A family living well with type 1 diabetes.

Archive for the ‘Advocacy’ Category

Steve Needs YOU!

Over six months ago I wrote about Steve Richert. If you missed that post you can be brought up to speed here. 

From what I’ve learned about Steve in the almost year that I’ve “known” him without actually meeting him in person, is that he is passionate about a few things: his wife, his health, climbing things of a rocky, steep nature and inspiring others to live life to the fullest in spite of diabetes, or any obstacle that one must overcome.

He is driven, level-headed, focused and disciplined.

Anyone who has kept their finger on the pulse of Living Vertical’s Project 365 will tell you it hasn’t been easy for Steve and his wife these past seven months. They have had numerous set backs and life has gone on delivering its usual grab bag of the unexpected in spite of the year long project of climbing every day that Steve has committed to, all the while managing his type 1 diabetes. But Steve has stayed strong throughout.

Along with the set backs have come some pretty amazing opportunities as well. Recently Steve has teamed up with Roche, the maker of Accu-Chek® Nano,  to help fund this project.

This is where YOU can play a part in helping Steve achieve his goal. For every “like” this video receives, Steve’s initiative gets one much needed dollar. Please view the short video where you will meet Steve and see what he is really trying to achieve, “like” the video, then please share the video with your Facebook friends and on Twitter. Every “like” the video gets helps out.

Thank you.

Category:

Advocacy

Tagged with:

Crafty D-Crafting.

So I’ve been busy helping my girls create homemade Valentines to hand out in class next week. I blame Pinterest for this sudden blast of creative ambition. If you haven’t yet familiarized yourself with Pinterest, be forewarned, it is habit forming. As if any of us need yet another online time-suck! But the cool thing about it is you can get some really neat ideas for crafts and art projects (and a plethora of other topics).

One such project that just dazzled and amazed me was this one:

You take a picture of your child holding out his or her hand as if clutching a lolly-pop, then use some sort of photo editing software to add text and embellishments, print it off, cut slits above and below the fist and feed a lolly through! Is that not the coolest thing?!

So after I had my Valentine fun with this idea, I got to thinking — how could I make use of this idea in a D-awareness sort of way? It didn’t take long for me to come up with this:

 

I think these would be cool to make bunches of and hand out at school events during Diabetes Awareness Month in November or any time there is an opportunity to raise a little awareness. What a great way to educate people about how people with diabetes can have treats too and are not relegated to a sugar-free existence. In fact, this myth is a dangerous one that really needs to be dispelled. We know too well how important and, indeed, life-saving sugar can be to a person with type 1 diabetes.

This project is more simple than it appears. Go ahead and give it a try, whether it’s to create Valentines or awareness!

 

Category:

Advocacy

Tagged with:

Diabetes and Doctors.

I’ve recently found myself in the upsetting position of having to defend the 8 to 12 blood sugar checks we perform daily on Jenna to a pediatrician. It was during a routine check up. An a1c drawn at this appointment revealed pretty darn good control at 7.8. Still, this medical professional felt that checking Jenna up to 12 times a day on occasion, was excessive.

Jenna does not wear a CGM. For those who read my blog but don’t live with diabetes daily, first – thank you. You give a damn. You want to learn more. That’s so awesome! Second – a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) is a device that has a sensor which is inserted under the skin and stays in place for several days, measuring blood glucose in interstitial fluid many times throughout the day and night. It is a great piece of technology, but it has a ways to go before it is a consistently accurate and reliable way to monitor blood sugar. We are waiting until the technology improves before investing money and subjecting Jenna to yet another jab and another device to have to wear. In the meantime, regular blood sugar checks are necessary to ensure Jenna is safe. This means we get up every night, sometimes more than once depending on the circumstances, to perform blood sugar checks.

You see, each reading is merely a snapshot. She may be 5.8 at 10:00pm – an excellent reading, but what you may not know is that she is headed down fast because of the insulin on board from that bedtime snack she had or the extra hard playtime when she ran for an hour solid earlier in the day! By midnight she could be 2.1! The only way to know is to check.

I left the doctor’s office that day feeling so many emotions – anger, frustration, annoyance – but the worst, the absolute worst was the self-doubt and shame I felt. I actually let this doc get to me! I questioned whether we were doing the absolute best we could be doing for our little girl. He made me feel like we were setting Jenna up for failure with our diligence. How would she be able to pick up the baton when it was time to hand it over to her? This question was posed to me as I defended our nightly blood sugar checks to ensure her safety. He stated that if it were him, he wouldn’t be able to function on the broken sleep we were getting.

Never mind that I made the valid point that she will not just suddenly, one day, be charged with her entire diabetes management – that it will be a gradual process that has already begun that won’t overwhelm her. No, he felt we were setting the bar too high and needed to pull back. He then went on to assure me that Jenna would awaken if she were to go too low. Absolutely, for sure. Without question.

Now, the whole idea of checking and monitoring is to avoid highs and lows. AVOID them! Not to let them happen and deal with the low when it materializes in whatever frightening form that may take, i.e. seizure, or worse. I DO NOT want to have to administer glucagon, call the paramedics and pray that my daughter survives, all because I needed my sleep. We have survived the past three and a half years getting up in the night to ensure Jenna is safe. We have adapted, just as countless other parents have done. And I happen to know that not all people awaken when their blood sugar drops too low. Tragedies happen only too often. How does this doctor not know this?

I was a broken woman when he was finished with me – as broken as Jenna’s pancreas. I never want to feel that way again. And I never, ever want another parent of a child with diabetes to feel that way.

Being a pancreas to a child who’s own pancreas is busted is NOT easy. It is a constant, demanding, ever-changing, exhausting, unruly, scary, unpredictable, 24/7 job. No breaks – no holidays. Any parent who does this – any person with diabetes who does this – deserves respect and support – NOT criticism.

I recently read a quote written by another mom of a child with diabetes that sums it up beautifully:

…I have learned that it is not just about the needles and the numbers –it is about the constant burden of having to perform a critical body function externally . Think for a minute about having to tell your heart when to beat…and how fast. Imagine what it would feel like to know if you slipped for a moment what the consequenc es would be. It can be a heavy weight to bear at times.

Just for the record, I did tell this doc that, with all due respect, I was the parent of a child with diabetes – not him. But I did let what he said hit too close to my heart and I shouldn’t have. It took me days to recover from it. But with the help of my husband, who was furious at this doctor for making me feel so inept, and the reassurance of members of the diabetes online community who validated my diligence and questioned this doc’s knowledge of type 1 diabetes, I bounced back stronger than before. I felt reassured that I am doing the very best I can to keep my daughter safe and healthy and I shouldn’t have to defend what I do to ensure that goal is met every single day and night, especially to someone who doesn’t know what it is like to be a satellite pancreas – medical degree or not!

To the doctors out there: I urge you to tread carefully when you are sitting across from the parent of a child with type 1 diabetes, or a PWD. I know your intentions are good, but unless you have a child with type 1 diabetes, or you have diabetes yourself, you can’t possibly know what it is like to do what we do. Be positive, supportive and understanding. But above all, please be humble. Know that each diabetic person’s disease is as unique as a fingerprint and the approach to managing it can be just as varied and individualized. We are all doing the best we can. It’s not easy and some days are harder than others. You are merely one member of a team in the management of this disease; you are not the definitive expert, as hard as that may be for some of you to accept. Also, a little praise goes a long way. A pat on the back for the 7.8 a1c would have been nice.

Luckily, we had a check up appointment with Jenna’s endocrinologist two days later and received the positive reinforcement and validation we so desperately needed. We always have a positive experience when we see Jenna’s endocrinologist – who, by the way, feels that we are, in no way, paranoid or checking Jenna too much. As always, she applauded our efforts and praised our approach. I am so grateful for her.

Category:

Advocacy, Uncategorized

Tagged with:

Get Your Blue On!

Today is World Diabetes Day. Today is the day we don the blue attire and raise awareness. So here it goes:

  • Diabetes currently affects 246 million people worldwide and is expected to affect 380 million by 2025.
  • More than 3 million Canadians have some form of diabetes.
  • Over 300,000 Canadians live with type 1 diabetes.
  • Canada has the sixth highest incidence rate of type 1 diabetes in children 14 years or younger in the world.
  • The incidence rate of type 1 diabetes is rising by three to five per cent in Canada; the greatest rise occurs in five to nine year olds.
  • Worldwide 70,000 children develop type 1 diabetes annually (almost 200 children a day).
  • Globally, every ten seconds two people develop diabetes.
  • Diabetes is the fourth leading cause of global death by disease.
  • Globally, every ten seconds a person dies from diabetes-related causes.
  • According to the International Diabetes Federation, each year 3.8 million deaths are attributable to diabetes. An even greater number die from cardiovascular disease made worse by diabetes-related lipid disorders and hypertension
  • Living with type 1 diabetes requires approximately 1,460 needles a year (based on four injections per day) and 2,190 finger pokes a year to test blood sugar levels.
  • The World Health Organization indicates five to ten per cent of a nation’s health budget is spent on diabetes.
  • Diabetes and its complications cost the Canadian economy more than $17.4 billion a year.

This is a disease we can’t ignore. We must take action. Do something. Donate. Write. Talk. Educate. Test in public. Wear blue. Be heard. Be seen.

Category:

Advocacy

Tagged with:

The Facts

I’ll be honest, I’ve been censoring myself. I’m afraid.

I’m afraid of posting too much negativity and offending people. And it’s not just here on my blog; I’ve been censoring myself on my facebook page too. I know people don’t like to read upsetting things, especially if it doesn’t pertain to them personally, so I have been trying to avoid posting too much upsetting information and news about diabetes. But that isn’t very honest of me, is it?

Many in the DOC have been talking about something. It is the most horrible side-effect of taking subcutaneous injections or infusions of insulin: nocturnal hypoglycemia resulting in death. The victim just never wakes up the next morning. This is a terrifying phenomenon. And I’d love to say that it is also a rare phenomenon, but that just doesn’t seem to be the case–not according to the latest findings.

1 in 20. Let’s do some math: thats 10 in 200, 100 in 2000, 1000 in 20 000! Does that sound rare to you? If you had a child on insulin therapy, thereby putting your child at risk of suffering this fate, would that be acceptable to you? Would you be comfortable with that? How many is too many? At what point do we, as a society, stop and say, “Shit! Something must be done!”

I don’t want to be a Debbie-Downer. I’m actually quite a positive person. But I am also a realist. I don’t shove my head in the sand, or for that matter, in piles of glitter. It’s just not how I choose to live life. I prefer to know what I’m up against. Knowledge is power. The only way to change this statistic is to get people pissed off about it. And the only way to do that is to share the information.

For, you see, we keep losing our children. They are still dying in their sleep from nocturnal hypoglycemia. It is happening. It seems like every few weeks I learn of another family who kissed their precious child goodnight one night and never got to kiss them good morning the next day. And I’m tired of it. I’m mad. I’m heartbroken.

Admittedly, I am also afraid. I don’t live every waking hour in fear for my daughter’s life, but I do admit that not a day goes by that I don’t worry about her. That worry is pronounced at night. It’s what compels me to get up every night, sometimes more than once depending on the circumstance, to check Jenna to make sure she is safe. Those routine checks have caught countless lows and thwarted many disasters.

We can’t just sit quietly by and accept these tragic losses. We can’t just shrug and say “well, that’s the nature of the beast known as diabetes.” Tell that to the families who have buried their children.

And I can’t censor myself and pretend that everything is just fine. It isn’t. We walk a fine line every day and every night. We act as our children’s pancreas–our children’s imperfect, clumsy, inadequate pancreas. We are on-call, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We must be prepared at all times for the unexpected. We must be diligent.

We fight every day and every night to avoid our children becoming statistics.

We want the world to know.

We want a cure.

Category:

Advocacy

Tagged with:

I Don’t Get It.

I am an advocate for people with diabetes. I am one because I have a child with type 1 diabetes. I did not choose to become one, but rather was compelled to become one after my daughter was diagnosed just a few weeks past her second birthday. It is my passion now.

Type 1 diabetes isn’t just a disease for which there is no cure. It is also a disease plagued by misinformation, stereotypes, stigma and blame. Many people still believe that you can get type 1 diabetes by eating too much sugar. The majority of people with type 1 diabetes will tell you that they have had to battle these misconceptions and stereotypes at some point in their lives, or have been the victim of judgement and ridicule. And many parents of children with diabetes have found themselves in situations where they have had to explain to the ignorant among us that they did not, in fact, indulge their child in too much candy or let them play video games rather that go outside for exercise, causing their pancreases to punish them for an unhealthy lifestyle because of poor parenting.

It gets old. And it can, at times, be hurtful. But it is what it is. Ignorance.

Now, as a nurse, long before I had children, I have had under my direct care, elderly patients who have battled type 1 diabetes for many years. They beat the odds and survived into old age; for, to be diagnosed in the 1920’s or 30’s with this disease likely meant a considerably shorter life expectancy than an individual diagnosed today. But they often didn’t come away unscathed by this ruthless disease. I have had amputees under my care. I have assisted a blind woman with her activities of daily living, her sight stolen by diabetic retinopathy. I have dressed toes, blackened and necrotic due to advanced peripheral vascular disease secondary to type 1 diabetes. I have arranged transport every week for a patient with diabetes for their weekly course of renal dialysis. And I have terminated that transport when the same patient made his decision to stop renal dialysis because it had become too exhausting to endure, knowing that this decision meant he would not live much longer.

I have seen far too much to be afforded the comfort of ignorance and denial about what my little girl could face at some point in her future.

My beautiful Jenna.

I also know that today, because of better therapies to treat this disease, the chances of our children with diabetes having to endure these horrific complications are reduced significantly. But they are still a risk. My little girl has spent the past three and a half years with a medic alert bracelet on her wee wrist; three and a half years of this disease waging war on every organ and system in her body. Three and a half years isn’t a long time, but when you consider that she has had diabetes for 70% of her life already and when she is twenty years old, this disease will have been chipping away at her health and longevity for over 92% of her life, it doesn’t take a nurse to realize her chances of developing complications are not minuscule, even with diligence and modern medicine working for her.

From my perspective, there is nothing funny about the complications of this asshole of a disease. Even before I was the mom of a child with type 1 diabetes, or even a nurse, I never really got the humour in making fun of people with disabilities, diseases or special needs. To me it feels like the humour of bullies.

So you’ll forgive me for taking exception to this “harmless” little limerick written by a very popular and well liked humour blogger

Normally, I let stuff like this go. I’m not one to speak up and open a can of worms that would cause me to have to defend my hurt reaction to ignorant people who are only too content to remain so. But for my daughter’s sake I saw an opportunity to raise some awareness and perhaps change a few hearts. So I penned a letter to the author of the blog:

Hi Jenny,
I’ll be honest, this is the first time I have visited your blog. I found a link to your most recent post on my Facebook feed. I’d be willing to bet it is also one of your shorter posts, which makes it interesting to note that it appears to have generated such a long comments list.

I am the mother of a five year old little girl with type 1 diabetes, diagnosed at the tender age of two. Clearly, you are an intelligent woman who writes a popular blog as you have a whole slew of people, your readership, who have your back. They have fiercely come to your defense when some people took exception to your limerick. And I do have a sense of humor. Really, I do. And I am sane. And I have no stick up my ass (as far as I know). And I can laugh about certain things pertaining to my child’s disease. When you live with a chronic condition every minute of every hour of every day for three an a half years, you learn to laugh about certain stuff.

Here’s the thing: What we live with? Parent’s of children with type 1 diabetes? It is something that breaks our hearts every single day. We watch our children go through a fuck of a lot. EVERY. DAY. And another part of our heartbreak is worrying about what their futures hold for them. Will they one day need toes or feet removed?…below knee or above knee amputations? Will they go blind? Will they develop hypertension, cardiac or kidney complications and the list goes on. So it is a lot to ask of people who are so emotionally invested in this disease to “lighten up”.

We also deal with the misinformation and judgement every single day. People asking me if my child drank too much juice as a baby, was overweight, or was given candy. And what is most heartbreaking about that is knowing our children will be out there dealing with this same misinformation and ignorance on their own one day too, much like the adults with diabetes do who took exception to your limerick.

I know you meant no harm in what you wrote. I don’t think you are a malicious person in the least. From reading a few other posts on your blog, you have your own crosses in life to bear. You’re no stranger to life’s shit piles. And you have chosen humor to deal with it. But what if it was your child with the chronic condition? What if your child had a disease that could do all that stuff I mentioned above and more, even IF you did everything in your power, every single day and night to try to avoid it? Can you honestly say you would have no problem whatsoever with a “harmless” limerick like that?

Perhaps we are a little hyper-sensitive. But you have no idea the fears we have for our beautiful children’s futures, both near and distant. They are fears that I keep hidden away. To let them exist at the surface would cause me to be a non-productive, despairing mom. I couldn’t function. Your limerick, took my breath away when I first read it. My heart went into my throat. It felt so cold and heartless. It brought to the surface all those fears and what-ifs I have as the mom of a child with this horrible, relentless disease. That, I guess, is my problem. But I think, if people consider this situation in the context of something that brings as much fear and heartbreak to them as my daughter’s diabetes brings to me, people might have more understanding as to why your limerick hit a nerve with some.

I guess what I am trying to accomplish is an increased awareness. I don’t expect anyone to recant their enjoyment of your limerick. I understand that not everyone has as much sensitivity to the plight of diabetics (both type 1 and 2) as those of us who live with it every day. And I am aware that some people with diabetes enjoy this kind of humor. But there are a great number of us who’s breath is taken away by something this callous – who’s hearts leap into our throats – even when the horrible, frightening reality of what we live with is presented as a “harmless”, clever limerick.

Thanks for the listen.

Sincerely,
Sherry

I didn’t expect much to come of my letter. I knew going in that it would likely draw more negative attention to me and my sensitivity than I was comfortable with and likely prompt some people, namely her fans, to launch an attack on me for being too PC and touchy.

And it did.

I had made up my mind that the most positive thing I would likely get out of this was a cathartic effect–a release–and that would just have to do. I did not expect Jenny, the author of the blog, to write a private email to me apologizing for the hurt her words caused me.

But she did.

She was kind and understanding and I got the sense that she was allowing me to see her serious, sincere side as she made an attempt to right a wrong. She too is a mom, after all. She explained that her brand of humour isn’t for everyone, but it is her way of dealing with the hardships and battles she has endured in her own life. I was truly touched by her sincerity. But she made it clear that her response to my letter would not be published on her blog as that was “…a place for laughter, not debate.”

It’s just too bad not everyone was laughing.

I know that this disease isn’t my disease, it is my daughter’s. And I know Jenna may grow up to find this sort of humour amusing. That’s fine. That’s her choice. I don’t know that I will ever be okay with it, though. It’s just not in me. It feels wrong, callous and hurtful. And right now, while she is only five years old, I will do what parents have done since the dawn of time and advocate for her until she is old enough to advocate for herself.

Another good thing came from my comment and it came in the form of a comment I received on my blog. It is Laura’s comment – the third one down.This really warmed my heart and validated my hurt and the hurt all parents feel in the face of ignorance and hateful judgement directed toward our children with special needs, whatever those special needs may be. Laura got it. And what’s even more awesome, she had the balls to write to me publicly and say so.

All in all, I feel like speaking up was the right thing to do and something pretty awesome came out of it. And at the end of the day, a few more people out there are a little more aware of and sensitive to what people with diabetes are up against.

Win.

Category:

Advocacy

Tagged with:

Stuff. Very Important Stuff.

Summer stuff beckons but I absolutely must take a few moments to post some important tidbits. So are you ready for another, bulleted JPM post? Here goes:

  • Did you catch me featured on D-Mom Blog yesterday? Yup. I was there. If you missed it you can nip on over now, or better yet – after you finish reading my post. Just click the shiny button you see here.

  • I recently did a little online shopping over at Lexi’s Misbehavin’ Tees. She has a pretty cool lil set up over there. $3 from the sale of each tee goes directly to JDRF.  You need to go check that out too. I purchased two tees:

This one is for my husband. Now if only the girls didn't know how to read...and weren't so darn inquisitive.

This one's mine, except I'm still wondering what this "sleep" thing is that it mentions.

  •  Finally, it has come to my attention, and to that of the mighty Diabetes Online Community (affectionately known as the D-OC), that a profoundly uninformed individual named Wendell Fowler has been spreading misinformation and lies about diabetes. This individual actually had his dangerous, hurtful and false opinions published in a newspaper called The South Side Times. You can read his drivel article here.  Just cruise through the comments and you will see how upsetting his ignorant message is to those of us that are closely affected by diabetes. But the comment that I personally think kicks ass – likely because the author is a friend of mine and a fierce advocate for people with diabetes – is Kelly’s, affectionately known as K2. She blogs at Diabetesaliciousness and she is awesome. I love her response so much that I didn’t just want to link to it, I wanted to post it here in it’s entirety. And having received permission from Kelly, I have done just that. So sit back and enjoy the magic that is K2…and be thankful she is on our team.

Wendell – You speak of of magic and truth for the greater good – And I agree, truth for the greater good is indeed magical.
However your article is neither truthful, magical or good.
On the contrary Wendell, your article is incredibly dangerous, grossly offensive and guilty of perpetuating diabetes myths and stereotypes in the media and to the public. Speaking of your job Wendell, you’re research skills regarding both the event and people that your writing about SUCKS.

Diabetes is not “avoidable.” Are you even aware of the various types of diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes is certainly not avoidable, and just so we’re all on the same page, the event you so carelessly mocked was held to benefit “The Diabetes Foundation of Indiana,” an organization devoted to providing both education & support to children with type 1 diabetes. Smooth move, Wendell!

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease. The body of a person with type 1 actually attacks the part of the pancreas( the islet of langerhans) that produces insulin (which every human being on the planet needs to live) and destroys our ability to make our own insulin, rendering those of of us with type 1 diabetes depend on injections for the rest of our lives. Your diabetes myths of SUGAR CONSUMPTION & LACK OF EXERCISE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH IT.

As a type 1 for over 30 years, I was diagnosed as a skinny 8 year old little girl. I was 20 pounds under my normal weight at my diagnoses. Undiagnosed type 1s resemble starvation victims because of our inability to make insulin actually starves our cells. I come from a type 1 family.
2 of my sisters had/have type 1, as did my father, my 2 aunts, my cousin & my brilliant and talented nephew. We did nothing to deserve our faulty pancreases and sugar consumption had nothing to do with our diagnoses! If it were that easy, my family would have gladly given up the demon sugar years ago!
As a matter of fact, I indulge in ice cream from time to time (cupcakes too) and my Endocrinologist (one of the top in the country) is more than fine with that.
As a person who lives with diabetes,I test my blood sugars litigiously, sometimes as many as 14 times a day. I count the carbs for every piece of food I put in my body and then administer the proper dosage of insulin to cover said carbs & blood sugars & I haven’t had a day off injecting insulin into my body for 33 years.
Now Wendell, if you can find away for those of us with busted pancreases to magically start producing our own insulin, go for it man – knock yourself out.
If you could do that, you could win the nobel prize for medicine and become a hero to millions – if not billions, and you’d never want for money again. Monuments would be built in your honor and every family would name at least one of their children Wendell (regardless of gender) and there’s a good chance the Vatican would anoint you the first canonized living saint.

But….. I’m not going to hold my breath.

And as far as my diabetes brothers in sisters in the type 1.5 Diabetes or LADA (latent autoimmune diabetes in adults) and type 2 branches of my diabetes family tree are concerned, – they are not carry the shame and weight of society’s blame either.

Type 1.5 LADA Diabetes is (and this is the Cliff Notes version) also autoimmune related and occurs in normal sized adults (mostly) who gradually lose the ability to produce insulin. Their inability to produce insulin usually occurs within months, have positive diabetes antibodies and low c-peptide levels.

Type 2 Diabetes is a considered a metabolic disease/disorder and genetics plays a large part in a person Type 2 diagnoses. Yes, weight and food are also known factors. But I know many type 2s who eat right and who aren’t over weight. Unfortunately, their parents, grandparents, and great parents were all insulin resistant.

And as long as were pointing fingers, how about you look in the direction of food manufacturers who over process the foods they produce and replace sugar with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) so they can have a larger profit margin.
Do you really think its a coincidence that in the past 40 years, since HFCS was added to our diets in ever increasing amounts, America’s weight has continued to climb?
FYI: HFCS is outlawed in Europe.

And here’s where more damage is done because of what you wrote.
YOUR WORDS directly effect fundraising and research efforts for a diabetes cure. People tend not to donate research funding when they think the people living with a disease “deserve what they get.”
I can assure you Wendell, nobody deserves diabetes, regardless of the type.
And HOW DARE YOU put research for a diabetes cure in jeopardy!

So before you write about my disease,and a disease that many of my friends; family, and coworkers have, take the time to at least GOOGLE! Take the time to know ALL the facts,do you’re research, and stop the diabetes blame game!

FYI: Karma is a bitch! And if you think Karma is a bitch, wait until you encounter “Diabetes Karma.”
Diabetes Karma is when people with diabetes, or who’s friends, family and loved ones who have diabetes read your callous words – And start to make noise.
And by noise I mean emails and calls to your editor; publisher and the many advertisers of the SS-Times, and let them know exactly how we feel about what you wrote.

You want Karma my friend, YOU GOT IT. You wanted people to talk about your article? Congrats – We are talking! And we are writing; posting, facebooking, tweeting, & picking up our phones. Our numbers our strong & our voices are very loud and we are incredibly passionate about our diabetes cause!
Sincerely
Kelly Kunik

Category:

Advocacy

Tagged with:

Happy Canada Day!

There are a few things going on in the Diabetes Blogosphere that I felt worthy of a late night bout of blogging. So join me in a rare, bulleted JPM post, won’t you?

  • The heartbreaking reality is that, in spite of the discovery of insulin 90 years ago, there are still people in the world that don’t have access to this lifesaving drug. Furthermore, diabetes is a global epidemic. It is projected that 490 million people worldwide will have diabetes by the year 2030. The International Diabetes Federation has just launched the “O is for OUTRAGE – Postcard Campaign” in an effort to compel President Obama to attend the UN’s second summit on global health issues. The hope is that if President Obama demonstrates concern for these alarming facts, leaders of other nations will follow his lead and more action will be taken to intervene. Visit the IDF’s “O is for OUTRAGE – Postcard Campaign” site here to sign and submit your postcard to President Obama urging him to take action.

  • Kerri of Six Until Me posted this vlog today. Evidently, Kerri is sprouting a green thumb and as a fellow green thumb sporter, I can completely relate to the sheer exhaustion she speaks of after a stint of “playing in the dirt”. But if my treadmill ever says to me the things Kerri’s has said to her, I might just go flying off the back end of the thing in a fit of hysterics. Check it out:

  • Lee Ann Thill of The Butter Compartment is hosting the second annual Diabetes Art Day. Last year’s event was a huge success and she is gearing up for another awesome D-art extravaganza! I’m already pondering the possibilities for my own artistic submission and that of my two girls. The date is September 1st and this year Lee Ann has launched the official Diabetes Art Day web site! Check it out! And get those creative juices flowing.
  • Finally, I have to share a little something, in keeping with Canada Day tomorrow, that is just plain cool. Apparently, we Canucks are getting some new money. And it’s made from polymer. And it’s see through. And it pays homage to some homegrown boys that have come to mean a great deal to me and to millions of other people affected by a diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes. The legacy of Dr. Banting and Dr. Best lives on to this very day, saving lives the world over with the tireless work they did to isolate insulin that allows people with the inability to produce their own insulin to live. Check out the video put out by the Bank of Canada here and look for the bottle of insulin on the $100 bill.

A Facebook friend and fellow Canadian pointed out how fitting it is that the image is on such a high monetary denomination. I agree, it is an outrage that this little bottle of liquid life support is so expensive and unattainable for so many in the world.

Which brings this post full circle.

Have a fun and safe Canada Day.

Category:

Advocacy

Tagged with:

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 908 other followers