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The sports icons that made the cut for Whitman-Hanson senior Camden Burrows to hang their pictures or jerseys on his bedroom walls weren’t exactly a select few.
Camden, a three-year starting quarterback and first man off the bench for the Panthers’ basketball team, has a couple of fan-favorites up there in Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady. Some are more locally inspired, between UConn’s Kemba Walker and current New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones. But that’s just the jerseys.
Collecting sports paraphernalia has grown to be somewhat of a hobby for Burrows, who spends much of the rest of his time at practices, games, or playing around with friends. The Brady jersey is from his college days at Michigan, and Bryant’s is from high school. Camden just loves sports, and those bedroom walls show a mere glimpse of how meaningful they are for him.
“(It’s) kind of who I am,” he said. “It’s just part of me.”
John Burrows, Camden’s father, can take one look in the room and appreciate the many figures that have in some way inspired his 18-year-old son. There’s been more than a handful of role models throughout Camden’s 13 or so years playing, and he hasn’t been too picky. Between attending the school’s youth camps as a young boy, all the way through even attending a Lawrence Academy football game to spend time with eventual NFL running back AJ Dillon, Camden has absorbed it all.
But above all else, at least to some degree, John puts extra appreciation into one of Camden’s very first role models. Not many people in this area had former Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler on their fridge for a small stretch. But as Camden learned to manage the Type 1 Diabetes he was diagnosed with at age 2, it was impactful to have a pro athlete managing the same disease to help the youngster champion it.
“I don’t think there was never any doubt in his mind that (diabetes) would hold him back in that regard. … He’s totally absorbed in sports and it’s a good outlet for him,” John said. “He’d look at (newspaper clippings like Cutler’s) and smile and say, ‘Oh, cool.’ It was encouraging that nothing can slow him down as long as he takes care of himself and manages his diabetes the way it could and should be managed.”
The daily routines Camden runs through to manage his condition are second nature at this point – but it didn’t come without practice.
Years of his mother, Erin, who has become an excellent advocate for diabetes in the community, instilling the importance of monitoring and regulating his blood sugar levels are drilled into his brain. But with the latest technology of a device that lets him know when his levels are off and a pod that makes injecting insulin to balance them quite easy, that regulation of the condition – while tedious – is quite manageable.
Burrows felt like a celebrity when having to explain what he was doing whenever he’d take an extra break during a practice or game. But after he’d explain it once, he wouldn’t talk about it much ever again. He never brings it up.
Whether or not he knows it, that normalcy he brings is actually the most notable part of his participation while handling his condition.
“Through my whole sports career … it’s definitely been a huge factor because I’m just 24/7 having to monitor it so I can be on the field or the court as much as I can,” Camden said. “But I don’t really go around explaining to people what it is. They might know that I have diabetes but they probably don’t know what I have to go through.”
Camden has emerged as a signature role model within the Whitman-Hanson community.
Boys basketball coach and athletic director Bob Rodgers has known Camden for most of his life after the senior attended many of his youth camps, and he’s grown very well aware of his condition. But as he runs sprints through a practice or runs up and down the court during a game, Camden never speaks about his diabetes. When he volunteers – frequently – for the same youth camps he attended to now serve as the role model, he doesn’t announce what he needs to go through on a daily basis.
“He doesn’t do any pity parties or doesn’t feel sorry for himself, he just recognizes that this is a challenge that he’s been presented with and he’s handled it with incredible grace,” he said. “Whatever it is, the reality of it is, we all – all of us in our lives – have to figure out what it is we have to overcome and persevere and fight through it and not give up. I think that Cam is a great role model in that regard. … It’s not even just a role model for the kids, it’s a role model for coaches and adults because we all have challenges.”
On his own football team, it was well known how well Camden took care of his body. A few other players struggling with the illness sought help from him to regulate it themselves. And during the youth camps, John sees the kids flock to his son for autographs and high-fives like he’s a professional athlete.
Camden, volunteering for whatever he can, enjoys being that role model.
“I’ve been going to those camps since I was in kindergarten so it’s just kind of crazy that it’s me that people kind of look up to a little bit,” he said. “I just really appreciate it.”
The most impressive part for John, though, comes in their own home. It’s rare for two children of the same kin to both have the non-genetic disease, but Camden’s 9-year-old sister Sophie struggles with Type 1 as well. Unsurprisingly, he’s helping her quite a bit too.
“He was always tough, he wore it like a badge. … He always took it without complaining and without getting upset about it,” John said. “His sister, on the other hand, loathes every second of it. She gets upset about it. Him being there to kind of coach her along and show her the ropes and kind of give her that edge of not letting it get the better of her I think is what makes me proudest.”
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