Tampa’s Ben Milsom Shares His Experience With Type 1, Breakthrough T1D
by SHAYLYNN MARKS
When Ben Milsom was just 17, his world changed with a single blood test. Fresh off a summer trip and preparing for college football, Milsom suddenly found himself exhausted. What the Pittsburgh teen thought was overtraining turned out to be something far more serious.
“I was losing a lot of weight, eating a ton, and still getting weaker,” Milsom recalls. “I didn’t know anyone with Type 1 diabetes, so I had no idea what was happening.”
When a doctor’s visit revealed a blood sugar level over 700, Milsom was rushed to the hospital.
“They told me I was the first person to walk into that hospital with those numbers without being brought in by ambulance,” he recalls. “Once they told me it was manageable, I was ready to do whatever it took.”
Learning Discipline
Milsom, now a Tampa resident, says he spent a week in the hospital and remembers asking if they had a weight room.
“They said, ‘This is a children’s hospital,’ and I said, ‘That’s not my problem,’” he jokes.
Determined not to lose his athletic edge, he convinced staff to let him train and even had an exercise bike brought to his room.
By the time he was discharged, Milsom was taking four to five insulin injections a day — a far cry from his current continuous glucose monitor and insulin pump. Those medical advancements, Milsom says, have been game-changers.
“Nighttime is the worst for diabetics,” he says. “The pump lets me sleep without worrying. It’s given me freedom.”
The Mental Battle
“A diabetic makes about 180 more decisions a day than the average person,” Milsom explains. “You’re constantly thinking about food, activity, blood sugar levels — it never stops.”
Even after 28 years of living with T1D, Milsom admits he still has hard days.
“There are moments where I wonder why it happened to me,” he says. “But then I remind myself… I’m strong enough to handle it, and I can use it to help others.”
That mindset fuels his mission to raise awareness and advocate for others with diabetes. He often speaks with families of newly diagnosed individuals to help them adjust to life beyond the hospital.
“When you leave, it’s like, thumbs up and good luck,” he says. “I wanted to be honest about the real challenges … because this disease doesn’t take a break.”
Living Fearlessly
That transparency became the foundation of his book, “The Fearless Diabetic.” Milsom describes it as raw and unfiltered — an honest look at the highs and lows of his experience.
“People might judge me when they read it, but that’s okay,” he says. “It was the only way to tell my story honestly and help others feel less alone.”
For Milsom, being a “fearless diabetic” means embracing life with optimism and grit.
“It’s about hope, perseverance, and refusing to let it define you,” he says. “You can’t see my disease, but it’s always there — that’s what makes awareness so important.”
Advocacy in Action
Milsom’s advocacy led him to partner with Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, now known as Breakthrough T1D, where he served as board president and was a keynote speaker for various events. He also traveled to Washington, D.C., to advocate for diabetes care.
“When I got involved, I leaned in heavily,” he explains. “I wanted to use my background in sales and sports to help raise funds and awareness.”
One of his most memorable experiences came at the 2012 Night of Hope Gala, when a donor family of a football player he met through his sales and client relations work with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers pledged $200,000 to help the event reach its $1 million goal.
“It wasn’t because of me,” Milsom says. “It was because I showed up… I shared my story…that connection mattered.”
Will Hunt, development director for Breakthrough T1D, says connecting with people is one of Milsom’s unique qualities.
“What we look for in the Type 1 diabetes community is people who are willing to talk about their disease or their condition publicly,” Hunt explains. “And oftentimes, a lot of people don’t want to talk about the disease that impacts their life. But he’s thoughtfully outspoken about it.”
That quality was instrumental in growing the foundation and helping to secure funding.
“Ben was so engaging that he’d bring new people into the fold to help our cause and our mission and raise money to drive our research forward.”
“In the last five or 10 years, we’ve raised about $160 million per year that goes directly to type 1 diabetes research funding, and we have people like Ben who have been championing that effort for so long. In addition to the local work he does, he does advocacy work to help us at the national level to generate those millions and millions of dollars in research funding.”
A Life of Purpose
Today, Milsom balances a full life as a husband, father, business professional, and athlete. He owns his own gym, D1 Training Westchase, and works as Chief Revenue Officer with Intersport. Despite his busy schedule, he still makes time to mentor others in the diabetes community.
“You can’t control that you have it,” he said. “But you can control how you live with it.”
Milsom’s book is available from Amazon and his website, https://fearlessdiabeticbook.com/