Leave it to Beaver to Manage Diabetes: One of the things we were always used to when watching “Leave it to Beaver” was the trouble ‘Beav’ got into and the perfect answers his parents always had. Wally and Eddie provided their own unique textures, but most had to admit life with the Cleavers seemed about as perfect as possible.
What many may not know is that Jerry Mathers who played the young Beaver Cleaver would one day find himself in a less than perfect situation. In his own words Mathers told SharingMiracles.com, “I started eating way too much, and not doing a lot of exercise. I put on about 45 or 50 pounds. When I was getting ready to turn 50, a good friend who is a doctor cajoled me into getting checked. I finally went in, and she asked me if I wanted to see my kids get married and hold my grandbabies. I said…of course! That’s when she told me that if I didn’t do something about my high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, I’d be dead in three to five years.”
Thankfully ‘Beav’ listened and took off 50 pounds and his blood sugars stabilized. Mathers said, “I like to use my celebrity to go out and tell other people about the danger of diabetes. I was so lucky that my doctor cared about me. People that have diabetes have to take care of it. There are so many people that have been diagnosed with diabetes, who say, ‘it’s not bothering me’. We just have to get to those people and tell them to start treating it because by the time it becomes a problem for you, it could be too late.’”
Mathers knows firsthand how difficult taking the weight off can be. He also knows it can be easy to give up, “People tend to think that if you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and you don’t take the weight off in the first month, then you never will. People then tend to give up and rely on their oral medications. Since it took awhile to put on the weight, it’s going to take some time to lose it. Then, it’s going to be even harder to keep it off. You just have to gear yourself up and pace yourself for the long haul.” Mathers made these comments in DiabetesHealth.
In the years since the original “Leave it to Beaver” aired Mathers has been an in demand personality focusing on pop culture from the 50s and 60s. He has also written a book and has starred in a ten-year run of “The New Leave it to Beaver”.
Doctors told Mathers he was on a “collision course with death” and he took decisive action to avoid a collision. Trouble was not unknown to Mathers. As a child he struggled with dyslexia and as an adult dealt with psoriasis. Beaver simply took what he had learned from other struggles in his life and channeled them to provide the courage needed to face diabetes. Today he remains a lecturer on the subject.
If you wondered if Mathers has advice for those facing life with diabetes, SharingMiracles.com quotes him as saying, “If you find out that you have diabetes, you have to treat it aggressively. You’ll have a much better quality of life the earlier you treat it. And it can be a long and productive life. You have to take control of the diabetes. You can’t let it take control of you!”
