An "incredible story of dedication and perseverance" is how dLife pitches its upcoming story on US Army Sergeant First Class Mark Thompson (pictured at right). It does sound like an awesome story and definitely worth a look. Says dLife, Thompson, who is diabetic, ended up in battle in Iraq and trying to manage his diabetes even when under fire. Talk about your tough challenges. Thompson was diagnosed with diabetes after becoming a combat arms commander and he didn't want to give all that up because of the disease. No, sir. He continued to serve and ended up joining his comrades in Iraq.In its press release, dLife says that Thompson was told he could never be deployed to Iraq. Seems he wrangled it anyway. He found the idea of quitting "unacceptable." Says Thompson, "diabetes was not going to stop me from being who I wanted to be." He came up with a plan for managing his diabetes in the field, and successfully plugged that plan to his superiors. The caveat: that he could serve under strict guidelines and could be sent home at any moment if necessary. The first problem was discovered immediately: the more than fifty pounds of gear Thompson has to lug around crushed his automatic insulin pump. D'oh! Worse, he knew it would take over a month for a new one to arrive by mail. Even bigger d'oh! Left with no other choice, Thompson resorted to doing things the old fashioned way, with near-constant blood tests and administering up to fourteen insulin shots a day.
The dLife story on Thompson promises to dish more amazing details and has a happy ending: he served his entire year in Iraq and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic or meritorious achievement in service. Says dLife creator Howard Steinberg, "I have a new hero. Plain and simply put, the story of Army Sergeant Mark Thompson is one of the most inspirational stories I have ever heard. This was not only a good story for the dLifeTV, it was an honor to present." Wow.
