Tag Archives: JDRF

Artificial Pancreas, is there really such thing?

28 Monday Nov 2011

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According to CNN’s story:

Artificial pancreas could be ‘holy grail’ for Type 1 diabetics

I have such mixed feelings about this because when I read the story I can’t help getting excited, but I also feel like it may be too far off for me to benefit in my lifetime. I like that the research is focused on making our lives easier in the here and now as opposed to waiting for a real “cure” but I wonder what this artificial pancreas would look like…how much equipment would we be wearing? I want to see more photos.

This statistic caught my eye:

According to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, about 80 people a day are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Approximately 3 million Americans are living with the disease. Most of them only have healthy blood sugars 30% of the day. The foundation says it has spent $1.5 billion on diabetes research, $40 million of that on research on artificial pancreas systems.

Healthy blood sugars 30% of the day…..that means 70% of the day most people with type 1 have ‘unhealthy’ blood sugars. wow.

Here’s more:
“Our goal is to drive the development of artificial pancreas systems,” Kowalski said. “This could not only improve tremendously glucose control, and help reduce the risk of these terrible diabetes complications, it could also help people with diabetes live easier. The bottom line is diabetes is a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week, 365 day a year job and if we can make some of that easier that would be a huge step forward.”

Well said.

1 in 20 diabetics will die from hypoglycemia (according to JDRF)

08 Tuesday Nov 2011

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Scare tactics from JDRF have the blog-o-sphere community all fired up. Amy Tenderich takes a balanced view on DiabetesMine. She says,

“JDRF stands behind the statistic, citing multiple studies, while some observers balk that “this ‘fact’ appears to be based almost entirely on one author’s (Dr. Cryer’s) interpretation of a variety of studies done by others.”

Here’s what I think:

I too have mixed feelings about the ad and mostly, what it reminds me of are the scary, negative stereotypes that used to get center stage when I was first diagnosed in 1985. We have worked too hard to dispel the myths of diabetes such as: the 7th leading cause of death, blindness, amputations etc…negative myths and images of diabetes that used to keep me awake in the middle of the night, terrified that I would never be able to have children, never grow old, and that if I did grow old, I would be very sick. I am so glad that we have worked to change stereotypes of diabetes in these last 25 years, and that we have positive role models who are changing the face of diabetes, because I am no longer afraid of growing old. And this JDRF ad feels like a giant step backward.

Diabetes Awareness Month “schwag”

16 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in diabetes, Smart Women's Guide to Diabetes

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Mari Ruddy wrote a great response to my post (on A Sweet Life ) about diabetes being in the shadow of breast cancer. Ruddy is founder of Team WILD (Women Inspiring Life with Diabetes) and also a breast cancer survivor and said:

The biggest thing I learned from the cancer community of survivors, is “dont feel sorry for yourself.” take action. DO SOMETHING. Don’t just talk about it. And they made it relate-able to everyone. In diabetes, we don’t quite yet do this. There’s a lot of feeling sorry for ourselves. There’s a lot of energy we have to put into self care, so sometimes I think it feels to us and maybe to others, that we want OTHERS to take care of us, take care of the recognition, the celebration. That’s NOT what happens in the cancer community.

Those women and men too… they are DOING stuff!!!!!!!! They are organizing walks and races and runs.
So I would ask the diabetes community, what can WE DO???? It’s why I joined the American Diabetes Association Tour de Cure and brought the Red Rider Program to life! It’s why I now have founded and direct Team WILD – to teach people with diabetes how to be athletes first. Eventually Team WILD will have hundreds, even thousands of people with diabetes ready to show up at races, to run our own races!!!

Ruddy’s words have inspired me and I want to do something for the month of November. I want to figure out a way to give back to the diabetes community. But what? What can I do? What do I have time and the resources to do?

When I opened the newspaper this morning the front page had photographs from the local Susan G. Komen run. A sweeping sea of pink filled the photograph making the women look as if they were a group of one instead of a mass of individuals. And I was jealous. How ridiculous it that!?! But it’s true…I want to be standing in a crowd of sweaty women wearing the same color tee-shirt after a 5k run where we collectively have raised thousands of dollars for diabetes.I want to stand in a group of women who know what it feels like to live with this disease, and who are pounding the pavement to raise awareness.

I went out on my own run this morning, glad to be alone, glad to breathe in the cool fall air and as I settled into a good pace, began thinking about diabetes awareness month. I thought, the least I can do is find a local walk for a cure. I’ll even drive to Columbia, SC if I have to. I picked up my pace and began to get excited thinking maybe I could organize an event: a wine tasting, or an art auction. I hurried home to begin my search. Leaning over my keyboard, wiping the sweat from my brow, I quickly discovered that there are no local JDRF or ADA walks for a cure. The closest one is over an hour away and oddly enough, it’s on October 30th, the day before Halloween, a very busy and exciting day for our family. Looking at the calendar and noting that November was only weeks away, I realized there was no time to plan an wine tasting or art auction. Shoot, I thought, and went to plan B. I’ll buy some diabetes merchandise, I can wear a diabetes tee shirt and slap a bumper sticker on my car to bring attention to the month. There, problem solved.

Not quite. Have you ever looked for diabetes tee-shirts? The availability is bleak. I don’t like the ADA logo with the blood on the finger tip, it kind of grosses me out. And the slogan Stop Diabetes doesn’t make sense to me….stop? what does that mean? It’s too late to stop diabetes in my body. JDRF shirts are a little better, but still geared toward kids. So where, where are the cute, sassy tee shirts for Smart Women? And what is our color anyway? Are we blue or red? And are we “curing” diabetes or “stopping” diabetes? Why can’t I find a walk, a shirt or even a bumper sticker?

Could this be the source of our struggle to become a force like breast cancer survivors?

I sighed and went into the playroom to stretch. Maybe for the month of November I’ll start small, I thought. Maybe I’ll donate some Smart Woman’s Guide books to local hospitals or schools. Maybe I’ll sign up for career day at my kid’s school and talk to the students about diabetes. Maybe I don’t need the schwag of cancer paraphernalia to draw attention to this disease. Maybe I’ll just get up every morning in the month of November and have a quiet moment thinking about diabetes before I get out of bed. I stood in the downward dog position and tried to hold my balance while Reid crawled beneath me as if I was a bridge, laughing hysterically.

One step at a time.

Fatty Acids and risks of type 1 diabetes

15 Thursday May 2008

Posted by in diabetes, posted by Amy S. Mercer

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Somehow I just got the winter 2008 issue of Countdown, (not sure why it was late), and I saw an interesting newsbrief that says, “Children at risk for type 1 diabetes may gain some protection from developing the disease by increasing omega-3 fatty acids in their diet, according to a report in the Journal of the American Medical Association.” The newsbrief explains that Omega-3 fatty acids are “abundant” in certain fish, dark green veggies, canola and sunflower oils.

Hmmmm….I’ve had type 1 diabetes for 23 years and am the mother to 2 boys, ages 4&6. My boys are not fans of fish but they do eat “trees” (broccoli), so this is wonderful news! Who knew there were ways to fight this disease, and that our tools in battle could be so simple like tuna and broccoli! I think this is very exciting and so if anyone has any kid-friendly tuna recipes, send them on over!