Salko and Silas: The Dynamic Duo
The life of a winter sport athlete is busy, chaotic and simply tiring. Between training, eating properly, packing the right equipment, competing and traveling all over the world, these athletes have to put in 100-percent to making their dreams a reality.
But Lauren Salko (Larchmont, N.Y.) seems to defy all odds by putting in 110-percent into her ski career. Salko is a 27-year-old skicross athlete with dreams of making the U.S. Freeski Team. Unlike her teammates, Lauren has to think about packing, eating and training a lot more when she is on her way to the mountain.
When Salko was young, she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, a form of diabetes where your body doesn’t produce insulin and in turn causes low energy. For a skicross athlete, having Type 1 diabetes can be a major set-back and force an athlete to stop training or competing.
“It may seem like it’s not a big deal because I don’t talk about it, but when we are packing for the hill everyone is like ‘Okay do I have my helmet, my boots, my goggles, and my skis.’ and I am like ‘Okay do I have my helmet, boots, goggles, skis, extra insulin, extra snacks, and extra everything,’” says Lauren, “and there have definitely been some training struggles too.”
Luckily, Lauren has supportive teammates and coaches that will help her carry extra things and be there if she needs help. Her top supporter, however, is not someone you’d typically expect.
Meet Silas, a four-year-old lab designated as Lauren’s personal diabetes alert dog. He has been trained to smell Lauren’s blood sugar levels and alert her when they get too low or too high at any point in the day. “Before I had him, I was checking my blood sugar three or four times in the middle of the night so that I could make sure it was in a good place before I woke up for training and competing to be optimal.”
Silas is nothing short of extraordinary. He is accurate in smelling Lauren’s levels, making him a necessity during her training and competing. “I have a continuous glucose monitor on my phone and he normally alerts me 10 to 15 minutes before that goes off. He is pretty amazing.”
Since Lauren travels all over the world for training, Silas has also learned to be an easy travel companion. When flying, Silas sits under the seat in front of Lauren and stays there until the flight is over, no sleeping drugs required. “He doesn’t even go to the bathroom on the plane. I even give him the option to on a potty pad but he has never taken me up on the offer,” remarks Lauren.
Getting onto the plane is a different story. According to the Air Carriers Act, which is the law that governs service dogs on airplanes, it is not legally required to have any documentation for service dogs. However, airlines have started to request more information, which has led Lauren to preparing a lot more than she is used to. She typically needs to send a form to the vet to get it signed, as well as declare Silas trained prior to flying. When traveling to Europe specifically, there is a health certificate required every time.
The airport security is also a challenge. “He walks through with all his stuff on and sets the alarm off every time,” says Lauren, “Sometimes they pat him down and scan my hands for explosives and sometimes they won’t.”
Despite these few traveling struggles, Lauren is beyond thankful for having Silas in her life. “It is nice just having a constant companion,” Lauren says, “Even when he isn’t working and doesn’t have his vest on, he is fun because he is just a normal puppy and has a lot of energy.”
Salko gives a lot credit to Silas for her advancement as a skicross athlete and is able to further improve her skiing skills because of him. Her main goal for this upcoming season is to compete in the 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships presented by Toyota in Park City, Utah.
“It’s going to be challenging to make the team, but if I am not able to race I want to forerun so that I can get some time on the track,” she says. Lauren also hopes to get more comfortable in the air and improve on her placement in the Europa Cup.
In addition to skiing, Salko is a Life in Full Color speaker for Tandem Diabetes Care. She has spoken at a multitude of summer camps for kids with diabetes, as well as events for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDFR), which is a major research funding organization for Type I diabetes. Salko loves to talk to the kids at these events and inspire them to be who they want to be. “I was really lucky because when I was diagnosed with Type 1 as a kid, nobody told ‘me you can’t do this, you can’t do that,’ but I am kind of in the minority in that,” says Lauren. “I really enjoy talking to the kids and showing them that you can do whatever you want you just have to plan it out and want it.”
Salko is a true inspiration to aspiring skicross athletes and to all who have been diagnosed with diabetes. With the help of her teammates, her loved ones, and her companion Silas, there is no doubt she will go far.
Follow Lauren and Silas on social media to follow along with their adventures: https://www.instagram.com/skiersalko/?hl=en
