Hot on the heels of the study finding that Hoosiers are getting fatter (and smoking more), the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette has an editorial criticizing cuts in funding for diabetes research.
The American Diabetes Association estimates that nearly 21 million Americans have diabetes, 6.2 million of whom don’t know it. More and more people are diagnosed with diabetes at younger ages – including many children. Diabetes is the only major disease with a death rate that has risen 22 percent since 1990.
Yet the federal government has decided this is a good time to cut the diabetes research budgets at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. Given the massive strain that diabetes already places on American’s rickety health care system, it’s hard to imagine how anybody could think that cutting research budgets is going to save the federal government money.
The proposed cuts aren’t large, but because the federal government currently allocates only about a quarter of what it spends on cancer research to study diabetes, health care advocates say the cuts will be more keenly felt in research programs around the country.
. . .
Often described as a “lifestyle disease,†Type 2 diabetes is nearly always a consequence of obesity, lousy diets and physical inactivity that causes the body to stop producing the insulin that regulates blood sugar levels.
I believe this is what they call being penny-wise and pound-foolish. It will save us a bit of money right now, but given what the government ends up spending on treating citizens with diabetes, it will probably cost us more money in the long run.
You know what’s really infuriating?
Our illustrious U.S. President is now trying to cut ALL funds for the largest study ever aimed at determining environmental and other CAUSES of cancer!
Read the third article down at http://www.robertsreview.com. You won’t believe it!
I’m writing my Congressmen and the President (there are email links in the story…) to give them a piece of my mind and to demand that they restore the funds. If these studies aren’t don’t…we’ll NEVER get to the bottom of why so many people are being killed by this miserable disease.
Sometimes, when you’re dealing with difficulty it feels good to just DO something.
Maybe by spreading the word on the RobertsReview.com story…we can help stop this disease before it ruins all our kids and their kids’ kids lives, too!
Keep pluggin’….and WRITE YOUR CONGRESSMEN!!!
The time has long come and gone where we can rely on our government to help us. Too much politics. I certainly agree that diabetes research does not get its share.
This is one reason why I participate in the Ride to Cure for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. My little sister, Ashley, was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of three. And, her life, has been filled with injections and finger pricks.
If any of you are interested in personally helping with research, then I ask that you sponsor me (Shannon Hicks) in the 45 mile bike ride I will do this September. You can make a donation to research directly at http://ride.jdrf.org.
Here is more information, and you can get keep up with my fundraising and training at http://www.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=28897039. Thanks. Hope you will help.
Dear Friends, Family, and Others Willing to Support,
On September 9, 2006, I will bike 45 miles with over 200 cyclists in support of finding a cure for diabetes, and I am asking you to help me reach my personal fund-raising goal of $5,000.
Imagine giving your 3-year-old child up to six injections (shots) a day in the leg or arm and sticking those little fingers or toes several times a day to check their blood glucose levels.
My little sister, Ashley, was that 3-year old, and now at 22 still struggles to regulate her blood sugar levels, which can be life threatening. In fact, recently, her blood sugar dropped so low (her blood sugar was 22; normal is 70 to 120) that her husband awoke to her shaking body and wide-open, pupil-dilated eyes in time to rush her to the hospital; she was unconscious. Luckily, they revived her with a glucose injection.
While insulin allows a person with type-1 diabetes (often termed “juvenile diabetesâ€) to stay alive, it does not cure the disease, nor does it prevent the development of serious complications, which can lead to kidney failure, blindness, limb amputation, heart attack, stroke, and even death.
Over 18 million Americans are affected by diabetes. And, in an effort to find a cure, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has awarded more money for diabetic research than any other charitable organization-more than $900 million since its founding in 1970, including over $98 million in FY 2005 alone. Moreover, more than 80 percent (80 cents of every dollar) goes directly to research and research-related organizations.
I hope you will sponsor my participation in this event; any amount will help the work of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. And, yes, your donations are 100% tax deductible. Please make your donation on-line at http://ride.jdrf.org.
Thank you for considering this request for your support. JDRF is truly an amazing organization. One final note, my deadline for raising this money is July 1, 2006.
Yours truly,
Shannon N. Hicks
Atlanta, GA