More Than My Diagnosis: Art
Art has a Bachelor of Sport on the go at the University of Canterbury, marathon training most days, and a camera rolling more often than not. Football's normally in the mix too, though that's on hold for now while his knee finishes recovering. He'd call all that a fairly normal week.
Swimming was the sport growing up, competitively, the whole deal. Running and football took over at some point. Then last year he tore his ACL and has spent the past wee while getting his fitness back up. While he can't jump on the football pitch quite yet, he realised he can run, so why not challenge himself to run a marathon?
At 21, he's decided not only to run it, but to document his journey getting to that finish line.
What’s most striking about Art is how driven he is. He’s dedicated to improving and pushing boundaries, and he wants others to feel like they can achieve anything they set their minds to.
Making the videos
What started as a way to track his own training has become something bigger. Art now shares his marathon prep, injury recovery, and life with type 1 diabetes with thousands of followers. In between, there's the odd glimpse of what a perfect day actually looks like for him: a good run, a game of football, and a plate of nachos to finish it off.
"It's making videos that de-stigmatise diabetes as a whole and letting people know a bit more about it," Art says.
He was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at 17, after weeks of dehydration and low energy. The diagnosis knocked him for six, as it does for many.
"It sort of turns your whole world upside down and it was a very emotional few days."
The questions people still ask
One misconception Art runs into often is the idea that people with type 1 diabetes can't eat certain foods.
"A lot of the time when people freshly find out I have diabetes, I'll go to eat something sweet like a chocolate bar or some lollies and they'll go, 'Oh, can you eat that?'”
He often finds himself getting into teacher mode and educating people about the misconceptions of diabetes, and what the reality looks like for him.
He says that what felt overwhelming at first has settled into something much more ordinary.
"The main worry was being different. But it just becomes the new normal," he says.
What's changed
Living with diabetes has shifted how Art sees his own limits, and not in the way people might expect.
"I feel like I can overcome things that I maybe couldn't have before my diagnosis."
Looking ahead
Between finishing his degree, getting back on the football field, and training for that 42.2 kilometres in November, Art's got plenty on the horizon. Diabetes will be part of that too, but he's defiant that it won't be the thing that defines him.
We can't wait to see what's next for Art.
To support his marathon fundraising, visit: https://tinyurl.com/4dcv5s6m
To follow his journey on instagram, visit: artykinz_runs