Jacobs coach Brian Zimmerman experiences scary diabetic incident 17 hours before kickoff

Jacobs football players had no idea what their coach had gone through in the 17 hours leading up to Friday’s kickoff against Hampshire.

Finally, after the Golden Eagles had beaten the Whip-Purs 28-7 in their Fox Valley Conference game, Brian Zimmerman shared something with the players in the post-game huddle.

Shortly after 2 a.m. Friday, Zimmerman, a Type 1 diabetic, had four paramedics at his family’s home assisting him to overcome a hypoglycemic episode. Brynn Zimmerman made an emergency call after her husband’s Dexcom sensor buzzed because his blood sugar reached an alarming level.

After a somewhat frantic hour, paramedics were able to get Zimmerman’s level back where it should be. Zimmerman took a half-day off to rest, then went back to school. He told his coaching staff and administrators, but not the players.

“I didn’t want them to think about that, I wanted them to focus on the game,” Zimmerman said. “I called my boss and said what happened and took a half-day. It’s not like you can be back to normal in hours. It’s a strange disease.

“I told them afterward how I liked the resolve they had. They’re amazing kids. They were kind of taken aback. They didn’t know. I didn’t want them to think about it.”

The Golden Eagles are well aware that their coach carries on a daily battle with the disease. But they were unaware of the scare Zimmerman had Friday morning.

“None of us knew that happened to him until he told us after the game,” tight end-defensive end Grant Stec said. “I would’ve never guessed that something happened to him. During the school day he seemed perfectly fine and his mind was on winning like always.”

Running back-linebacker Joey Scrivani, who scored all four of Jacobs’ touchdowns in the victory, expressed the same sentiments.

“He did not tell us until after the game,” Scrivani said. “Obviously, we’re super grateful to have him there after what he went through.”

Brian and Brynn Zimmerman refer to the Dexcom sensor he wears on his stomach as a “life-changer.” It measures his blood sugar level every five minutes and reads results to both of their phones. Brian Zimmerman said normally a person’s level will be between 90 to 120 milligrams per deciliter, but his had dropped to 41.

Brynn Zimmerman heard her phone vibrate on the nightstand and nudged Brian to tell him he was low. While Brian Zimmerman has functioned at around 40 before, this time his speech did not sound right to Brynn.

Brynn Zimmerman got her husband a Dr. Pepper, his go-to drink for a quick sugar boost, but he took only a few sips and refused to drink more.

“With diabetes you tend to get very angry, and you don’t understand what’s happening,” Brynn Zimmerman said. “He’s saying, ‘Why are you acting so weird?’ And he was refusing to drink any more. Then he would lay back down. He kept going in and out.

“He gets very mad when I’m going to call 9-1-1. I said I was calling and couldn’t get him to react, and I knew it wasn’t OK.”

The next thing Brian Zimmerman knew, four paramedics were in his bedroom.

“I thought I was in a dream,” Brian Zimmerman said. “I was trying to figure out what was happening. It shocks your body. If you get a seizure from it, you feel like you’ve been in a fender-bender, like you’re achy and sore.”

Zimmerman, 42, has dealt with diabetes since he was 12. He played high school football at Lincoln-Way Central and college football at Eastern Illinois University. Zimmerman gives himself insulin shots to lower his blood sugar four times a day.

Jacobs soccer coach Colin Brice also is a Type 1 diabetic. The two share stories and supplies.

The last time Zimmerman was hypoglycemic, Brynn went into labor the next day with their son, Maddox, who will be 6 in November. Their daughter, Macy, will be 8 in December.

“There’s never getting used to it, but it’s one of those things that we, unfortunately, have to deal with on a daily basis,” Brynn Zimmerman said. “It’s very scary. You don’t want to panic, but panic kind of overtakes your body.”

Brynn Zimmerman says she is used to Dexcom and sometimes sleeps through it. Fortunately, this time she did not.

Paramedics were able to get Brian Zimmerman’s blood sugar back to an acceptable level within about an hour.

“They have this gel they squeeze into your mouth,” he said. “They’re not allowed to leave until you’re back above 62.”

Zimmerman was sweating so profusely his bed sheets were soaked. Brynn Zimmerman made him a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich, and he took a shower. He called Jacobs administrators to get a substitute teacher in special education for half the day and finally went back to bed around 4.

Brynn Zimmerman went to work at her business, Butcher on the Block in Lake in the Hills, and Brian got some rest before finishing the day at school and preparing for the game.

“I looked at him like, ‘Are you OK to coach?’” she said. “He said, ‘I’m not, not coaching.’ I said, ‘OK.’ But I see him on the field and his stress super high and it’s like, ‘Are you OK?’

“He took his hat off and threw it on the ground during the game, and I said, ‘We just had an episode last night. Let’s channel back the stress a little bit.’ "

Brynn Zimmerman did not realize that Jacobs trainer Chuck Marth keeps a watchful eye on her husband during games.

“The games are exciting,” Brian Zimmerman said. “When your stress level goes up and down, it jacks around with your blood sugar level a lot. Chuck is awesome. He carries a Gatorade with him, he kind of follows me up and down the sideline if he sees me getting hyper, and he has a Gatorade bottle. He puts honey in it. He’s great.”

On Zimmerman’s Facebook page Saturday morning, he called his wife a “rock star” for what she does helping him.

“She’s amazing, the things that she has seen as a wife of a diabetic,” he said. “She gets it and helps educate a lot of people on it.”