Meg Croucher: Newly Diagnosed, Still Swinging

When life throws a jab, some people duck. Others, like Meg Croucher, put on gloves and swing back.

Only three weeks after being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, the former Type 1 Family Centre team member is stepping into a 24-hour boxing challenge — yes, you read that right — to prove that diabetes might change the way you live, but it doesn’t get to decide what you do.

A twist of fate

Meg knows type 1 diabetes well — her son Joe was diagnosed on New Year’s Eve 2020, while she was working at the Family Centre. “When Joe was diagnosed, I’d already been at the Centre for about a year,” she says. “I had good information, good support — but it’s still different when it happens to you.”

Her own diagnosis came after a string of subtle symptoms that she brushed off during the July school holidays. “We went down to Albany and stayed at this beautiful place in Mount Many Peaks,” she recalls. “That’s when I started getting up in the middle of the night to go to the toilet — which I never did, not even when I was pregnant with my three kids!”

Soon after, she started training for the 24-hour boxing challenge. “I thought, that’s why I’m thirsty. That’s why I’m losing a bit of weight. That’s why I’m eating for Australia. I thought it all made sense."

Assuming it was peri-menopause, she booked a women’s health GP appointment and had some blood tests done. The plan was to review the results in four weeks — but the call came the very next day. “They said, ‘We need to see you now.’ I picked up a script for insulin that afternoon.”

Her HbA1c came back at 13.9 — an average blood glucose of around 19 mmol/L.

Boxing without limits

Meg is taking on the Warp 9 24-Hour Challenge: 24 hours of straight boxing bag work. Three minutes on and one minute off. She’ll have a different friend with her each hour to keep her entertained, and it’s all to raise funds for research into pancreatic, gastrointestinal, and rare cancers.

Managing blood sugars through a 24-hour endurance event is no small feat. “We’ll have a plan — if I’m at this number, I’ll do this... I’ll have as little fast-acting insulin on board as possible. The goal is to stay somewhere between six and ten for the whole challenge.”

“I’ll have multiple drink bottles — one with water, one with sugar-free Sodii (electrolytes), and one with Sodii and cordial in case I’m heading low. Amy [Rush, the Family Centre’s diabetes educator] will be watching my levels through the Follow app, cheering me on in spirit.”

Life without limits

So why do something this intense just weeks after diagnosis?

“I wanted to do something big before I turned 40,” Meg says. “When I was at the Family Centre, we used to talk a lot about life without limits. If doing this helps one mum or one teenager get over the fear of doing something they love, then that’s worth it.”

That philosophy isn’t new to her. When Joe was newly diagnosed, Meg encouraged him to get straight back to sport. “A lot of parents are understandably scared — worried about sensors disconnecting or hypos on the field. But Joe got back out there, and I saw how important that was.”

A new kind of teamwork

Now, diabetes is something Meg and Joe share — and it’s brought some unexpected role reversals. “He’ll ask me, ‘How are your levels today?’ or offer to come sit with me if I’ve had a hypo,” she says. “And he’s been teaching me his tricks — like his system for drinking safely with diabetes, which apparently involves Maccas at 2am.”

Meg laughs, but the connection runs deep. “We’ve always been close. Now we’ve got this extra layer of understanding.”

The takeaway

Meg has always taken life at top speed, and even in these last three weeks, she’s gone from diagnosis to determined. She’s proof that a life with type 1 might look different — but it doesn’t have to be smaller.

The Warp 9 24-Hour Challenge takes place soon, raising funds for pancreatic, GI, and rare cancer research. Meg will be boxing her way through every hour — with a glucose monitor, a plan, and the same unstoppable energy that’s always defined her.

Life with type 1 diabetes doesn’t have to pull any punches.