Chad Muma, Jacksonville Jaguars.
Kerrigan Zambrana, Jacksonville Jaguars.
After a decorated four-year career at the University of Wyoming, Chad Muma was selected in the third round by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2022 NFL Draft. Next season will mark the outside linebacker’s fourth with the team.
But there is more to Muma than meets the eye. You see, Muma is something of a rarity in the world of professional sports. He’s one of 13 players in NFL history known to be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
For Muma, the diagnosis came when he was 13 years old.
“It was always a dream of mine to play football professionally. But when I was first diagnosed, my whole world came to a halt. I thought that my dream was over,” Chad told me in an exclusive interview for Forbes.
“When I got home, I started looking up people in the NFL who were also Type 1 diabetics, and that gave me some hope.”
Chad carried this hope with hope with him, determined to join the ranks of guys like Jay Cutler and Mike Echols as individuals who made it to the NFL with Type 1 diabetes. Through hard work and perseverance, he figured out how to manage his condition and continue to push his body to its limits.
However, simply knowing that a few people were able to accomplish this feat before him isn’t always enough assurance. In his immediate life, there were no role models to look up to and guide him along the way. The path to get to where he is today – now a seasoned veteran in the greatest football league on the planet – wasn’t an easy one to navigate. As a result, Chad made it his personal mission to be that inspiration for young athletes around the world.
His passion gave birth to “Muma Movement” – a nonprofit foundation dedicated to the empowerment of the next generation with Type 1 diabetes. The main mission of the organization is to get kids “to believe that anything is possible and their condition does not limit their abilities.”
“As a kid, I was always looking for a role model I could connect with,” Chad explained to me. “And so being in the position that I am in today, I just want to be that role model for kids that are newly diagnosed or that have been diagnosed for a long time and are just looking for someone who has Type 1 diabetes and has still managed to be successful.”
Chad isn’t fighting this battle alone. To help aid in his honorable crusade, Chad has entrusted his high school sweetheart and now wife, Alyssa Muma. Alyssa has known Chad since the two were in middle school together (they didn’t start dating until high school). She was present in his life when Chad was first diagnosed, and she has had a front row seat at his triumph over the disease.
Chad & Alyssa Muma.
Gabriella Whisler, Jacksonville Jaguars.
“I was there when he was diagnosed in middle school. So I watched the evolution of his diagnosis through school academics, as well as through sports, and then, now, as his spouse,” Alyssa told me. “So, I’ve kind of seen every stage of what that would look like for someone.”
The way Alyssa speaks of her husband is magical. Not in a corny romantic comedy, ‘this person completes me’ sort of tone. Rather, it is one of admiration for all the trials and tribulations Chad has endured over the years.
“He never intended to be an inspiration. It just happened because of the way that he advocated for himself and those around him. He makes diabetes super comfortable as a topic to discuss. And he’s never acted like it can limit him. So, I don’t know that he set out to be that inspiration. It just kind of happened naturally because of who he is and how he carries himself. And so that just made me inspired to continue to support that and do whatever we can to help,” Alyssa said.
When Chad started to realize his dream, Alyssa had been working in the nonprofit realm, making her the perfect person to run the foundation. Nowadays, her fingerprint is on pretty much everything that goes into the Muma Movement, from running the board to coordinating the logistics of the camps the foundation runs.
These camps are the hallmark feature of the Muma Movement. They mini-camps that are hosted by the Muma Movement Foundation for children living with Type 1 Diabetes ages 6-17, with the NFL linebacker fully immersed in all the action. The mini-camps consist of educational sessions for Type 1 Diabetics and their Caregivers, followed by football-inspired skills stations in order to encourage attendees to move their bodies and get active. So far, the camps have been held in Jacksonville, Florida, with an upcoming one set in Denver, Colorado, on June 20. The long-term goal is to be able to host these camps all over the country to maximize outreach to Type 1 diabetics.
Anytime you partake in philanthropic work, there is always some interaction that reminds you of why it is you are doing what you do. There is always a light that keeps you going in the darkest of hours.
Chad Muma working a Muma Movement Foundation mini camp.
Kam Nedd, Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Last year, at our second camp in Jacksonville, a mom came up to me and told me that they had driven down from North Carolina to be at our camp in Florida. At that moment, I realized that our impact can be so much larger than the community that Chad plays in, and it sparked that drive in me to continue to grow this and make sure that we’re reaching as many kids as we possibly can,” Alyssa recalled.
“That mom was just so grateful that her kid had a day where he was surrounded by people just like him, experiencing the same things as he was going through. She said that he had a really hard time with the diagnosis and a hard time realizing that he was different, and that day made him not feel different. That really just carried me to continue to want to reach more.”
For Chad, that moment came before the genesis of the Muma Movement. It happened when he was still at the University of Wyoming in the middle of his collegiate career.
“The first time that it happened was when I was playing in college football, and I was invited out to a place called Camp Hope in Casper, Wyoming, to talk to kids with Type 1 diabetes. That was kind of my first time interacting with kids with Type 1 diabetes. My first time seeing how they looked up to me as a college athlete. That is what inspired me to keep going.”
What normally gets lost in the plight of Type 1 diabetics is the people caring for them, often referred to as their “caregivers.” While Alyssa can’t directly relate to the children with Type 1 diabetes, she has walked this path with Chad through basically the entirety of his diagnosis. So, she is able to offer support to the caregivers of these kids.
“I think I can speak to the parent more than the child just from being in that experience,” Alyssa explained. “I tell them not to let anybody else tell you what your narrative is with Type 1 diabetes. Don’t let the next coach, teacher, or friend tell you that you’re limited by your disease. You can only be limited by how you limit yourself.”
As for Chad, he’s now the beckon of hope that he once desperately craved as a 13-year-old boy, and he’s here to tell all the boys and girls out there with Type 1 diabetes that anything is possible.
“There’s going to be so many people that tell you that you’re not able to do something because of your diabetes. It might not even be related to your diabetes, but there are going to be people who tell you that you’re not good enough and that you’re not going to be able to do this thing or that. I would just say, keep putting in the work, keep your head down,” Chad stated emphatically.
“Don’t let anyone take that dream away from you.”
To learn more about the Muma Movement Foundation and the various camps they offer, be sure to check out their website.