Meet Lance Bergstein; T1D warrior, nationally ranked tennis player, real estate developer and race car driver.

Living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) for 23 years has never stopped Lance from perusing his dreams. He grew up as a nationally ranked tennis player, playing nearly every day of the week, for multiple hours a day, and now, at 28 years old, he competes all over the U.S. and Europe in car races running from one to twenty four hours.

Lance is currently gearing up to compete in his second 24 hour race at Circuit of the Americas on November 17th in Austin, Texas. Lance credits advancements in T1D technology, staying in peak physical shape and his close working relationship with his endocrinologist for enabling him to participate in high-level race car driving.

To ensure that all bases are covered on race day and that Lance can compete safely and successfully, he will be wearing his Dexcom G6 CGM and have a live feed of his blood sugar in two places within the car. He will also have two straws being fed into his helmet, one with water and one with juice. “If I see my blood sugar beginning to drop, I will drink some juice to prevent a low from happening at 150mph.”

Lance is a true supporter of JDRF. “Ten years ago, competing in this race may not have been possible. I look at JDRF and see, firsthand, the impact of their research dollars. So instead of “No, Can’t or Won’t”, I am proud to be saying the words “Yes! Can! and Will!” when it comes to competing in this 24-hour race.” Lance has already raised over $17,000 for T1D research and is on track to reach his goal of $30,000.