Ep. 566: Climbing the 50 U.S. Highpoints in 50 Days with Type 1 Diabetes - Michael Shelver & Patrick Mertes

Patrick and Michael have been living with Type 1 Diabetes for most of their lives. Feeling a bit isolated and hesitant as children to venture too far away from available insulin or glucose monitoring tools, they individually pursuit adventurous lives before coming together to show the world anything is possible with T1D through their latest adventure, Project 50-IN-50

They climbed the 50 highpoints of each U.S. state and finished in 49 days – making them the first people with Type 1 diabetes to complete this achievement and joining an elite group of fewer than five people to do so the fastest in the world.

Over the course of the 2019 summer, the team road-tripped over 17,000 miles to hike, run, climb and ski through 315 miles of trails. Patrick is the first person with T1D to successfully summit the highest peak in each of the 50 states. Michael experienced an emergency Life Flight off of Granite Peak in Montana and had to miss out on a handful of the peaks. Thankfully, he’s made a full recovery. After loads of tears and challenges along the way, Patrick and Michael persevered to complete their challenge.

Project 50-IN-50 is an initiative of The Diabetes Family Connection, a North Carolina based 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. In addition to achieving a new milestone in mountaineering, Michael and Patrick have grown local and global communities of people with diabetes inspired to get outside and enjoy the outdoors.

www.project50in50.org

Instagram: @project50in50

Facebook: @project50in50

www.thedfc.org

Their upcoming events: project50in50.org/speaking

Photo credit here

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