Last year, Amira Gee, a population health PhD candidate at the NYU School of Medicine, cheered on her friends with type 1 diabetes and watched them complete the TCS New York City Marathon 2025. Gee also has type 1 diabetes. This past Sunday, she experienced what it was like to follow their footsteps, completing the challenging five-borough trek herself as part of the Beyond Type 1 nonprofit team during November’s Diabetes Awareness Month.
“I was overwhelmed with emotion,” she shared with the AmNews. “Every day with type 1 diabetes feels like a marathon. Our bodies no longer make insulin, so we have to do the pancreas’s job around the clock: checking numbers, adjusting doses, and planning ahead.
“That takes endurance and fortitude, much like running 26.2 miles. Watching my friends do both at once, running the marathon while managing their diabetes mile by mile, made me believe I could do it too.”
Gee started attending the Diabetes Training Camp, which helped her gain the confidence to tackle the marathon while managing her diabetes.
“The moments I will never forget are seeing my people,” Gee reflected a day after completing the course that begins at the Verrazzano–Narrows Bridge on Staten Island and ends at Tavern on the Green in Central Park.
“My Beyond Type 1 teammates, my coach from the Diabetes Training Camp, and my friends and family were spread across the course, and every time I spotted a familiar face I got a new burst of energy. Running through Brooklyn was a highlight too. I grew up here, and hearing neighbors and strangers shout my name and cheer me on carried me through the miles when my body was tired.”
Gee said crossing the finish line felt like a miracle.
“Honestly, it was something I didn’t believe was possible just a year ago,” she said. During the months of training, there were many days I wondered if I could really do this, but in that moment I realized that with the proper training, support, and grace, anything is possible. In that moment, I thought about everyone in the diabetes community who has ever been told what they can’t do, and I hope that one day they get to experience this same feeling of realizing that the sky is truly the limit. This was such a beautiful way to start Diabetes Awareness Month.”
Gee provided insight into her daily routine living with type 1 diabetes.
“I was diagnosed in 2017 while finishing my chemistry degree,” she said. “Since then, type 1 diabetes has asked me to make calculations for nearly every decision, even something as simple as eating breakfast. Before I eat, I check my glucose, count the carbohydrates in my food, apply my insulin-to-carbohydrate ratio, and account for insulin still active in my body. I also have to trust that my continuous glucose monitor is reading accurately and that my insulin pump is working. Exercise, stress, sleep, and illness all change the math.”
Additionally, Gee says there is always a risk of high- and low-blood-glucose emergencies.
“Training for a marathon added another layer, because a long run can drop my blood sugar quickly, so I planned my fueling and pump settings for every training run. Diabetes never takes a day off, and most of that work is invisible to the people around me.”
To donate to Gee’s cause, visit[ https://beyondtyperun.funraise.org/fundraiser/amira-gee](#bookmark=id.6vayh3b5f02z).
