#TeamJetlagged Featured Jetter: Cazzy Magennis

Welcome to a new post in the Featured Jetter series! A Featured Jetter is someone who either has diabetes/is involved in the diabetes world, or is a bike rider of some sort/is involved in the biking world, or both. While we started this blog to share our journey of raising $11k for the JDRF Ride to Cure Diabetes in Death Valley, CA this October 2018 (donate here!), a blog only about us would be, well, kinda boring. In doing this ride, we wanted to connect with the wider diabetes and biking communities, and in doing this blog, we’ve decided we would like to raise up and highlight some amazing people doing wonderful work.

Courtney and Broche both love to travel. In fact, they met when Broche was living in New Zealand and working for a study abroad company, and Courtney was one of the instructors teaching a course in Australia for her company. Once they were both living in the States together, they got engaged during a quick weekend trip to New Zealand (like you do). So clearly travel was going to be a big part of their relationship. But as a newly diagnosed diabetic (Courtney) and as someone new to a relationship with a type 1 diabetic (Broche), they went looking for some resources about traveling as a T1D. Enter Cazzy Magennis, the beauty and brains behind the Dream Big Travel Far blog, “the travel blog for budget backpackers and type 1 diabetics.” We were hooked! We reached out to Cazzy via her Instagram account, and before we knew it, she was our first diabetic Featured Jetter. Read on!

Featured Jetter: Cazzy Magennis

What is your relation to biking and/or diabetes?

I am a type 1 diabetic myself and I was diagnosed when I was 16. I am now almost 25. My mum has also recently been diagnosed with type 1.5 diabetes. So now there are two of us in the family!
[Oh, wow! Also, isn’t it crazy that there are actually so many more types of diabetes than people know about?]

How has biking and/or diabetes impacted your life?

Diabetes has impacted my life in a variety of ways. Of course there are the negatives, in that type 1 diabetes is a difficult illness, very tiring and requires a lot of hard work and dedication, but on the flip side, this diagnosis has made me realise how strong I actually am and how determined I am to succeed in all aspects of my life, including to not let diabetes hold me back. I am also grateful for the amount of wonderful people I have met since my diagnosis, and it’s there stories too that inspire me to get up and try everyday.
[Well, your stories inspire US so thank you!]

What is your next goal related to biking and/or diabetes?

My overall goal is associated with travelling with type 1 diabetes. I want to travel to every single country in the world. I’ll make it onto the wikipedia list of people who have been to every country in the world and I’ll be a diabetic who did it! This was always a dream of mine and diabetes won’t stop me from achieving it. I’ve currently done almost 30 so far in the last 2 years.
[That’s amazing! What a great goal!]

What is one idea, person, group, organization, or resource about biking and/or diabetes that you would like to share?

I’d share my blog, Dream Big Travel Far, not just because it’s my blog, but because I put my heart and soul into trying to encourage everyone to take on their dreams with diabetes, whether that be travelling the world, or taking on challenges such as biking challenges (which I admire, because I would struggle!). I’ve met so many amazing people, and had wonderful guest posts and stories on my blogs from fellow diabetics who have inspired me and maybe you can find some inspiration and advice from all of us too.
[We definitely do!]

What is your connection to #TeamJetlagged?

The lovely Team Jet Lagged Duo asked me would I like to do an interview and of course I said yes! We connected via Instagram and I think it is AMAZING what Broche and Courtney are doing.
[Aww, thank you!!]

What song should we add to our biking playlist?

The Greatest Showman (Soundtrack) – “This Is Me”

I created the E-book because I wanted there to be one place that was filled with all the information I needed when I first started travelling full time with t1d. It took me 6-7 months to write and it’s filled with everything you could possibly need to travel the world. It’s filled with information for every type of diabetic, including parents of type 1 children, partners, travel partners and more! I worked hard with various type 1 diabetic charities and fellow type 1 diabetics to ensure the content is reliable and it’s a real insight into what its like to travel full time with this illness. I also wanted a way to raise funds for my diabetic projects in Bolivia and that’s why a percentage of all funds go to that. So the result was, my Ultimate Guide to Travelling with Type 1 diabetes! The support so far for the E-book has been amazing and I am so thankful that people actually find it useful.