Neil would like the record to show that this page exists against his wishes.
Which is why a colleague volunteered to write it for him. Hi. He can't stop me.
Type 1 diabetes has a way of hijacking your best-laid plans. Neil knows exactly how it feels when the diagnosis hits and all you can see are needles, alarms, and CGM tape... plus a calendar full of appointments you never asked for.
That's why he built Your Best T1D Year. It turns the relentless into small wins you can actually stack, with locker-room pep talk energy, practical tools, and one clear next step at a time.
Neil was diagnosed on February 14, 1992, during Air Force flight training. Soon after, his dad took him to a diabetes conference where everyone on stage promised a cure "in the next five years." Neil sat in the back row with his arms folded, wondering if these were really his people.
His dad leaned over and whispered, "You can do this one day."
He didn't know what that meant. His dad was right anyway.
Years later, tired of explaining his "pager" and glucometer to coworkers, Neil made one short YouTube video about what T1D actually is. That one video turned into hundreds more, then thousands of messages, then a realization: storytelling could change how people saw diabetes, and how they saw themselves.
The biggest shift came when he stopped managing diabetes because he had to and started because he wanted to. He fell in love with the process... the data, the patterns, the people, and the small smart moves that make a hard thing livable.
Neil likes to say his pancreas got picked last in dodgeball. He's been running that joke since 1992, and yes, he put it on T-shirts to raise money for T1D mission work in Peru.
Your Best T1D Year is built on one idea: small, simple habits build confidence over time. Not fixing everything overnight. Learning the repeatable moves that make the daily grind less relentless. Base hits, not home runs, because as Neil says entirely too often, "Consistency beats intensity every day of the week."
Before the podcast mic, there was a camera. Neil has produced and directed hundreds of short educational videos for the diabetes community, including one ambitious stretch where he posted a new T1D teaching video every single day for a year. It nearly broke him. He finished anyway.
He directed the award-winning documentary Bike Beyond, produced by Nick Jonas and narrated by Victor Garber, who has the voice of Zeus himself. He also created Type 1 Day 1, a short film for the newly diagnosed, made for the exact moment people start panic-Googling their diagnosis at 2am. It exists so they know what T1D is, why it happens, and that they're not alone.
He's worked with Tandem Diabetes Care, Xeris, Quest, Liquid Death, the American Red Cross, and Breakthrough T1D. Right now he's producing two new films, writing his third book, and helping Blue Circle Health tell their story.
Neil listens hard, laughs too much, talks too fast, and runs often. After finishing the New York City Marathon with the Beyond Type Run team, he just... kept running. Three or four times a week ever since.
He's happiest behind a camera, inside a good book, or with his family. He's allergic to jargon and skeptical of anything labeled "motivational." His whole approach fits in three words: show, don't tell.
The thought of being an influencer grosses him out. Influencers build their own thing. He's trying to build yours.
Neil is a speaker and storyteller known for making complex things click. He hosts the Your Best T1D Year podcast: five-minute episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, plus long-form interviews with some of the most interesting people in the T1D world. He served eight years on the Beyond Type 1 Leadership Council and has worked with Blue Circle Health, Risely Health, and Studio 8E8 helping teams tell stories that actually move people.
...one small habit at a time, starting whenever you are.