Dinoto Karate Center’s Leadership and Instructor training programs are designed to encourage community activism!
Every day, there are people in every community who are involved in helping others but rarely make it on the black box called a television. There are also small and not so small acts of kindness that happen among our youth.
Here in Mount Laurel there is such an event. On June 14th at 1pm, the youth of Harrington Middle School will be participating in a walk-a-thon sponsored by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to raise money for a Juvenile Diabetes cure.
You probably know someone who is affected by this debilitating disease as there are 26 million Americans who have diabetes. That is 8.3% of the population. Worldwide, Diabetes affects 285 million people and by 2030, the numbers are expected to go up to 435 million. To give you a better idea of these numbers, in the U.S., every 30 seconds a new case of diabetes is diagnosed!
If you would like to help, visit http://www.jdrf.org/
Diabetes. What exactly is it, and how do you live with it?
There are 2 major types. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease in which the person’s pancreas stops producing insulin. Insulin is extremely important as it is the hormone that allows us to get energy from food. Type 1 diabetes usually developes in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood, and last the entire lifetime. Everyday, in order to live, a person has to take multiple insulin injections or continually infuse insulin through a pump. In type 2 diabetes, the person’s body still produces insulin, but is unable to use it effectively. This is a metabolic disorder and is usually diagnosed in adulthood, and insulin injections may not be required.
The harm caused by diabetes is threefold. First, it can damage many organ systems. Its the leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, and amputations, and nerve damage. Second, there is an increase in heart disease. People with diabetes are 2 to 4 times more likely to have a heart attack or stroke than people who don’t have it. Third, diabetes shortens lives. The life expectancy of someone with this disease is shortened about 7 to 10 years, and the risk of death is double that of people of similar age who don’t have diabetes. Every 3 minutes, 1 American is killed by diabetes, and it is the seventh leading cause.
Many times its difficult to conceptualize these big statistical numbers. so lets focus on the day in the life of a young girl who has type 1 diabetes and goes to Harrington. She has to test her blood sugar level by pricking her finger for blood 6 or more times a day. For every meal she has to monitor her caloric intake, and balance her insulin levels with food. She has to do this every day of her life, and she is only 15 years old. Furthermore, she and her family have to be prepared in case her blood sugar level drops or rises as either of these two conditions can be life threatening for her.
For more information on diabetes, visit http://www.diabetes.org/advocate/resources/
