A ‘life-changing’ pursuit 

Michelle McGann, a seven-time winner on the LPGA Tour, has parlayed her on-course success and popularity into a platform to help children who, like her, have Type I diabetes. Photo: Jeff Haynes, USGA

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 kne...