THE LIFE
Mike Prybicien: Giving
a voice to diabetic
student athletes
By Beth Sitzler
S
aying Michael Prybicien, MA, ATC,
CSCS, is “busy” is perhaps an
understatement. The past Athletic
Trainers’ Society of New Jersey
president and current District Two
public relations coordinator works as an athletic trainer in a high school with more than
1,200 student athletes, as an adjunct faculty
member at William Paterson University
and as an entrepreneur with Sports Safety
International, which conducts online sports
safety education programs.
In addition to his professional devotions, Prybicien and his wife, Jennifer,
are parents to two children­– daughter Abigale, 11, and son Aiden, 7. Despite everything on his plate, Prybicien finds time to
be an advocate for student athletes with
diabetes–an issue close to his heart as
Aiden is diabetic.
“[Managing an athlete with diabetes is]
no different than managing an ankle sprain
or concussion­– it’s just something that when
managed and managed properly, you get a
very successful athlete,” said Prybicien,
30 | NATAnews | NOVEMBER 2015
who is on the Hackensack University Medical
Center patient advisory board.
When Aiden was 4 years old, he began
showing telltale signs of diabetes­– frequent
urination, complaining of thirst, some
weight loss­
–which Prybicien recognized
because of his athletic training background.
“In February 2013, we took him to our
primary care physician/pediatrician and
his blood sugar levels were, I think, 590 at
that time,” he said, adding that they took
Aiden to the emergency room and he was
admitted into the hospital for four days.
“It was a hard first few months, because he
never got sick … so we had a four-year-old,
who, in his opinion, was never sick, and all of
a sudden he’s getting eight needles a day. To
say he wasn’t happy when we first brought
him home would be a major understatement.”
Thanks to the Molly Center for Children
with Diabetes and Endocrine Disorders at
the Hackensack UMC, however, the family
quickly adjusted.
“Me, being an athletic trainer, tremendously helped myself and my family and
Aiden,” he said. “My learning curve was a lot
less steep than say my wife’s. … I knew what
the disease was. I understood the pancreas
and its responsibilities. I understood carbohydrates, proteins and fats. All of that made
it easier for me to add on more knowledge.”
To further the family’s knowledge of
diabetes, the Prybiciens attended Camp
Nejeda, a diabetes camp for newly diagnosed families, in the summer of 2013.
While attending the camp, Prybicien talked
with the counselors, who were teen diabetics and student athletes.
“Fourteen of the 15 counselors told me
that when the school nurse left at the end of
the school day, they were basically on their
own,” he said. “That their athletic trainer
had no interaction with them. They basically
controlled their blood sugars on their own.
“I made a promise to them that I would
make it my task to be an advocate for student athletes to receive quality care from
their athletic trainers.”
Since making that promise, Prybicien
has conducted speaking engagements at
THE LIFE
various meetings and with numerous
groups­­–both athletic trainers and school
nurses­– in New Jersey.
“That data has shown that one in 500
kids have Type 1 diabetes,” he said. “In
the past, they may have shied kids away
from sports. Now, they do the opposite.
The pediatricians and endocrinologists are
saying, ‘No, exercise is healthy for these
students. As long as you manage their diabetes properly with their insulin, let them
go play sports just like anyone else.’”
The Importance of Planning
Prybicien said professional athletes, such
as quarterback Jay Culter of the Chicago
Bears, prove that a diabetic athlete can
have successful sports careers.
The challenge facing a diabetic athlete is maintaining their sugar levels,
which requires planning on behalf of the
athletic trainer, athlete, parents and endocrinologist, Prybicien said. Monitoring during games and being prepared for
blood sugar highs or lows is essential for
diabetic athletes.
“That’s one of the great things about athletic training­–we’re one of the few, if only,
health care professionals that get to know
our patients before they’re technically our
patients because of our interactions with
our athletes,” he said. “We get to know
them before they ever get hurt, so we get
to know their personality and their traits.”
Prybicien recommends that athletic trainers keep food items, such as Gatorade or peanut butter, in their kit to give to a diabetic athlete when they experience low blood sugar.
The athletic training
profession has given my
family incredible support.
“If someone goes low, below 80, there is
the rule of 15,” Prybicien said. “Give them
15 grams of carbs and then in 15 minutes
recheck their blood sugar.
“If they’re high, you have to manage
them. … You want to monitor them and
then test them again in a half hour. If they’re
high again in a half hour, you’ll want to
bring that blood sugar down, which, again,
you’ll have to work with the endocrinologist to know [the correct way to do this].”
With November being National Diabetes
Month, Prybicien plans to hold a webinar
titled “Managing the Diabetic Athlete” at
11 a.m. (EST) Nov. 16 and 9 p.m. (EST)
Nov. 17 at www.SportsSafety.org to take
his advocacy work nationwide. A portion
of the registration proceeds will be donated to the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation, and continue education credits will be available to participants.
Finding Support Within the
Profession
Now in second grade, Aiden is active playing basketball and baseball. Soon after his
diagnosis, he began using a pump to manage
his diabetes, which eliminated the daily
shots. Since Aiden’s diagnosis, the family
has learned just how complex diabetes
can be and how each diabetic is affected
differently by the condition.
“When Aiden exercises in the heat,
sometimes his blood sugar levels go up,
and then when you get him into air conditioning, they go down,” Prybicien said.
“Somebody else might be the opposite. …
That’s why you have to get to know that
athlete, know what their trends are, and
work with the athlete, the parents and the
endocrinologist to develop the best possible plan for that athlete.”
Throughout their journey, the Prybicien
family has received support from friends
and family–as well as their extended family
in the athletic training profession.
“The athletic training profession has
given my family incredible support,”
Prybicien said.
In addition to the well-wishes and words
of encouragement the family has received,
the Prybicien family’s JDFR One Walk
team, Aiden’s Musketeers, has grown over
the last three years. In 2015, more than
80 students participated under the team
name in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“Those are all incredible things the profession has done for me and my family as we
continually try to fight the disease and continually try to find a cure,” Prybicien said.
For more information about JDRF or to
find a JDRF One Walk event in your area,
visit http://jdrf.org.
Bonus Online Content
For more information about Mike
Prybicien, visit our NATA Now blog at
www.nata.org/nata-news-blog/
AT-Spotlight-Mike-Prybicien.
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