Blésois Terry Bauet at the summit of Kilimanjaro, alone with his diabetes

When you’re little and you’re diabetic, adults spend their time telling you to pay attention to this and that, stopping you from doing things. When in fact there is no limit, just adaptations to the disease. Terry Bauet, Blésois working at the Saint-Laurent power plant, celebrates his 26th today^e anniversary, on the date of World Diabetes Day. When he was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the beta cells of the pancreas) when he was 8 years old, he knew nothing about it. But he learned to live with it normally and always played sports. He tried many before settling on badminton, with success since he was ranked 89^e French in 2023.

The biggest risk: altitude sickness!

“I like to set myself challenges, I cycled through Denmark with friends. This year I also wanted to learn more about my illness, how my body reacts. There are diabetics who climb Mont Blanc; on Kilimanjaro there are fewer, without being accompanied by someone who knows about diabetes, I didn’t find any. » So Terry created an association, Diabsport, collected 70% of the cost of his trip and flew to Tanzania at the end of July.

“I wanted to go all the way and manage alone, whatever I managed to do. I simply had a guide (obligatory) and a team that followed for business. We had to do the climb from Monday to Sunday, on Friday noon I was back at my hotel! We had an extraordinary time! » The Blésois arrived at the end of 5,895 m, without problem. “Moral level, it was difficult, especially on the last afternoon when we had to do 6 km with 1,300 meters of elevation gain. We have 50% less oxygen and everything is very slow, every effort is a challenge, even drinking… But it was an incredible experience! »

The biggest risk Terry faced was, as for everyone, altitude sickness. Concerning his illness, he experienced hypo and hyperglycemia, but nothing worrying. Better still, he recorded everything in notebooks, hour by hour: how his body reacted, at rest, during meals, what doses of insulin he took. “I noticed that blood sugar levels rise a lot with altitude. I now have to analyze my data, I will communicate it to my diabetologist, and I want to make a film. But I just became a dad, I haven’t had the time yet! »

Terry is not yet equipped with an artificial pancreas, he is the one who says to send or stop the insulin at his pump. “But I have a continuous blood sugar sensor, it helps a lot, when I was little I pricked my finger… »

The Bonobolus association invited him to its general meeting on Sunday November 17 so that he could talk about his wonderful adventure with the families of diabetics. And his incredible daily management of the disease. “There really are no limits!” »