For non-diabetics, I think it’s easy to think of Diabetes as someone else’s problem. If you don’t have it and no one in your immediate circle has it, it’s easy to minimize the impact of this disease.
Today is World Diabetes Day and to give you an idea of what the impact of diabetes is:
3 million Canadians have diabetes. 6million more have pre-diabetes.
1 in 4 Canadians have diabetes or pre-diabetes
More than 20 people are diagnosed every hour of every day
It is anticipated that 400 million people will have diabetes by 2030
1 million amputations take place every year due to diabetes complications
Diabetes will cost our health care system $12.2 billion dollars each year.
With numbers like these – diabetes is everyone’s problem.
The poem below is written by a very talented member of the Cash Store Financial Freedom Run team – the Charlottetown Freedom Run organizer, Darcy Lee.
Diabetes
When diabetes is talked about,
We all know what we do,
We try to ignore it, and pretend,
Just sit back and subdue.
When diet is not the way,
And pills don’t seem to work,
A needle to monitor sugars,
All seems so berserk.
There is no beginning,
And there is no end,
The only hope we might have,
Is the cure’s around the bend
We feel there’s nothing we can do,
So we tend to hold it inside,
Until that fateful moment,
When someone we love has died.
Diabetes is a disease,
That hits us hard core,
Mother, brother, father,
Sister, friends and more.
Well, I am here just to say,
I know, I can’t pretend,
This disease strikes everyone,
We all must comprehend.
So stand up and be counted,
Support research and the cure,
Give of yourself and for others,
The reward is yours for sure!!!!
- Darcy Lee, Charlottetown Freedom Run Champion
