Find A Cure!

I am asking all of you to help find a cure for diabetes.  We hear about it all of the time, however, unless you suffer from this terrible disease you may not understand what your friends and relatives are going through.  From the Mayo Clinic:

The term "diabetes mellitus" refers to a group of diseases that affect how your body uses blood glucose, commonly called blood sugar. Glucose is vital to your health because it's the main source of energy for the cells that make up your muscles and tissues. It's your body's main source of fuel.

If you have diabetes, no matter what type, it means you have too much glucose in your blood, although the reasons may differ. Too much glucose can lead to serious health problems.

Chronic diabetes conditions include type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes. Potentially reversible diabetes conditions include prediabetes — when your blood sugar levels are higher than normal, but not high enough to be classified as diabetes — and gestational diabetes, which occurs during pregnancy.

The complications are just terrible.  A little about me and my fight with diabetes.  I was diagnosed in the late 80’s with a blood sugar reading of 600.  This is not good.  Normal range is 72-120 give or take.  At first I was able to control my blood sugars with exercise and diet.  So I thought, no problem, I have this beaten.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  I ignored my problem except for soda.  I stopped drinking soda with sugar and figured diet sodas would do the trick.

I was an active guy, working all of the time.  I was a sportscaster and news reporter.  I did this in two cities, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and Washington D.C., so although I was told I was diabetic I figured keep busy and it will go away.

If you have been told you are diabetic it will not go away.  In fact if you do not take care of yourself, it will get worse.

Let us fast forward to 2005.  Over the time leading up to that year my blood sugars were out of control.  I figured out when my sugars were high I became short with people and downright mean.  When they were too low, I had no idea of what was going on around me.  I rarely tested my blood, although I was supposed to do that at least four times a day.  I did not watch my diet all that well; hey I am Sicilian, no pasta or pizza on a daily basis?  Forget about it!!!

Diabetes will attack something in your body.  My attack was twofold, my feet and my arteries, and in 2005 I needed a double by-pass operation, and since then I have had seven stents placed in my arteries.  I still was not convinced diabetes was doing this to me.  It progressed, and colds, kidney stones, stress (especially stress) raise my blood sugar.  I also lost the feeling in my feet, something I was able to reverse.

I am now trying to be a model patient.  Not sure if that is possible, but I am trying, testing my sugars seven times a day, and trying to keep my “numbers” in range.  Sometimes I feel I am fighting a losing battle, but being the fighter I have always been, whether it was playing sports, or working as a sportscaster,  I have always been a fighter to be number one and the best I could be.

Now I want to fight for the millions of diabetics so they do not become statistics.  We need a CURE for diabetes.  It is great to try and control our sugars, but a cure is not an impossible dream.  The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation sponsors walks around the country to raise funds to continue research.  I humbly ask all people to walk or donate money to this worthy cause.  This is such a nasty disease and it attacks all ethnicities and sexes.  It is an equal opportunity royal pain in the a…  ok you get my drift.  Check with the JDRF, or the American Diabetes Association for a walk near you.

Thank you for anything you can do to help this very worthy fight.