One man’s story of recovery from diabetes, and how the community can help on the way, has been added to a health awareness campaign that launches today.

Reid Furbert’s account of taking charge of his diabetes is among those featured in a video campaign by the Bermuda Diabetes Association that marks November as Diabetes Awareness Month.

Among the ways of dealing with the illness, including prevention by avoiding lifestyle factors that contribute to type 2 diabetes and finding ways of leading a healthy life with diabetes, the campaign encourages the community to support people with the disease by avoiding insensitivity.

Mr Furbert, whose experience with diabetes ultimately put his life at risk, said he was well familiar with some of the issues.

“There’s nothing worse than trying to scare someone into changing their diabetes and their behaviour — they tend to become more introverted,” he said.

“That’s a very, very serious thing, the mental anguish alone. I was not only dealing with the physical impact but also the mental and emotional side.

“I had people asking me, ‘Why are you eating that? Are you supposed to have that? Why don’t you have this?’ All that kind of thing.”

Mr Furbert said he endured teasing, even bullying, over the radical change in lifestyle that came with his recovery, causing him to withdraw and, at times, relapse into bad habits.

At 68 and successfully managing his diabetes, he said he was all too happy to join the Bermuda Diabetes Association’s campaign, including being featured in its public service videos going online from today.

He said he walked into the BDA headquarters one day and was told by Alba Fernandez, the marketing and community relations co-ordinator: “You’re my next superstar.”

Mr Furbert told The Royal Gazette: “I didn’t hesitate, because the BDA has done so much for me, especially when Covid hit. They were a godsend.

“Everyone embraced me and welcomed me there.

“It’s an environment so conducive to wellbeing, an atmosphere of healing where all the personalities are on the same page for your health.”

He said this month’s campaign was “100 per cent” about spreading the same supportive approach to dealing with one of the island’s most prevalent chronic illnesses.

In recounting his journey back to good health, Mr Furbert said many people in the community still failed to understand the mechanisms of one of Bermuda’s worst diseases.

“I have had diabetes for over 20 years, and I want to emphasise that I have diabetes, as states in the video — I am not ‘a diabetic’,” he said.

An unhealthy diet, a lack of exercise and a youthful fondness for alcohol contributed to a condition that shocked him into a lifestyle change when his soaring blood sugar in later years almost got him turned down for a vital surgical procedure.

Mr Furbert said his high blood sugar could have killed him, and he was told that he may not have survived the operation.

Although the procedure was a success, he credited his religious faith for getting him through, along with the joy of rediscovering his health as he lost weight and changed his eating habits.

He said: “I did my own cooking, and that meant I had control. I learnt through the diabetes reversal classes at the diabetes association.”

Mr Furbert added that the BDA’s message this month of changing the tone of discussion around diabetes was not a form of political correctness.

“I dealt with bullying when it came to diabetes,” he said. “People would say things right in front of my face.”

He accepted that it might have been attempts at humour in the face of a disease that, until recently, Bermudians dismissed as “a touch of sugar”.

“It’s bad enough dealing with it on your own, but when someone causes you to feel there’s something wrong with you, that makes it extremely difficult to deal with,” he said.

“That’s something I want people to understand. Educate yourself.

“You don’t know how much you can be of assistance to someone in your family or in the community.

“You don’t have to have diabetes — you can still come to the diabetes association and educate yourself.”