Forty years ago in May, Florida teenager Michelle McGann asked her mother if she would still be able to play golf with diabetes.
She remembers sitting in a hospital that day in 1983, shocked by her juvenile diabetes diagnosis. And at 13, she began her long journey with insulin.
The teen had so many questions that day — one that arrived long before finger-stick, blood-sugar measurements were standard practice, or high-tech glucose monitors and insulin pumps were available, or even before the advent of the internet for answers to questions.
“My mom was a pediatric nurse practitioner and she diagnosed me,” said McGann, now 53, of West Palm Beach, Florida. “There are so many kids who aren’t as lucky as I was to have a family member who knew anything about diabetes. So now I’m passing on that information to others.”
McGann and her husband, Jonathan Satter, launched the Michelle McGann Fund about a decade ago to provide support and education for children who have recently been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The nonprofit raises funds and awards grants to help kids learn to manage the disease and understand the importance of healthy choices for long-term health.
The charity also sends young people to summer camps geared especially for insulin-dependent youth. McGann started with Camp Coral in Florida, but after a decade, her program has expanded to include more camps and kids throughout the nation.
“You don’t get a day off with diabetes. My goal is to help teach them how to take care of themselves.” – Michelle McGann
“We sent about 200 kids to camp last year,” said McGann, a seven-time LPGA Tour winner. “We want them to be around other kids like them and to learn new things about blood sugar, food and exercise. You don’t typically put the words diabetes and fun together, but we do.”
And you also don’t often see one of the most popular and visible players in women’s golf taking time to personally encourage youngsters with a disease that demands constant lifelong attention.
“You don’t get a day off with diabetes,” McGann said. “My goal is to help teach them how to take care of themselves.”
Just as McGann was initially overwhelmed following her diagnosis, LPGA veteran player Sherri Turner also felt “devastated” to think her pursuit of a golf career was over when she was diagnosed with diabetes at 15.
“I knew absolutely no one my age going through this at the time,” said Turner, who went on to win seven LPGA titles, including the 1988 Mazda LPGA Championship. “It would have meant the world to me if I had a place to go to talk to others about diabetes.”
That’s exactly what McGann wanted to provide when she set up her charity. She consulted neighbors Jack and Barbara Nicklaus and insisted that a nurse educator could help physicians work more directly with newly diagnosed kids in the outpatient center at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital. Since that discussion, a nurse educator has worked alongside the hospital’s endocrinologist for the last five years.
“What Michelle has done to make this possible for kids is amazing and certainly life-changing,” Turner said.
McGann has always looked back at her own experience to find ways to help others. She participated in an experimental drug trial in Canada for five years and wrestled with the “constant science experiment” of blood sugar. But by 1987, she was the nation’s top female amateur, a Rolex Junior First-Team All-American and U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship winner. In 1987 she was the American Junior Golf Association Rolex Junior Player of the Year.
The three-time Florida State Girls’ Junior champion capped off her amateur career as the 1988 Doherty Cup winner and played as an amateur in the 1988 U.S. Women’s Open and the LPGA’s Boston Five Classic.
“At that time, they didn’t have a real understanding of what my life expectancy would be,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons why I turned professional in golf.”
McGann began her LPGA Tour career in 1989, recording a total of nine career professional wins against such Hall of Famers as Laura Davies, Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb. Four of her seven LPGA titles were won in playoffs.
McGann was runner-up at the 1994 du Maurier Classic — a former major championship. She also was a top-10 LPGA season money earner twice, as well as a member of the victorious 1996 U.S. Solheim Cup team.
And while she never used diabetes as an excuse, McGann often wrestled with spiking or dropping blood sugars during competition. She was finally able to remove some of the guesswork in 1999, when she began using an insulin pump.
“I played tournaments for years before I got the continuous glucose monitor,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder how my life could have been different if I’d had the monitor earlier in my career. At least there is new technology and things are getting better for the future.”
The popular player with big hats and a big smile transitioned to the Legends of the LPGA circuit to play alongside other veteran LPGA stars aged 45 and over. And now, when given the opportunity, the fan favorite talks about her charity and its meaning for children living with diabetes.
“Sometimes athletes use their platform for criticism and contention, but Michelle has taken all she’s experienced throughout her golf career as one the LPGA’s top players and is using her platform to help others,” said Jane Blalock, a 27-time LPGA Tour winner and CEO of Boston-based JBC Golf Inc.
“Michelle has such respect by everyone on and off the course,” Blalock added. “And now she’s following through with her foundation.”
To learn more, visit www.michellemcgann.com