Recipient of two
Kellion Victory
Medals – silver and
gold – Larry Mervin is
just three years away
from his Platinum
Medal, representing
living with type 1
diabetes for 70 years.
And there’s no
stopping this senior.
“In the early days,
I was told by many
well-meaning people that
I wouldn’t be around in
three years,” recalls Larry, who
was diagnosed at the age of 10.
“Diagnosed with diabetes, you’re
dead in three years. Which was
absolute rubbish.”
Growing up, Larry was very
active, and this continued well
into adulthood – playing sport
every chance he could, including
winning four NSW Badminton
Championships. “I always loved
a challenge,” he laughs. “I said to
the doctor at RPA (Royal Prince
Alfred Hospital) one day, ‘So
listen doc, what’s the chance
of me playing rugby league?’ and
he said, ‘Oh my god, NO. If you
break a leg, you’ll get infections.’
I laughed and told him I’d been
playing it for three years. I justdiabetes hero
FOR
platinum
GOING
18 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2019 diabetic livingWORDS^ ELLIEGRIFFITHSPHOTOGRAPHYJILLIAN^MCKEE,^ SUPPLIED^BYDIABETES^ AUSTRALIAkept doing things like that;
I wouldn’t tell him until after
I was already doing it.”
When diagnosed, Larry was
advised to listen to what his body
told him. “If your body tells you
it’s not well, you’ve got to find out
why you’re not well [and] what’s
happening with your diabetes;
adjust that, and then you can do
what you want to do,” he explains.
“[Following that advice] I’ve never
had a problem – it’s been about
25-30 years since I last had a low.
I’ve been a diabetic since I was 10,
I’m 77 now, and I’ve still got my
fingers, toes, arms and legs,my eyesight’s good, and
I can drive a car without
glasses, without
a problem!”
But it hasn’t always
been a breeze for
Larry. “I fought for
everything I did,”
he says. “[When I
was young,] I was in
the RPA outpatients
department where the
diabetic clinic was.
They’d call somebody’s
name, the nurse would
come out, hand them a big
plastic bottle and say, ‘Now
would you go into the toilet there,
give us a specimen and put it on
the table here.’ And I would think
what the hell are these people
doing! [When] they called my
name, I went up to the counter
and said, ‘Don’t you realise what
you’re doing to these people?
Look at the faces of these people.
You’re calling each one of those
people up here, individually as a
person, handing them a specimen
bottle in front of everybody and
saying go urinate in that and
come put your urine on the table.
That’s degrading! Disgusting!’
And I complained about it
formally. The next time I went,At 77, Larry Mervin has lived with type 1
for almost 70 years with zero complications