County Championships
EXCLUSIVE: Warwickshire’s Jordan Thompson on how living with diabetes gives him “the motivation to succeed”
Jordan Thompson opens up about his type 1 diabetes diagnosis, the challenges of managing the condition in professional cricket and how it has shaped his career.
“I got in the back of the car, and I couldn’t bend my legs.”
Warwickshire all-rounder Jordan Thompson recalls the moment he knew things were seriously wrong after a Yorkshire Academy game in September 2013.
“I was lying across the backseat of my parents’ car.
“We pulled over and picked up a bottle of Lucozade from the petrol station with no idea that it would actually make things much worse.”
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Diagnosis
Thompson was taken to hospital a few days later, where doctors revealed that the cramp was a symptom of undiagnosed type 1 diabetes.
His blood glucose was ten times the normal level and dangerously close to fatal.
Every diabetic remembers the day of their diagnosis.
I’ll never forget 3rd April 2016 – a day England cricket fans primarily associate with Carlos Brathwaite hitting Ben Stokes for four consecutive sixes to shatter their T20 World Cup dreams.
The night after the game, my brain, starved of the glucose it needed to function properly, hallucinated Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo performing the then-ubiquitous ‘DJ Bravo Champion’ dance in my bedroom.
The truth is, I had been feeling awful for weeks beforehand, but, unaware of the symptoms, I wrote off my malaise as a virus.
It took a near-death experience on holiday in France for the penny to finally drop.
Like me, Thompson had sensed something was seriously wrong in the months leading up to his diagnosis.
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Struggles
“I remember falling asleep on the sidelines before lunch at a four-day game for the Yorkshire second team,” he recalls.
Thompson remembers losing a lot of weight and feeling insatiably thirsty all the time.
Fortunately, his mum was a receptionist at a GP surgery and had spotted a poster outlining the symptoms.
The Leeds native was already playing second-team cricket for Yorkshire when he was finally diagnosed.
Even with a professional support network around him, he initially struggled to talk openly about his condition.
“I still found it really hard to tell people at the start,” he says.
“If I needed to inject, I would never do it in public, particularly around people I didn’t know.”
Balancing act
Thompson credits the Yorkshire support staff who helped him after his diagnosis.
The all-rounder went on to make his Yorkshire first-team debut against Worcestershire in the T20 Blast in July 2018.
“I remember the adrenaline sending my blood sugar quite high,” he recalls.
The intensity and unpredictability of shorter formats make managing diabetes a constant balancing act.
“I test my blood sugar between wickets and have to inject myself between innings to keep things under control.”
Four-day cricket brings its own challenges. Long spells in the field can cause blood sugar levels to drop.
Thompson remembers his levels falling during an over in a Championship game for Yorkshire.
“I felt a bit shaky and could sense I was dropping low, but I had to push through,” he says.
“The umpires all know I am diabetic, so they didn’t have a problem with me going off at the end of the over.”
Glucose monitor
Since 2018, Thompson has used a continuous glucose monitor, which allows him and the medical staff to track his levels throughout a match.
Anyone watching him in the Hundred this season might have spotted the sensor on his arm.
“I usually give my monitor to the twelfth man so I can track my level during a game.”
Diabetes management technology has come on leaps and bounds over the past decade.
While playing for Karachi Kings during the Pakistan Super League in 2022, Thompson shared his experiences with fellow diabetic and franchise director of cricket Wasim Akram.
“It was great to share my experiences with such a legend of the game,” Thompson says.
During Akram’s playing days, cricketers were often reliant on urine-testing trips to monitor their condition.
Thompson is not the only professional cricketer managing diabetes.
Former Hampshire batsman Andrew Neal uses an insulin pump to deliver insulin throughout a game, while James Coles is playing with Thompson in this year’s International League T20 in Dubai.
Extra motivation
While the condition brings its challenges, Thompson is keen to highlight how diabetes has also benefitted him as a professional.
“Diabetes has always given me an extra motivation to succeed, just to prove that it wouldn’t stop me.”
“It forces you to be disciplined with eating and exercise,” he says.
“It’s important for me to get back into training in the off-season. It’s definitely forced an extra level of professionalism.”
Off the pitch, Thompson strives to be a role model for young cricketers.
He is an ambassador for Diabetes UK, using his platform to raise awareness and show youngsters that diabetes does not have to end their careers.
He is certainly a credible source.
A Championship winner with Warwickshire and an international T20 star, Thompson is one of the most successful diabetic sportsmen around, even with the formidable benchmark set by Wasim Akram.
It’s been a fantastic season for Thompson, but even when celebrating, he has to remain vigilant.
“I stuck to the spirits and the Diet Coke during our title celebrations,” he grins. “I think I deserved them after the season we’ve had.”
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