Words of Wisdom From Rev. Run

06 Jul, 2013

Today we know him as the loving father from MTV’s hit reality show Run’s House. Other generations watched as his group Run DMC took the world by storm in the late 80’s.

Throughout the years Rev. Run whose real name is Joseph Ward Simmons has transformed from pop icon to Reverend to loving father, dispersing his words of wisdom not only to his family but to the world.

Today, he is using his celebrity to combat a disease that’s taking the African American community by storm-Diabetes. As Ambassador for Novo Nordisk ‘Ask. Screen. Know’ campaign, Rev. Run is encouraging people 45 and older to learn their risk and encourage early detection.

The Trending Report spoke with Rev. Run during his multi-city media tour where he’s taking his message to churches in the communities that are affected most. Here’s what he had to say.

Tell me about Novo Nordisk “Ask. Screen. Know” campaign and the role that you play as Ambassador:

My celebrity and the fact that my father had diabetes were very helpful in my decision to work as Ambassador for this campaign. I’m over 45 and I’m African American. That made it easy for me to make the connection. In the whole, “Ask. Screen, Know” campaign, I tell people that what you don’t know, you can’t fix.

When I give out my words of wisdom, many times it’s something that I’m personally dealing with and it ends up untangling a bunch of people. So now that I’m dealing with this, I tell people about it and I want them to know. It’s all about using my celebrity to get the point across to people who might be listening.  This is something that I take very serious and I’m overjoyed to be able to do it knowing that it will help many people.

I’m also doing it because I know that I’m supposed to be doing it. This is what God has put on me. I found out recently that World Diabetes day is November 14^th and that’s my birthday. I believe in signs. What else do I need to show me that I’m supposed to be talking to people about Diabetes. I want to be that vessel to be in place to help others.

Did your father have a conversation with you about his having Diabetes?

I was young and I would hear things like, ‘You know I got Diabetes.’ It didn’t really affect me at the time. I did learn early on that by my father having it makes me more susceptible to having it. I said “Whoa.” So for me, I manage what I’m eating. I’m always trying to make healthy food choice decisions. It keeps me on point and everyone else on point.

I get checked regularly and I don’t have Diabetes but I know I’m at risk.  Like so many others, I was definitely afraid to get screened. I didn’t want to do it. But at the end of the day, when someone says to me, what about your loved ones? That touched me.

So I started telling people to do it for the ones you love and I found that struck a lot of cords in a lot of people. When you say it’s not about you…because a lot of times we don’t care about ourselves. We say, “I’ll deal with it when it comes. I’m fine.” But when you hear it will affect your wife or your mother or your kids or people that you love, it changes things dramatically.

Why were you afraid to get screened?

Men-we don’t want that image-we want to walk until it’s over. We don’t want to talk about it, it takes up too much of our day, we’d rather be smiling and thinking about happy things not the doctor’s office and waiting for the results. We’re scared. Black men are scared to hear the answer. We don’t want to hear the answer and if it’s not bothering me now, why do I need to go to the doctor? We’d rather hide from the answer. We don’t want to deal with it especially if it doesn’t seem like anything is the matter. That’s the true answer.

What was your first screening like?

I was waiting on the edge of my seat.  After I left the doctor’s office I had to get on a flight.  Before I got on the flight I called my doctor and he wasn’t there. I was flying from New York to Las Vegas-six hours. Before the plane hit the ground I called my doctor again.  I said, “Doc what did you find?” He said, “You’re fine.” I said, “Oh thank God.”

I was so happy that I didn’t have any complications, I didn’t have Diabetes, my cholesterol was okay. It helped me to go forward with a new confidence and I realized it helped me do better with my weight. I’m more informed now and that screening put me on point that I now don’t want to have a problem with Diabetes.

What are some things that can be done right now to combat the disease?

First thing you need to do is “Ask. Screen and Know.”  And once you know there’s many ways you can…if you do have it, live a healthy life.  You can control it and keep it in a good place for yourself. So it’s not the end of the world. Diabetes is a very manageable disease.

You can even get to a place where you can go to a doctor who doesn’t know anything about you and he may say you don’t have it. But that’s not true. That doesn’t mean that you don’t have it, it’s just that your blood sugar level is down and good enough that it doesn’t show up. If you have it, you have it.  Maintain a good lifestyle and don’t let it get out of control. You have to know your different levels and once you know them you can watch them to make sure they’re not high.

Tell me about your new HGTV Show:

With my show Run’s House, everyone saw the house, they loved my family, they loved what I was doing. My wife was on television doing jewelry. I said you know what, I love what you’re doing with jewelry but you love doing the house and doing things with furniture and refurbishing.  So I reached out and they were interested in watching us remodel our home. The show is going to be the same basic loving family having a good time putting the house together. To me, it’s going to be Run’s House but Run’s House watching me fix Run’s House. I might name the show Rev. Run’s Renovations, that’s what I’m thinking about.

For more information about Novo Nordisks ‘Ask. Screen. Know’ campaign log on to :

askscreenknow.com

B.Spencer

Mentioned In This Post: @RevRunWisdom