'Nothing is going to stand in my way:' Savannah-area athlete battles diabetes to play football

As a 5-foot-9, 173-pound linebacker, Savannah Country Day's Sam Bueno shows his toughness when he dons a helmet and pads to take the field for the Hornets.

But being undersized isn't the biggest challenge for the standout senior, who has lived with Type 1 diabetes since he was a toddler.

"Type 1 diabetes means that my body cannot produce insulin, so I have to wear an insulin pump when I'm not playing to keep my numbers up," said Bueno, who is also a standout lacrosse player for the Hornets. "I have a continuous glucose monitor on my arm all the time so I can see my levels during games — I put a knee pad over it and a sleeve so it won't get damaged when I'm making a tackle."

Bueno has 14 tackles, including four for losses and a pair of sacks this season for SCD (2-2). His interception at the end of the season opener against Windsor Forest preserved a shutout for the Hornets.

He said his blood sugar levels run high before kickoff due to adrenaline and stress, and then can drop due to exertion during the game. He sometimes has to take shots, administered by his father Edgar, or a trainer, to keep his levels up.

"It's something that I have learned to deal with," Bueno said. "It's stressful sometimes, but thankfully I have great parents, teammates, coaches and trainers that help me through it. Diabetes is a disease, but I'm not going to let it hold me back. I just have the mentality that nothing is going to stand in my way."

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Bueno, a straight A student and class president, comes from an athletic family.

His older brother Zach was a standout soccer player and kicker for the Hornets and is now attending the University of Tennessee. His younger sister, Madison, is a standout freshman basketball and soccer player at SCD who won the Dewitt Award as the Top 8th grade Private School athlete last spring at Hancock Day School.

He said his mother, Stacy Bueno, also has Type 1 diabetes. She is in the stands monitoring his levels electronically, while his father is on the sideline for Hornet games.

"It's a team effort with our family to make sure Sam has the chance to be out on the field competing," Edgar Bueno said. "We live with it daily, but it is really inspiring to see him out there playing on game days. His diabetes demands more attention since he's playing physical sports like football and lacrosse — and as a teenager with all that adrenaline and those hormones coming into the mix — it makes it even more difficult.

"But we made the decision years ago that we would do whatever it took to help him accomplish whatever he wanted in sports. It can be scary sometimes, and it's a tall order trying to manage diabetes in physical sports, but we're committed to it."

SCD coach John Mohring said Bueno is a leader on the field and in the locker room for the Hornets.

"At one point, I think he was considering hanging up his cleats to focus on lacrosse, but I told him how much we needed him and he's still playing," Mohring said. "We're constantly checking his (glucose) levels, and sometimes he has to sit out for a bit, but that's all part of the process.

"We're lucky to have Sam. He's such a great leader who buys into our game plan and pushes his teammates. He takes everything he does really seriously, and he does whatever he can to get ready for game day."

Bueno is thinking of playing lacrosse in college and is looking at schools in the northeast such as Amherst College, Tufts and Brown.

"We're really proud. Sam is an all-around good kid," Edgar Bueno said. "He's incorporated his diabetes into who he is and I think he sets a good example with how he deals with it. He's also quite talented academically and would like to go to medical school — he wants to find a cure for diabetes someday."

Dennis Knight covers sports for the Savannah Morning News. Contact him at Dknight@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @DennisKnightSMN

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Sam Bueno of Savannah Country Day shows heart in battle with diabetes