient in her diabetes management. Although, she recalls how the first few months were challenging as she adapted to a new routine, new teammates and coaches.
“Coming in and being with a whole new group of girls, I was scared,” she said. “At some points, I wouldn’t say I was neglecting my diabetes, but I was thinking that it’s a later problem because I didn’t want to have to step out of drills if I went low, because I didn’t want it to seem like I was getting out of drills.”
Today, she works closely with the UNCP soccer team’s athletic trainer, Dr. Paige Ezell.
“A lot of it falls on Addie because she doesn’t have her parents and her family here every single day,” Ezell said. “She is really good at communicating with me about anything that is going on and what her blood sugar levels are.”
Ezell has both supported her and been there as an extra level of defense if necessary — which became reality during Freeman’s second day of college.
At midnight, the soccer team was running their infamous two-mile fitness test that causes everyone much stress and anxiety, regardless of seniority. Her body was thinking she was going to be asleep, so her insulin pump was pushing in a bunch of insulin, but instead, she was pushing her body to its limits which caused her blood sugar level to crash.
Halfway through the test, she started seeing stars and her body began shaking — it was a hypoglycemic episode. Her blood sugar level was dangerously low and she knew she had no choice but to step off. On the sideline, Ezell was waiting.
“She lowkey saved my life during the two-mile,” Freeman said jokingly.
“Something I learned about Addie that night is that she is someone who likes to push and she is definitely somebody who is not going to use her diabetes as an out for anything,” Ezell said. “She is always going to be someone who is like, can I go, can I go. Sometimes to a point where I have to say to her to pump the brakes a little bit.”
Unknowing of the positive impressions, Freeman saw this as a failed opportunity to prove herself to the new coaches and new teammates. A fear of people thinking she is less capable because of her diabetes crept in.
“It made me feel kind of guilty that I had type 1 diabetes because I came here to do school and play soccer,” she says. “That has always been my dream, but now I have this extra set of responsibilities that are currently hindering me to do that.”
Freeman describes diabetes as a 24/7 life-or-death responsibility that many people don’t truly understand. The constant responsibility can be a heavy rock to carry, and mentally it drains her in ways most can’t imagine.
“There are days you are literally so done with it,” she says. “You want to live just one day without it. Just one day where you don’t have to worry about your blood sugar the whole time.”
At UNCP, she has met classmates and other athletes with type 1 diabetes, and she explains how helpful it is to have people who experience the same things as they can relate in ways not even her parents can.
Freeman may be carrying a heavier soccer bag than anyone else on her team, but she won’t let that hold her back. Every day she proves to herself and the people around her that diabetes doesn’t define her and her accomplishments.