It’s Jaime Ferrer’s turn to be a role model for kids

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s his turn now.

It’s Jaime Ferrer’s turn to tell his story of being a Type 1 diabetic. Of playing a sport professionally as a Type 1 diabetic.

To tell kids that things are going to be OK. That they can still do whatever they want in life.

He’s there to help them. Just let him know.

“Growing up, I always looked up to athletes who have diabetes, and I would always love to meet them or talk to them a little bit,” the Cedar Rapids Kernels catcher said. “The ones I did, I always followed them the rest of their careers. So now it’s kind of my opportunity, my turn to pass that along to families and kids that it is possible. It takes a lot of work, like it would for anyone, but it’s not impossible.

“I like to always have my social media available if anyone wants to reach out or has any questions. Kind of be a good role model for them, show them that this is possible.”

Ferrer doesn’t remember anything about first being diagnosed with the autoimmune version of the disease. He was just 3.

He said his parents had to check his blood sugar up to 20 times a day, give him insulin shots between five and 10 times a day. His mother, Mila, immersed herself in extracting information about the disease and created an online support community.

Mila Ferrer began the Diabetes Hands Foundation, an organization that managed websites TuDiabetes.org and EsTuDiabetes.org, the latter specifically designed to reach out to Spanish speakers. Jaime Ferrer was born in Puerto Rico and grew up in Florida.

“My parents had to get educated, and they did an amazing job of making me feel like I wasn’t left out or was different,” Jaime Ferrer said. “I played sports with all my brothers, felt like I was one of them. I just had to check my blood sugar and take some insulin.”

Jaime played tennis growing up but baseball became his passion. He played three seasons at Florida State and was taken by the Minnesota Twins last summer in the fourth round of the 2024 MLB Draft.

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“I still see the three-year-old that was in that hospital bed, and now thinking, ‘Oh my God, now he’s a professional athlete,’” Mila Ferrer told MLB.com. “That’s what he’s been working toward his whole life.”

Ferrer has played catcher and first base this season for the Kernels, hitting .219 in 44 games going into Friday. He has significantly increased his offensive production after a rough April, with a .277 batting average in May and .300 so far here in June.

The improvements have been noticeable.

“This is something that he has had to manage throughout his playing career, both in college and here,” said Kernels Manager Brian Meyer. “Getting his teammates educated on it, his roommates, getting them to know what to do should something unfortunate happen. But the way he goes about his business, you would never know it. He’s not one to feel quote-unquote sorry for himself or anything like that. It’s just something that he knows he has, and he has to be very aware of his lifestyle, his choices, everything.”

“Honestly, I think it’s kind of been an advantage for me because I don’t know life without diabetes,” Jaime Ferrer said. “So it’s not like I’ve had to make any big adjustments or anything. It has helped me know exactly what I’m eating, how it affects my body, how it affects me to play. It forced me to mature at a younger age and to kind of have a routine. Being able to have a routine, to make any changes on the fly that you have to has made me mature a lot faster.”

Ferrer wears a Continuous Glucose Monitor and insulin pump (in a Minnesota Twins case, no less) that is attached near his right hip. He sets his pump to exercise mode and lets them do their thing during pregame work and games.

The pump will send him insulin when he needs it, cut it off when his level is too high.

“Yeah, I can tell when everything is off. That’s the dangerous part,” Ferrer said. “But that’s the advantage of having this technology. If your blood sugar is low or high, you are not going to be able to perform at the level you know your can. So having that peace of mind, that safety net, I know there is this amazing pump that is doing the job for me.

“That way I can just go out there and play the game. Baseball is hard enough playing it.”

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