Local eighth-grader completes 100-mile bike trip for diabetes
A 100-mile bike ride may sound daunting to some, but for Cole Bruesehoff, the trek was worth it. The Woodbury teen is hoping his recent contributions on his bike can help with a much more difficult task – wiping out juvenile diabetes.By: Amber Kispert-Smith, Woodbury Bulletin
- A 100-mile trip
A 100-mile bike ride may sound daunting to some, but for Cole Bruesehoff, the trek was worth it. The Woodbury teen is hoping his recent contributions on his bike can help with a much more difficult task – wiping out juvenile diabetes.
The St. Ambrose Catholic School eighth grader was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes last fall after his parents noticed some of the tell-tale symptoms – extreme thirst and a loss of body weight.
“Being diagnosed didn’t feel good,” Cole said. “I’ll give it that much.”
However, the Woodbury teen was convinced that nothing was wrong.
“My mom took me to the doctor against my will,” Cole said.
The first few days after he was diagnosed with diabetes were difficult as Cole was adjusting to giving himself shots and adjusting to his insulin intake.
“One night it just kind of hit me that I’m going to be giving myself shots and testing blood sugar for the rest of my life,” he said. “It was kind of this depressing, sad, overwhelming thing.”
Over the past year, Bruesehoff has had to adjust to checking his blood sugar about 10 times per day and administering insulin shots about six or seven times per day.
“Learning to do the shots wasn’t very hard, it was remembering to do them,” he said.
Training for the ‘Ride’
Living with diabetes has made such an impact on Cole’s life that he decided to do his part to help find a cure. Last month he joined the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International’s annual “Ride for a Cure” in La Crosse, Wis.
“Diabetes is such a horrible disease and I don’t want anyone else to have it,” the eighth grader said. “The ride seemed like my perfect chance to do something about it.”
Cole set a goal to raise $3,000 in sponsorships for his ride. He’s just $100 short of the mark.
To prepare for the ride Cole trained for several months. He and his mother completed the Aug. 14 ride in about seven hours, and as a result he was named the event’s “Best Young Rider.”
“There was kind of sense of unity since we were all there for one reason and we all had the same goal,” Cole said. “There was so much hope in that room that there would be a cure.”
“You watch the Tour de France and you watch all these big bike races and they’re so selfish — they’re riding for themselves and for the glory — but the thing that makes this ride cool is that it’s for all the diabetics.”
Cole said he intends to participate in the Ride for a Cure every year.
He’s also hoping to raise more awareness of Type 1 diabetes through participation in Children’s Congress, an advocacy organization.
“You hear about all these problems with cancer and then you think of chemo, chemo isn’t a great cure but it’s a cure for cancer, but there isn’t a chemo for diabetes,” he said. “No disease is fair, but it’s just not fair to think about that there is no cure for diabetes.”
Cole said he is hopeful however that someday, diabetes will have a cure.
“When I don’t have to think about diabetes anymore, it’s going to be one of the greatest days of my life,” he said.
If you would like to donate money to Cole Bruesehoff’s cause, visit his website at http://ride.jdrf.org than go to the donate page and type in his name.
Tags: daily updates, lifestyle, woodbury, health, fccnetwork
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