Maple Leafs' Max Domi pens moving message for his mom Leanne for making sacrifices during his battle against Type 1 Diabetes

Modified Jun 09, 2025 18:11 GMT

This weekend, Leafs forward Max Domi took part in the 2025 Breakthrough T1D Walk hosted by Breakthrough T1D Canada. He met young fans and participated in the walk alongside his mother, Leanne Domi.

On Sunday, he posted a sweet story on his Instagram, posing with his mom at the event’s finish line. In the caption, Domi opened up about his childhood struggles with T1D and penned a heartfelt message for his mother.

“My mom used to have to wake up at 3 am every single night to test my blood glucose levels when I was a kid. Wouldn’t be where I am without you. Love you mom.”

“You’re the best! ❤️” he added.

The Breakthrough T1D Walk, which was formerly JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes, is an annual national fundraising initiative held by Breakthrough T1D Canada. It brings together families, volunteers, sponsors and ambassadors to raise funds and awareness for Type 1 diabetes research.

Max Domi once opened up on the 'pressure' of managing diabetes

Max Domi found out he had Type 1 diabetes when he was 12 years old. Later, he was also diagnosed with celiac disease, a condition where he cannot eat anything with gluten.

During an interview with TSN in 2019, Domi opened up on the struggles of maintaining his blood glucose levels while participating in major competitive sports. He shared that he had some trouble during his first NHL training camp but learned how to better control his condition with help from the team trainer. Domi also mentioned that managing diabetes is hard and can affect mental health due to the daily pressure.

“There’s so much pressure on yourself, so much going on that you have to be aware of and the responsibility of your health at a young age is something that really wears on people and I think nowadays with social media and all that stuff that it’s also directly leading to mental health, I think when you have a disease like this one, you literally can’t take a day off. It’s wearing on you,” Domi said.

“If you don’t have a team around you and all the tools in your toolbox to kind of handle that stuff, it’s tough. I’ll be the first one to admit that it’s not fun and you got to find ways to deal with that.”

The Leafs forward also wrote a book called "No Days Off" to share his story and help others understand what life with diabetes is like. Some of the proceeds from the book sale go to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

About the author

Anjum is an NHL reporter at Sportskeeda with over five years of professional experience in the spectator sports industry. Raised in Bahrain, Anjum grew up close to the Formula 1 and GP2 scene, but it was ice-sports that she truly had a chance to play at school.

Anjum prioritizes thorough research, fact-checking and verification of sources when reporting, and has worked for Oil on Whyte, Leafs Herald, the Nation of Blaugrana, Barca International Cules, FromTheBend, Last Word On Sports and NASA.

She got interested in ice hockey after watching the “MVP” trilogy as a second grader and has not gotten over the sport yet. Her favorite player is Alex Ovechkin, whose legendary one-timers live rent free in her heart. The iconic moment when Ovechkin reached 800 career goals with a hat trick in Chicago as the away crowd chanted “Ovi, Ovi” is probably her happiest memory from an ice-rink.

When not enjoying the game, Anjum can be found sailing, star-mapping or collaborating with fellow citizen scientists at NASA.

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