A pitcher for the Winnipeg Goldeyes has kicked off a campaign to give back to the community and support a cause very close to him. 

Mikey O'Brien - who is in his second year with the club - says General Manager, Andrew Collier, approached him during the off-season and told him the team was partnering with Diabetes Canada in 2017.

It's an important cause for O'Brien, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes when he was 17-years-old.

He talked to Kelly Lambkin, the Manager of Public Programs and Services for the Manitoba Regional Branch of Diabetes Canada and they decided to run "Mikey's Camp" on Sunday, May 7, 2017, a one-day baseball camp for kids with diabetes. It's part of the "Strikeout Stigma Campaign", which is a season-long partnership between Diabetes Canada and the Goldeyes. 

"I used to run baseball camps in my hometown of Roanoke, Virginia and all the money went to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation," said O'Brien. "I had a great time doing it for the kids, for a good reason, and Kelly just threw the idea out there of doing it with the Goldeyes and I was like 'yeah for sure, let's set it up as soon as possible.'"

Goldeyes First Basemen David Bergin helps the kids with some fielding drills

O'Brien and his teammates guided the kids through a number of drills at Shaw Park. 

He says it's important the kids realize that diabetes is not something that will hold them back. 

"I've met some kids at previous baseball camps who are shy or ashamed of it and I hate seeing that," said O'Brien. "For kids being such a young age and being in school they're probably feeling that they're really different from everyone else but they're not at all. They just have to prick their finger once in a while and take a shot when they eat. That's it." 

"I just want to be someone they can look at and say 'if he's running baseball camps and he's not afraid to talk about it, why should I be?'"

Andrea Kwasnicki is the Regional Director of Diabetes Canada in Manitoba and Nunavut.

She says having O'Brien and the Goldeyes as partners is important because it shows the kids their diabetes is not a limitation. 

"It's cool having a professional athlete featured and sharing his journey with diabetes and showing that diabetes hasn't changed his ambitions," said Kwasnicki. 

Only 10 per cent of people with diabetes have type 1, according to Kwasnicki. That can make kids feel isolated and alone because they are often the only ones in their class or school who have it. 

"It's never easy," she said. "Events like today just bring them together to show them they aren't alone and today is a prime example of lifting those limitations."

Pitcher Ryan Chaffee giving instructions on throwing

O'Brien admits he didn't know enough about diabetes when he was diagnosed to realize how much it would change his life. But he says having a support system helped him get through it and he hopes camps like this can be that support system for these kids. 

"I've been very fortunate," said O'Brien."You need your family, your friends and teammates, your trainers and coaches, you need to have that just in case something serious does happen." 

Kwasnicki says other events will be taking place during the "Strikeout Stigma Campaign" and the Goldeyes said in a release sponsors will donate $50 to Diabetes Canada for every strikeout O'Brien records this season. 

For information on the other events, visit www.diabetes.ca