Category: Diabetes Advocacy

Discussing the guilt and stigma that often accompanies type 2 diabetes, television personality Dr. Phil announced a new initiative to increase awareness of, and improve treatment for, the condition he’s had for more than 25 years.

For kids and teenagers living with type 1 diabetes, it can be hard to find the resources and communities that click for them, as many sites are understandably geared toward their parents. Facing a new diagnosis, it’s especially scary for kids, and they might have questions that are different from the ones their parents have.

One of the beautiful peculiarities of the UnConference is the way in which, by the end, we couldn’t have told you who had which type of diabetes. My fellow facilitators Stephen Shaul, Anna and Mike Norton, Dr. Nicole Bereolos, Kate Cornell, Moira McCarthy Stanford, Dr. Jill Weissberg-Benchell, and Bennet Dunlap impressed me with their empathetic responses to people's contributions...

I will never forget the story I heard from Life for a Child several years ago about the children who stood at the end of a village road waiting for insulin to arrive from aid workers, crying when a vial fell to the ground and shattered. I weep when I think of those little ones watching that hope and hopelessness pool into the cracks of the dry earth.

While aware of the impact of low blood sugar (hypoglycemia) on the ability to drive, they were not aware that driving with hyperglycemia may be just as dangerous. The Zepedas vowed to do whatever it took to spread the word in order to spare another family this type of heartbreak.

Lucas doesn’t see Beyond Type 1 as a traditional diabetes nonprofit, but more like a seed-funded tech startup, as they have the luxury of having been completely self-funded. She says they are “taking the lessons from Silicon Valley and applying them to a nonprofit.”