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Vital People: Foundation a support for diabetes sufferers

The Community Engagement Program of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada helps individuals diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes come to terms with their disease with support and knowledge. More than 300,000 Canadians live with Type 1 diabetes.
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Living with Type 1 diabetes requires regular checks on blood glucose and daily injections of insulin.

The Community Engagement Program of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Canada helps individuals diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes come to terms with their disease with support and knowledge.

More than 300,000 Canadians live with Type 1 diabetes. Diabetes mellitus is the medical name given to disorders of the regulation of blood glucose in the body.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes children and adults at any age — it has nothing to do with diet or lifestyle. It strikes suddenly and means a lifelong dependence on injected or pumped insulin.

“Finding out you have the disease is completely life-changing,” said Jessica Koch, manager of fundraising and development for the Victoria chapter of the organization. “You suddenly discover that without insulin you die.”

She speaks from experience, as she was diagnosed when she was 21.

Another type of diabetes — Type 2 — is a metabolic disease that can sometimes be treated with changes in diet, lifestyle or medication. While sufferers don’t always require insulin, they are still at risk of severe complications.

The two types together are the leading cause of kidney failure, blindness and non-traumatic lower limb amputations among adults. They are also major causes of heart disease and stroke among adults in Canada.

The Community Engagement program, sponsored by the Victoria Foundation, gives families, children, teens and adults with Type 1 diabetes the tools, support and knowledge they need to overcome the challenges of living with the disease.

“Among the tools we have are Bags of Hope, a package full of information and resources for families,” said Koch. “There are mentors who provide emotional support as well as support groups for families.”

She said the organization is at the forefront in training young people with the disease to act as youth ambassadors so that they can speak of their experience to peers in schools.

The JDRF is a source of useful information on how variables such as stress can affect a person’s blood sugar. Lifestyle changes, such as a change in diet or increased physical activity, can also help keep blood glucose levels within acceptable bounds.

November is National Diabetes Awareness month.

For more information, go to jdrf.ca, or facebook.com/ JDRFVancouverIsland.