Diagnosed with diabetes at the age of four, Humboldt Broncos forward Kaleb Dahlgren has lived with the condition for the past 16 years.

Naturally, with Dahlgren being diagnosed at such a young age, he wasn't aware of what diabetes was. Little did he know, it would be something has to take care of on a daily basis.

"The good thing is, both my parents are nurses by trade, so they helped me along with the process," he explained. "Once I left the hospital, I thought I was done with all the needles and done with all the pokes and finger checks and came home and realized I had to do it the rest of my life."

"That was definitely a culture shock to me and to my family. There was definitely some tough times at the start."

As he has progressed in his life and is now playing Junior A hockey, Dahlgren says that the biggest challenge he has is keeping his numbers in check and maintaining a good blood sugar.

"Normally they want your blood sugar to be between four and six. With life realities, it is hard to do that for sure," he noted. "During hockey, I try to keep it between six and 10. I have a rule that if I am six, I am fine, but if I am above 10, I have to give myself insulin to correct my blood sugar."

Now, in his last season of junior hockey, Dahlgren has created a program to help show young people that diabetes doesn't have to hinder their abilities.

Dahlgren's Diabeauties is a joint effort between Dahlgren and the Broncos organization, where kids can sign up to attend a home game and receive free tickets, take part in a ceremonial faceoff, and meet Dahlgren.

"I want to show them a positive aspect on this world and how you can still do whatever you want, and pursue whatever dreams you have," he said. "I created the program this year, and am so thankful that the Broncos organization is doing it for me and helping me out. I think it is going to be a blast getting to meet children with type 1 diabetes and have them come out to our games."

Dahlgren has also developed a presentation to visit classrooms and share more information about type 1 diabetes.

Those who would like to take part in the program can visit HumboldtBroncos.com to gain more information about signing up.

November is National Diabetes Month, and the Broncos will be collecting loose change at each home game during the month to donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.


You can hear more from Dahlgren below.