Day 12: “Kiss Diabetes Goodbye”

I’d love to kiss my own diabetes goodbye. But even more than that, I’d love to kiss diabetes goodbye for the many children that are diagnosed with Type 1 at an early age. One young girl I know was recently diagnosed with Type 1 and had to start giving herself shots during the time her grandmother was undergoing cancer treatment. This child is growing up in an environment saturated with illness and doctors and hospitals.

Everybody knows someone with diabetes, and many people are actively involved in a diabetic’s treatment and care. And those people are the ones most likely to donate their time, effort, and money to diabetes-related programs. As one of its programs in connection with National Diabetes Month, the American Diabetes Association has launched Kiss Diabetes Goodbye, an effort to raise a million dollars in November for diabetes research.

V8 Brand is contributing $100,000 in matching funds as part of the ADA program. That seemed paltry at first, but then I found out that V8 is also donating 30 million servings of fresh vegetables to local food banks through Feeding America (which used to be America’s Second Harvest). I’ll give them a pass this time.

I know, I know—every disease-oriented foundation has its hand out today begging for donations. But if you’re reading this blog, you have some connection to diabetes, or at least to one diabetic (me). Your donation may not help me—I don’t expect to see a cure for diabetes in my lifetime—but it just may help my young friend and all the other diabetic children who will otherwise face decades of needles, insulin, testing, doctors, hospitals, labs and potential complications, some of them deadly.

You can donate here.

Fasting glucose: 170