Thursday, October 4, 2007

Diabetes

Once again I’m posting about something personal rather than Civil War related. October 20th I will be taking part in a charity walk for the American Diabetes Association. My girlfriend has diabetes and there is a history of diabetes in my own family. Diabetes is a unique disease in that each person who has it reacts differently to the various medications and lifestyle changes prescribed. Some medications work wonders for some people but not at all for others. Finding what works and what doesn’t takes time. There is no cure, just various methods of controlling diabetes. I worry that someday I might get this disease because of my family history. I worry about the health of my girlfriend too as she struggles daily with diabetes.

Doing the charity walk will be a small step from me in fighting this disease. But obviously I cannot do much alone. I’m asking for your support. You can help by donating directly to the American Diabetes Association, participating in a walk in your hometown, or contact a legislator about a variety of diabetes related bills. I don’t mean this to sound like begging for dollars. If you donate to the American Diabetes Association at all I will be happy, if your donation is for my walk that’d be great but not necessary. If this just makes you have your own blood sugar tested to see if you are at risk, or might already have diabetes, that’d be great too. Mostly I’m hoping to raise a little awareness and if in the process some money gets donated to the American Diabetes Association for research for a cure that would be wonderful.

More than 20 million Americans suffer from diabetes and more than 40 million people have pre-diabetes conditions. For more information visit the American Diabetes Association online To donate to the walk I’ll be participating in go to my page


Here's my sweetie and her son. This is why I walk.

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