Roughly 3.5 kilometers of sea to cross and a diagnosis that must not become a limit. This is the message at the heart of “Beyond the Strait with Diabetes: Challenges Are Faced Together,” the third open-water crossing of the Messina Strait promoted by the Association of Doctors with Diabetes (AMD), unveiled at the Horcynus Orca Foundation in Punta Faro, Messina.
The project revolves around three keywords—challenge, myth, and stigma—and highlights the role of sport as a tool for inclusion, education, and overcoming the perceived limits of living with diabetes.
After the press briefing, people with diabetes, diabetologists, and “friends” of diabetology joined forces to tackle one of Italy’s most emblematic athletic challenges. The initiative has the backing of the City of Messina, the University of Messina, AOU Gaetano Martino, FeSDI, Diabetes Italy, AIAS Messina Chapter, and IDF Europe.
Challenge, Myth, and Stigma in Living with Diabetes
«The Strait represents a challenge,” explains Giuseppina Russo, elected president of AMD, professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Messina and Director of the UOS Diabetology at the G. Martino University Hospital. “And I’m not talking only about an athletic challenge: I’m talking about the challenge of diabetes, the difficulties of daily life for those who live with this condition. It is a demanding challenge, but one that can be faced. We must combat personal stigma—the fear we each risk imposing on ourselves because of the disease—and social stigma—the misbelief that having diabetes equals weakness.»
Sport, Therapeutic Education, and Innovation
In clinical practice, the crossing sends a central message: diabetes can be managed without giving up one’s aspirations. Therapeutic education, specialized care, pharmacological innovation, and advanced glycemic monitoring all contribute today to sustaining an active life, even in sports.
«AMD strongly believes in the value of sport as part of a full, active life for people with diabetes, – emphasizes Salvatore De Cosmo, AMD president and FeSDI. – In recent years pharmacological and technological innovations have significantly simplified the daily life of those living with diabetes. We have increasingly effective therapies and technologically advanced, customizable systems for glucose monitoring and insulin-therapy management. This has concretely expanded the ability to pursue sports at even high levels. But no innovation can replace the person and their motivation: that is why initiatives like crossing the Strait are important, because they show that diabetes can be managed and pursued without giving up one’s passions and goals».
Countering Stigma from a European Perspective
The issue of stigma was also taken up by Stella de Sabata, Special Advisor at IDF Europe, who spoke at the press conference and later joined the participants in the water.
«Stigma can be an invisible but real barrier, because it can shape the choices and opportunities of people with diabetes. That is why it is important to create opportunities that demonstrate, through concrete examples, that a diagnosis does not have to translate into exclusion or renunciation. Sport has a powerful symbolic force: it makes visible what a person with diabetes can and wants to do and helps change how others view them, as well as how they view themselves. Initiatives like this have value that goes beyond national borders. They show the whole world that people with diabetes can tackle any challenge, sport-related or not, and they contribute to spreading a message of inclusion and awareness that Europe and the international community still need».
The Testimony of Athletes with Diabetes
To bear witness to the sport’s value and symbolic significance of the initiative was also Federico Rizzardi, a swimmer and FeSDI athlete ambassador.
«Swimming has taught me that even the longest distances are faced one stroke at a time. With diabetes this principle is even more true: you have to know yourself, prepare, listen to your body, and have the right people by your side. Facing the Strait together with other people with diabetes means proving that we are not defined by our diagnosis. We are people who can have passions, goals, and dreams and who can decide to push ourselves. The crossing is a sporting challenge, but above all it is a message: we should not fear what we can do with diabetes».
Abbonati a Karla Miller
