Wasim Akram: A True Challenge To Diabetes

Sportsmen and injuries go hand in hand, but certain ailments are such which extend beyond skin and bone. Lance Armstrong's brush with cancer is one such example; an example quoted time and again embodying the fighter that he was.

Wasim Akram in the cricketing world represents a similar fighting spirit against his battle with "Diabetes Mellitus" from the past 12 years.

Any MD [Diabetology] will say that diabetes is not a disease, it's a disorder due to the malfunctioning of the "Insulin" secreting pancreas. However, disease or disorder, diabetes is one affliction that should never attached to a person.

Even for a normal 9-to-5 working hours person, managing the external insulin shots, checking the blood glucose level, dieting and exercising proves difficult and managing the same by a sportsman, with all his travelling and duties and activities is something worth really wondering at.

Caught in the grasp of the "Silent Killer" at the age of 31 when he was the peak of his career, Akram didn't really let the disorder affect his performance though he admits that the first few weeks post diagnosis were acutely bleak.

At first it is hard to believe and the question keeps on popping "Why me?" The answer sadly, is something that can never be satisfactorily explained.

In his own words, he has stated many times over that his disbelief turned to acceptance which in turn gave way to steady determination so as not to let it affect his career.

And this is where he had to be most careful; unlike before he couldn't mull much over the game professionally in order to avoid stress related complications nor he could be that carefree and overlook his physical injuries as easily as before.

Leading life as a diabetic is like living forever prepared for an ambush and the sobriquet of the "Silent Killer" aptly justifies it. 

Wasim did just that and in the six years that he had in his diabetes infiltrated career, never once did he allow that to slip. Not to mention that he played the best cricket of his entire life in those years; capturing 400 wickets within weeks of his diagnosis and still standing as the second all time best bowler in ODIs with 502 wickets behind Muttiah Muralitharan.

Wasim Akram is many things in the cricketing field: A bowler par excellence, a good captain, a player who plays in the spirit of the game, etc..etc but amongst all these accolades and most importantly, he is also the "Great Survivor" whose experience with diabetes is used to motivate young kids across the sub-continent with the same malady countless times over!