Jake O’Brien remembered guzzling litre upon litre of water, losing kilos in weight at a time when he was actually trying to bulk up and frequently catching naps during the day.
He was more “confused” than concerned about the symptoms, thinking he was “maybe a bit sick” but nothing more. Yet as matters persisted, his parents, noticing their son was skinnier and weaker than normal, suggested he needed to go to the doctors.
“It took a lot for my mum to do that because she would always say: ‘You’re going to school, no matter what,’ ” the Everton and Ireland defender says with a smile.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be much. They took my bloods and straight away I was rushed to hospital. I was lucky because they said if I had slept at home that night I would have slipped into a coma.”
O’Brien was 16 at the time, and with his blood sugar levels having reached 44 — the norm being between four and six — he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. His pancreas does not produce any insulin and he must inject daily.
Eight years on and it is reflective of his laid-back personality that he recounts the drama that led to the discovery of his condition so matter-of-factly.
He was playing for the youth team Youghal United, in Co Cork, back then and clarity on what was wrong was grasped as a positive. Within two years, the 6ft 6in O’Brien had packed on 30kg (4st 10lb), having lost 7-8kg in a matter of weeks when he was ill.
O’Brien is a regular starter at Everton after spells at Cork, Palace and Lyon
PETER BYRNE/PA
The centre back’s subsequent progress, via spells at Cork City, Crystal Palace and Lyon, has led him to become a Premier League regular with Everton, dreaming of playing at the World Cup with Ireland and becoming a role model to others.
Professional players have reached out to him for advice after their own diabetes diagnoses and O’Brien, 24, was quick to take the lead in an initiative for World Diabetes Day, on Friday, that Everton recently hosted for children from Alder Hey Hospital in Liverpool.
Sports stars with Type 1 diabetes
“I don’t want to say the players’ names but there have been some [who have been in touch],” he says. “It’s just offering reassurance, yeah. They’re newly diagnosed, so they see that I’m playing football and just ask, ‘What am I doing every day?’ It is just basically helping them in how I deal with it and sharing tips with them.
“It’s important, if you have a platform, to share your experiences and show kids — and even parents — that it’s alright. I get a lot of parents texting me.
“When a lot of kids and parents deal with it [the problem is mental not physical] because they feel like it’s holding them back, so I think it’s just about sharing and letting them know they can do as much as any other kid.”
O’Brien, now 24, will usually check his phone at half-time to see if he needs to inject insulin during matches
EVERY SECOND MEDIA/ALAMY
On his left arm O’Brien has a device called a Dexcom, to continuously monitor his glucose levels. It links, via Bluetooth, to his mobile phone and offers immediate readings.
It is evidence of progress, given that he can recall the days when he’d have to prick his finger for a manual test and “then your fingers would be destroyed”.
His match-day routine is rigid. O’Brien will usually check his phone at half-time to reinforce his own sense as to whether he needs to inject insulin, which helps move glucose in the blood into his cells for energy.
“When you have diabetes, you can’t just think throughout the day ‘I’m hungry’ and eat this and that every 30 minutes, because if you’re just doing that and snacking all the time, your sugars will go high,” he says.
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“So on a match day, like anyone else, I will eat three or four hours before. I tend to go for a light pre-match [meal]. I might have porridge and some other carbs. You just inject for the amount of carbs you eat.
“I can look at a plate of food and tell you how many carbohydrates are in it, just from years of counting carbs. And say there is 60g or whatever it is, I divide by eight and that’s how much you inject into you.
O’Brien wants to help children with Type 1 diabetes understand that they “can do as much as any other kid”
ROB URBANI/EVERTON FOOTBALL CLUB
“My biggest problem is I think my glucose levels go high just because of the adrenaline in games, so I try to inject more and keep it level.
“If I felt like I was going down, which never happened, I could shout over for a gel on the line, or if it’s going high, typically, I don’t need anything on the pitch, because you would need to inject. I’d get through to half-time, then inject and you’re fine.
“You don’t want to go too high, but you’d rather go high than low on a pitch, just because if you go low really fast, then you could drop unconscious.
“I just check on my phone at half-time and see what the level is, and depending on what it is, I might leave it or I might inject a few units in. But everyone has seen me do it many times, so they know.
O’Brien helped Ireland to a 2-0 win over Portugal on Thursday night
NIALL CARSON/PA
“It probably was an issue at the very start, because I didn’t like doing it in front of people because I was afraid of what they thought.
“That’s probably a big issue with kids, when they get diagnosed, they don’t want to do it in front of others because they’re probably thinking what other people might think about them.”
O’Brien has been a key performer since David Moyes took over at Everton in January, usually playing at right back, and was in the Ireland side that beat Portugal 2-0 in Thursday’s World Cup qualifier to set up a win-or-bust match with Hungary on Sunday, with a play-off place for next year’s tournament on the line.
The number of children eager to ask for a photograph shows O’Brien’s appeal.
“There are more kids who have been diagnosed with diabetes. It is becoming more common,” he says. “The message is that they can carry on.”
