Bad Sugar

In a recent letter that was sent to many of our friends and family, I mentioned a statistic that if diabetes is not cured by the year 2025, 380 million people will be diagnosed with the disease worldwide! This number is certainly astounding. However, the good news is that we have 16 years to see that we never get to that point. Diabetes is already an epidemic but 380 million would most certainly prove disastrous.

I had the opportunity today to speak at a film presentation on campus called Unnatural Causes (as part of the Diabetes Advocacy Board). The film is split up into many segments and is being shown this semester on campus at UT. The segment shown today was called Bad Sugar (click to see clips). While the film focused mainly on type 2 diabetes, it looked into the daily lives of a Native American community in Arizona. The community has one of the highest instances of diabetes diagnoses in the world.

My comments after the film touched on some of the statistics that we all hear, $218 billion is spent in diabetes health care annually in the US alone, yada yada yada. The biggest thing that I wanted to emphasize is that we all have the ability to make a difference. We can all impact this cause and we can all do our part, no matter how big or small, to help ensure that this thing is truly cured in 10 years or less! Again, when I was diagnosed I was told 10 years...give it 10 years and we'll have a cure. Today's film was just one example about how communities near and far are affected by diabetes and its complications. It is time that we all step up and make a difference.