DILLON – Something went wrong when Emily Andrews was just nine years old. Her mother says the youngster lost all of her energy–and most of her weight–and they feared she had an infection or virus of some kind. Doctors instead diagnosed her with Type One Diabetes.
At first, the girl and her mother were frightened about what it meant for her life.
“I realized that you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” said Andrews, now 15. “You have to suck it up and live life.”
She’s done just that–letting diabetes stop her from nothing. The homeschooled student still participates in volleyball and other sports, and even has her sights set on her driver’s license in the near future.
“There’s really no disadvantages to it,” she said. “I wake up in the morning, and test my blood sugar about seven times a day, and I have to take insulin when I eat. I have an insulin pump, and other than that–that’s pretty much it.”
Those advancements and treatments, along with continued work for a cure, are part of what the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is all about. Each year, the JDRF contributes $100 million toward finding a cure, said Doug Guinn, who organizes the Pee Dee Walk to Cure Diabetes.
Last year, the walk raised $95,000. This year, the event takes place at Darlington Raceway on March 31 and will allow contributors, for a minimum donation of $20.00, drive their own vehicles around the 1.33-mile superspeedway behind a pace car. Then, at noon, the walk itself will lead participants around two laps.
Emily has participated every year since 2007, and helped raise more than $50,000 along the way.
“I think it’s very important to be involved in what’s going on in the community,” said Andrews, who has aspirations to be a nurse in an endocrinologist’s office one day to help young patients who are diabetic like her.
“You can still do anything you want,” she said.
For more information or to register for the Pee Dee Walk to Cure Diabetes, click here. You can register the day of at the track, also.
