Reply #6: My Son Has Type 1 Diabetes [View All]

[berni_mccoy]

He was diagnosed in January and we are finally able to control his blood sugar within an 'acceptable' range.

Even with today's technology (insulin pumps, near pain-free blood sugar tests, advanced nutrition, etc), it is difficult to control blood sugar.

Scientists like this are funded by organizations like the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. In fact, this is the only reason why I did not go to the Peace March on D.C. this past weekend. We were in the Walk To Cure Diabetes on Sunday and our family team raised $5000 for this type of research ( http://walk.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=extranet.personalpage&confirmid=86104189 ).

The chapter I am in raised at this one event over $100,000 dollars for research just like this.

If you know someone who has type-1 diabetes and they are involved in fund-raising for the JDRF, I strongly urge you to support them. The disease is the fastest growing chronic illness in children and it has devastating effects on the body, even if you do everything you can to control blood sugar.

If that's not enough, the JDRF is a progressive organization. They have sponsored and lobbied the stem-cell legislature which was passed in the House in April and they are convincing conservatives to pass it, veto-proof, in the Senate as I type this post. Furthermore, they have helped get necessary life-sustaining supplies to people with type-1 diabetes who were victims of Katrina. I posted about this when Katrina was happening... how many stories about those with diabetes didn't have the supplies they needed to survive.