The first time Flagstone’s Tyson Major trekked the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea, he packed 6kg of jellybeans – almost doubling the weight of his backpack.
Mr Major has type 1 diabetes, an incurable autoimmune disease that stops the pancreas from producing insulin.
During physical activity particularly, blood glucose can easily drop to dangerously low levels, risking unconsciousness or death, and sugar – such as from jellybeans – is used to raise blood glucose levels quickly.
Given the extreme isolation of the Kokoda Trail, Mr Major thought it was best to be prepared.
The 96km trail is a remote jungle path over the Owen Stanley Ranges with no convenient exit points.
Hikers must hike to the end or rely on helicopter evacuations, which are highly restricted in poor weather.
As it turned out, Mr Major didn’t need quite so many jellybeans and ended up sharing them with fellow hikers so he didn’t have to carry them all.
Mr Major is currently in training for his fourth Kokoda Trail in four years this October to raise money for the Type 1 Foundation, which supports Australian families and individuals living with type 1 diabetes.
About 145,000 Australians have type 1 diabetes, and must inject insulin every day and manually control their blood glucose levels.
Mr Major was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2017 at the age of 30 and says it “completely changed [his] life”.
“I had a rough time and my mental health suffered from it,” Mr Major said.
He wanted to do something to show that you can still achieve your goals even with type 1 diabetes.
The trek should take Mr Major about eight days with eight to ten hours per day spent walking.
To get physically ready for the trek, Flinders Peak, west of Flagstone, has become his training ground.
He’s hiked it 59 times over the past three years.
To manage his type 1, Mr Major uses a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), worn like a patch on his arm, which syncs with his insulin pump which supplies a flow of insulin to his body.
“It is like doing a finger prick but several times a minute,” said Mr Major about his CGM.
He takes four to five insulin pens on the trek and back-up needles in case his pump malfunctions.
He carries snacks like protein bars and beef jerky, as well as glucose tablets and jellybeans to help when he has low blood sugar.
All of this results in a day pack weighing about 7kg, with the big pack the local porters carry being about 15-17kg.
Adding to the mammoth effort, Mr Major is guiding a team through the Kokoda Trail in the September school holidays with only four days rest before he sets off on his fundraising trek.
Mr Major said through all of this he has fallen in love with Papua New Guinea.
For more information on how to support the Type 1 Foundation, visit Mr Major’s Facebook page or make a donation.
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