If you take a look through the DOC (The Diabetes Online Community) you will found an almost endless stream of blogs and websites dedicated towards type 1 diabetes and how people live their lives trying to cope with the disease. It is both encouraging and inspiring to read many of the stories sharing of ups and downs with the disease, because it lets you know you are not alone and others are going through the same thing.
A good number of the blogs also include links to the various diabetes foundations and the charity fundraisers they host (focused on a Cure) and share stories of themselves or their loves ones participating in the events and helping out with the cause.
Among all these great stories, however, one thing that is sometimes missing is a very important question – where is that money going? What are those efforts benefiting? What are we promoting?
The very simple answer is the search for a cure, which is what the fundraisers almost always promote as their sole or main focus, and yet, as so many of our reports show, that is not the reality behind the scenes. From the total money raised by the four major organizations – the JDRF, ADA, DRIF and Joslin, only around 1/3rd of the money goes towards the research labs. And most of the money that is used in the search for a cure, is more geared towards an Idealized Cure we can not expect any time soon, rather than a real, Practical Cure.
So that is one thing we at the JDCA would love to see change – and the DOC is the perfect place to get that movement started. If you want to make sure your money and your efforts are going towards the search for a cure – make sure to always include that in any donation you give, discuss it with friends and talk about it on your blog. The more people we can get on board, the larger the Type 1 Cure movement becomes, the stronger our alliance gets, and the more the foundations will have to listen to us and change their course of action.
If all or most of that money starts being used for a Practical Cure – our chances of seeing one within our lifetime will be much, much greater.
– Stoyan
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