Texas Senator James Talarico reveals type 1 diabetes diagnosis

“I Was Lucky to Be Alive”: How a 25-Mile Campaign Walk Led Texas Senator James Talarico to a Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis

“I was lucky to be alive. The nurses and the doctors in Williamson County saved my life,” Texas James Talarico said in a recent CNN & Jubilee town hall, describing the medical emergency during his 2018 campaign for the Texas House of Representatives that led to a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, an incurable disease, the New York Post reported.

“I was perfectly healthy and I decided to do something a little unusual,” he recalled of that first run for office. He decided to walk the entire length of his legislative district — 25 miles, the whole thing on foot in one day, all in the Texas heat — and he helped three town halls along that walk. He wasn’t worried about his ability to complete it, since he hiked in Big Bend National Park every year, and this walk was comparatively flat.

His confidence reflected a routine of physical activity that had kept him in shape, making the flat district route seem manageable rather than dangerous. Halfway through the trek, though, he started to feel fatigued and nauseous, actually throwing up a couple of times along the way. Somehow he finished the entire 25 miles and went home, figuring he was simply dehydrated and needed a good night’s sleep. But he didn’t wake for a full 36 hours. His family took him to the emergency room in Williamson County, where nurses tested his blood sugar. After fasting, normal blood sugar would be under 100 mg/dL. Talarico’s was 900 mg/dL.

Instagram

“I was in a state of diabetic ketoacidosis, which leads to coma and death without insulin,” he said. “I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on the spot.”

Diabetic ketoacidosis can be life-threatening and is often the first sign someone has diabetes. When the body isn’t getting the glucose it needs for energy, it is forced to burn fat instead of glucose, flooding the system with acidic chemicals called ketones. If too many ketones build up, the blood becomes acidic, which causes vomiting and abdominal pain. If acidity levels keep rising, DKA can cause falling blood pressure, coma, and death — and it all can happen in a few hours. Along the way, patients might urinate more often, be extremely thirsty, experience dry mouth, have cool skin, and be nauseous or vomit as Talarico did in 2018.

At the hospital, people with DKA receive IV fluids to treat dehydration and insulin therapy to lower blood sugar. The treatment addresses the immediate crisis of acidosis and dehydration, but it does not cure the underlying condition. Diabetes itself is a disease in which the body doesn’t make enough insulin or can’t use it properly, causing sugar to build up in the bloodstream instead of entering cells to be used for energy. Without insulin to facilitate that entry, glucose accumulates to dangerous levels in the blood.

While type 2 diabetes is more common in later adulthood and linked to lifestyle factors, type 1 typically starts in childhood and, until the last decade, was referred to as juvenile-onset diabetes. The exact causes are unknown, though genetics and environmental factors are believed to play a role. People with type 1 diabetes — the less common form — are more at risk for DKA, while those with type 2 diabetes are less likely to develop it.

Over time, chronically high blood sugar can damage blood vessels and nerves throughout the body, leading to potential complications like heart disease, kidney disease, vision loss, and nerve damage. While diabetes has no cure, it is considered a chronic, manageable condition. Those living with type 1 diabetes track their blood sugar regularly and use tools like medication, insulin therapy, diet, and exercise to regulate it.

Talarico’s blood sugar reading of 900 mg/dL — nine times the upper limit of a healthy fasting level — stands as a stark measure of how quickly the body can turn against itself, even in someone who had just pushed through 25 miles of Texas heat on foot while hosting three town halls. The diagnosis left him with a lifelong condition that demands constant vigilance.