Since I was four years old I have had to watch my older cousin whom at the age of seven was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes grow up living with this disease. Watching the impact that it has had on her everyday life over the years made me want to become involved in helping to find a cure.
In the summer of 2010, I began working with the Charlotte Chapter of Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to initiate a local “Kids Walk for the Cure,” where the money raised went toward finding a cure for type 1 diabetes.
I have spoken briefly on various occasions as to why working with JDRF is important to me and this past September I was selected to hold a chair position on the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Student Leadership Board.
JDRF is the world’s largest charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research and has awarded more that $1.3 billion to diabetes research worldwide since its founding in 1970.
Each year, more than 15,000 children — 40 per day — are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the U.S. People with type 1 diabetes must take at least two insulin shots each day or use an insulin pump, and test their blood sugar by pricking their finger six or more times per day.
The disease is difficult to manage and requires constant attention and a rigorous regimen including careful attention to meal planning and exercise.
While insulin keeps people with type 1 diabetes alive, it is not a cure. Nor does it prevent its devastating effects — kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputations, heart attack, and stroke.
With more children being diagnosed each year more than likely students will have a fellow classmate that has type 1 diabetes and I feel that educating students will enable them to better understand the disease and what their fellow classmate lives with on a daily basis.
November is National Diabetes Awareness month and some of the responsibilities of holding my chair position are to educate other students about diabetes, to spread the word about JDRF and the importance of finding a cure.
This month I have been sending home information with students, posting material on Facebook about the disease and was also able to arrange a fundraiser with Alan Fulghum, the owner of Subway at Franklin Square Shopping Center where he donated a portion of a day’s sales to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.
I am also in the process of working with Monica Nunn owner of Splat! Cakes n’ Such Bakery in Lowell to make a sugar-free cupcake to sell during the month of November in which she will also be donating a portion of the sales to JDRF. I will be forming a team and raising money for JDRF’s “Walk to Cure Diabetes” that will be held at Carowinds on April 21.
Chase Shields is junior at Gaston Christian School.
