Wears insulin pump on belt
By Lowell Ullrich,
Vancouver Province
REGINA — The game of football is a lifeline to everyone on the field in the West Division final at B.C. Place Stadium, but only one player can say his existence is directly related to an attachment that is worn on the belt of his pants.
Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive end John Chick decided a long time ago that he wasn’t going to let something like diabetes get in the way of a career. Chick wears a pump which is used to provide and regulate the amount of insulin he needs on an hourly basis.
It may be a tolerable existence for those who must monitor their blood-sugar content. It does, however, provide additional challenges if you are in constant contact with large individuals who think nothing of trying to gain any possible advantage on the line of scrimmage.
“I’ve had a few [opposing] players ask me about [the pump], but it’s so compact there’s nothing they can do to it that would effect me anyway,” the 24-year-old Chick said.
If the Lions didn’t know about the apparatus, it was certainly brought to their attention after the last meeting of the teams Sept. 24 in Regina.
That was the game that featured the infamous melee in which no B.C. offensive linemen were ejected and Rob Murphy of the Lions had Chick pinned on the ground.
Riders general manager Eric Tillman was outraged, pointing out the fact Murphy was dealing with a player who has overcome long odds.
Chick was diagnosed as a diabetic while attending Grade 8 classes in Gillette, Wy., and converted from injections to using the pump while playing alongside Lions defensive back Jerome Dennis at Utah State University.
“It works like your pancreas,” Chick said.
The pump is no bigger than the size of a cel phone and contains a vial of insulin that provides a regulated dose while tucked away inside a kidney pad underneath his uniform. Reactions are combated with a ready supply of Gatorade as needed on the Riders bench during games.
“To actually carry a pump when you’re playing is absolutely incredible,” Riders coach Kent Austin said.
It’s the type of condition that prompted the Houston Texans from giving him a decent look last year. In the NFL, teams routinely spit out any player that does not fit the mould, even if you are 6’3″ and 250 pounds and show a relentless drive to get to opposing quarterbacks as Chick has done since Tillman signed him this spring.
Chick had already learned how to deal with his condition while also playing basketball and baseball in high school, and was determined to show others similarly afflicted how obstacles can be overcome.
“There was no way I was going to stop playing,” Chick said, and he proves it on every snap.
