Help Stop Diabetes
Please Give – to help stop Diabetes
By: Susan McGee
-Every 17 seconds someone is diagnosed with diabetes.
-25.8 million children and adults in the U.S. have diabetes
-12.6 million women in the U.S. have diabetes
-1.9 million people are diagnosed annually in the U.S.
-Right now – if you have a child in the U.S. – a boy child has a 1 in 3 chance of being a diabetic. A girl child has a 2 in 5 chance in her lifetime.
“Our mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.”
That is a released statement by the American Diabetes Association as they set the stage for their signature fundraising walk taking place November 5 in Pensacola. 160 cities across the United States will host the walk this fall to help raise money to find a cure for the millions of Americans living with the disease and to help them to improve their lives.
This cause is one in which I hold dear to my heart as my sister Dianne died of diabetes related complications this year. I watched as that precious woman battled kidney failure with a subsequent kidney transplant, dialysis three times a week for 3 years, broken bones and ortho surgeries, over 19 eye surgeries, and heart disease that originated with diabetes and finally took her life. Her son, Jimbo, passed away three years earlier at the age of 39. Our Mother, our sister, our grandfather. All with diabetes.
This is the time of year that all of us who have been affected by diabetes need to rally and raise money to help prevent and subdue this disease. Diabetes is persistent, strong, mighty in its effects – let’s take a page from this disease and use some of its same properties – in our fundraising and generosity.
Sell t-shirts, have bake sales (ironic), sell candles, bracelets – or just plain collect money for diabetes. You can ask friends and family. If you can’t make it to the walk – send a check to someone who can.
Saturday, Nov. 5 at Bayview Park in Pensacola is our area’s walk location.
You may go online at main.diabetes.org/Pensacola or diabetes.org/stepout – to register for the walk with a team already formed. Or you can form your own team – company, family, church, or organization. Or you can walk as an individual. The day is about celebrating fundraising attempts and to spread the word about diabetes in the local community.
If you are unable to walk but you want to contribute, you may send a check written to The American Diabetes Association, c/o Susan McGee, 4476 Azel Scott Lane, Jay, FL 32565 and I will include it in the team I am leading. Or you can go online and donate directly.
My sister’s birthday is Nov. 1. I know that day is going to be hard for me. I’ve never had a Nov. 1 without her. But it’s gonna be a little easier knowing that a few days later I’m going to be walking for her – and for the millions who still struggle with this disease.
I’ve walked in this event for seven years – but this year it has special meaning. This year I’m walking for my sister, Di.
