Most of the teams who participate in our local JDRF Walk for a Cure are composed of friends and family walking for a child with diabetes. The child gets to be the focus of attention for a fun-filled day of raising awareness for that which normally separates him (or her) from his friends. There's also the smattering of company, corporate, and fraternal teams walking in the name of public service.

And then there's the third type of team: those who walk to honor the memory of a loved one killed by diabetes.

Memorial teams may be the fewest in number, but they serve as a poignant reminder of why we must walk - why we must continue to walk - and why insulin is not a cure.

  (READ MORE)

I received a comment on my post from yesterday that really struck a chord with me. The reader commented that their parents had died from diabetes and that they would die from it too.

When I read that I got choked up because honestly, I feel the same way.

Sure I plan on fighting the fight and checking my blood as often as I am supposed to. Of course I will continue to work on my A1C and losing weight. I am not giving up on life at all. But, in the back of my mind I “know” that diabetes is going to win in the end.

Will it be heart disease, kidney failure, or a stroke? Maybe something else. Who knows?

The fact is that with all the steps I take to live healthy the odds are against me. Diabetes has the upper hand which makes me sad and angry at the same time.

  (READ MORE)

I was going to tell you about ice hockey on Saturday. How I tried to test Charlie in the locker room after his game and he shook his head and quietly said, "No. Let's do it in the car."

In light of the recent tragedies in the diabetes community, it seems like a trivial concern.

I still haven't read the stories in full detail, because to be honest, I can't. I noticed people talking about it on Facebook, but quickly looked away as if it might blind my eyes. What in this world can be more painful and devastating than losing a child. I would be lying if I said I never thought about it.

  (READ MORE)

At the same time that most of the diabetes online community was shocked and saddened to learn of last week's sudden, inexplicable death of a 13-year-old teenager, The Other Half's family also had a visit from the Diabetes Reaper. While Diabetes was at-cause with its sneaky tricks in both cases, the passing of the two women could not have been any more different.

  (READ MORE)

Several prominent dBloggers have posted this week about issues related to Driving While Low (DWL) and premature death. The subjects of these posts were people with Type 1 diabetes, which is the group with which we normally associate rapid-onset dissociative hypoglycemia. While this sort of hypoglycemia is certainly most common in Type 1 diabetes, it is occasionally seen in insulin-dependent Type 2. Most of the time, these lows would seem to be related to insulin activity peaking early or late -- or at least not in synch with one's food and drink.

Unfortunately, insulin is not always the culprit.

  (READ MORE)

Many of my friends and colleagues have been shocked and saddened by the recent deaths of actor Farrah Fawcett and musician Michael Jackson. Fawcett's struggle was against a relatively rare form of cancer -- a sadly painful decline, but straightforward in cause and effect. At this writing, the cause of Jackson's death is being reported as "cardiac arrest". Much like Type 2 diabetes, the clinical event can have a number of underlying causes; like Type 1, it can have a number of lead-in events. (READ MORE)