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Nieuws
- 1 minute ago
Living with diabetes: Premier League star opens up over how he still performs at the top level
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 15 Nov 2025 02:08 CST
- 9 min read
Nieuws
When Everton defender Jake O'Brien was just 16 years old he was an aspiring professional footballer and thus looked after his health to try and make it to the big time.
He was in for a shock when, one evening, he was suddenly rushed to hospital after blood tests. He was thinner than usual, was extremely weak, and had a thirst he seemingly couldn't quench.
Not long after his trip to to the hospital, he was diagnosed with Type One Diabetes.
“I was lucky because that night they said if I had slept at home I would have slipped into a coma," he recently revealed, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
“Eventually I was just in my sitting room and my parents noticed that I looked a lot weaker and skinnier than usual. I went to the doctor's for a little check-up to see if there was anything. I wasn't expecting it to be much. They took my bloods and straight away I was rushed to hospital.”
The official description of Diabetes from the NHS website reads:
"Diabetes is a condition that causes your blood glucose (sugar) level to become too high. Diabetes is caused by your body not making enough or any of a hormone called insulin, or the insulin not working properly (insulin resistance).
"Insulin helps your body use glucose (sugar) for energy. Without it, the level of glucose in your blood becomes too high.
"It's not possible to prevent type 1 diabetes because it's usually caused by a problem with your immune system (autoimmune condition)."
That night he was rushed to the hospital, O'Brien's glucose levels were 10 times what they should have been.
Thereafter, the Irishman faced an everyday battle to control the disease that millions of people in the country suffer from.
To his credit, he rallied and went on to embark on a professional career. At the time of his diagnosis he was playing for Youghal United and thereafter he played for Lakewood Athletic and eventually Cork City.
He signed for Crystal Palace on an initial loan that was made permanent before subsequent loans at Swindon Town and RWD Molenbeek.
In 2023 he went on a foreign adventure to Ligue 1, signing for French giants Lyon. It was his performances there that led to interest from Everton and he signed with the Toffees in July of 2024.
Living and playing with diabetes
To O'Brien's credit, he hasn't allowed his diabetes to interfere with his day-to-day life in the football world. Apart from a half-time injection of insulin, he pretty much adheres to the same schedule as his team-mates.
“I've never had any bad complications with it - but I've always just kind of had the idea that it is what it is and I've kind of just lived with it, not as if I don't have it, but I have just lived a normal life anyway, it didn't change the way I live, I just kept on top of it and made sure that everything was good.
“Like anyone else, I will eat three or four hours before and have what I normally have. My biggest problem is I think my glucose levels go high just because of the adrenaline in games, so I try to inject more and keep it level. It's never perfect but I know just from the amount of matches I've played how they're going to react, and there's never been a problem.
“I could kind of know in my head what I am, just from how I feel. So if I felt like [my levels] were going down, which never happened, I could shout over for a gel on the line, or if it's going high, typically I don't need anything on the pitch because you would need to inject, but I'd get through it at half time, then inject and you're fine.”
Other notable footballers who have lived with diabetes over the years are Scott Allan, Borja Mayoral, Nacho, Sergi Samper and Danny McGrain.
O'Brien has attempted to use his situation to educate kids and often spends time with children with diabetes, assuring them that the condition doesn't need to impact their hopes and dreams.
The 24-year-old concluded: “As long as you keep on top of it, and you're positive about it, and you express yourself, then you'll be fine. I think, not even for the people that just have diabetes, it's for the parents as well, because they can have kids that are [Types] 1 and 2, and they'll have diabetes and it's tough on the parents because the kids are at an age where they can't tell the parents how they feel, so they'll be up all night checking [their blood glucose levels].
“It must be really tough for them, more so than for me. I get a lot of texts off kids and parents, and I think it's important that I message them back and just share my experience.”
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