Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Walking to Cure Diabetes!

This last Saturday, our good friends asked us to join them in a


Walk To Cure Diabetes


We had a blast being part of The Ian Crowd. Ian was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes about 5 years ago. Here is Ian telling his story.





We love Ian and we want to do anything we can to help our dear friend. Here is some interesting facts about Type 1 Diabetes mingled with our moments in the walk:

As of 2007, 23.6 million people—7.8% of the population—have diabetes; 1.6 million new cases of diabetes were diagnosed in people aged 20 years or older in 2007.

Each year more than 3.8 million people die from diabetes-related causes, one death every 10 seconds.This silent epidemic claims as many lives annually as HIV/AIDS.

(Me and Becky)

Type 1 diabetes, which predominately affects youth, is rising alarmingly worldwide, at a rate of 3% per year. Some 70,000 children worldwide are expected to develop type 1 diabetes annually.


(Shae part of the Ian Crowd)
In type 1 diabetes (which used to be called insulin-dependent diabetes or juvenile diabetes), the pancreas can't make insulin. The body can still get glucose from food but the glucose can't get into the cells where it's needed. Glucose stays in the blood, which makes the blood sugar level very high and causes health problems.



(Nathan is 4 years old. He was diagnosed last November. He is the nephew of my friend Amy White.)
No one knows for sure what causes type 1 diabetes, but scientists think it has something to do with genes. Genes are like instructions for how the body should look and work that are passed on by parents to their kids. But just getting the genes for diabetes isn't usually enough. Something else has to happen — like getting a viral infection — for a person to develop type 1 diabetes.


(Scott showed us his superman underwear as he had a Superman tattoo placed on his calf)

JDRF has awarded more than $1.3 billion to type 1 diabetes research (including $156 million in FY2008).



(Becky and her son Ian)
On average, the current life expectancy of a child with type 1 diabetes is shortened by 7-10 years, but this number has been trending down in recent years with advances in technology and treatment options.

(Grandpa from the White family put a Superman tattoo on his head)

The symptoms may occur suddenly, and include one or more of the following:
Extreme thirst
Frequent urination
Drowsiness, lethargy
Sugar in urine
Sudden vision changes
Increased appetite
Sudden weight loss
Fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath
Heavy, labored breathing
Stupor, unconsciousness


(Shae holding the sign for our group!)

To stay alive, people with type 1 diabetes must take multiple insulin injections daily or continually infuse insulin through a pump. They must also test their blood sugar by pricking their fingers for blood six or more times per day.

(Laura and cousin)

Each year more than 15,000 children are diagnosed with diabetes in the U.S. That's 40 children per day.

As many as 3 million Americans may have type 1 diabetes.


(Shae had her face painted as a kitty cat at the walk)

"Both children and adults like me who live with type 1 diabetes need to be mathematicians, physicians, personal trainers and dieticians all rolled into one. We need to be constantly factoring and adjusting, making frequent finger sticks to check blood sugars, and giving ourselves multiple daily insulin injections just to stay alive." - JDRF International Chairman, Mary Tyler Moore

I hope this post has inpsired you to get out and help raise money for someone who may have a life long disease! JDRF is one of many foundations that we are proud to help.

We love you Ian! May they find a cure some day soon!


5 comments:

Mackenzie said...

Big ups to the JDRF!!! Thank you for walking. Hopefully they will find a cure soon.

Ann Marie said...

What a good cause! ~ It's so great you were a part of it!

I love the picture of you and Becky. So cute!

Miss Shae is an adorable kitty! :)

Me said...

I have 2 friends whose kids were just diagonsed with this yesterday. It's really sad. I'm glad you had fun. I love walks like that, I used to do quite a few. There hopefully will be an angel walk next May if you want to that one with me.

Heather said...

Diabetes runs in my family. My uncle right now has it.

Kurt usually does Tour de core. It is riding his bike for diabetes.

Looks like you had a good time there. Thanks for all the info. I learned a lot.

Jenice Henrie said...

Cat eye Shaeler is now my wallpaper for my desktop. She is so cute.

p.s. what about the cat?

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