My 5 year old daughter is my Diabetes Champion. She was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes 7 months ago. In this short time she has learned when she is experiencing a low and brings it to my attention so we can treat it right away. She is also starting to make choices regarding what she can and can’t eat at certain times of the day. Most of all, my little girl is brave. She weathers the storm each and every day when she has to get her insulin shot. Despite everything that goes with living with diabetes she knows that the skies the limit, diabetes will not stop her in fulfilling all her dreams, even of being a princess.

To everyone out there living with diabetes, you too are my champion.

I know of a Diabetes Champion deserving recognition…for the past 6 years Robin Nadig has organized a third party event titled “Kiwanis Cycles Kilometres for Diabetes”.

Robin recruits bicycle riders to participate in a one week cycle from Victoria BC, to Powell River BC and ending in Port Alberni BC (this covers much of Vancouver Island). The cyclists stop in towns along the way and speak to elementary and high school’s about the importance of physical activity and healthy eating to prevent type 2 diabetes. The club also solicits sponsorship and donations and encourages riders to gather pledges to support the work of CDA. At present this third party event has raised almost $60,000. The club is planning the 7th annual ride in May 2010.
This event contributes to the CDA’s mission to promote the health of Canadians by raising awareness that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed through a healthy lifestyle. The presentation that the Kiwanis Cyclist gives to the school children is a wonderful “leading by example” presentation that is understandable to all school levels. The funds raised by this event have supported the CDA’s mission by providing the funds to deliver successful education programs in communities on Vancouver Island.

Pauline is a dedicated Certified Diabetes Educator for Campbell River and a passionate supporter and tireless advocate for people with diabetes. Among her many work- and volunteer-related activities, every year Pauline is the lead volunteer who organizes a volunteer team of professionals, arranges activities, and supports participants at a family camp on Quadra Island for kids with diabetes and their families. This camp has an incredibly positive impact on whomever has attended. I am honoured to know Pauline. She is a true inspiration.

I am speaking for my self. i have been a diabetic for 3 years. i was diagnosed 8 days after my 13th birthday, which puts me at 16 right now. My diabetic Doctors suggested i go to the medtronic pump to help control my sugar levels. This pump has changed my life around, i am able to sleep in longer, and do more things with out having to stop and take a needle. I feel a Champion of Diabetes because; I am living my life normal.. I want to thank Lynn Dodd, and Dr. H

I have lived with Type 1 Diabetes for 48 years, with no complications. We have been blessed with 3 great children , having lost our first daughter. My life has been challenging . yet I have persevered daily to keep good control as now I am on the pump. Diabetes has its dark and light times, however I have managed to conquer all that it hands me. I would not be able to do that without the committment of my husband Chas who now has Type 2 Diabetes. He is a champion as he has helped me with hypoglycemia throughout our years together. He now has Diabetes and is following the diet to a tee. He is my support and my greatest help.All people with Diabetes need a committed family or a family member or friend to help them keep moving.

When diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 10 years of age I was a pretty scared little girl. No one in my town or school had type 1 diabetes. I attended my “first of many” Canadian Diabetes Association experiences…camp. I found mentors, education, and most of all fun. Through the years I remained in the camp life into my mid 20’s….hopefully touching many lives of others who were just like me when they were first diagnosed. Now, as a 5 year employee of the same association, I am passionately seeking others to help in all areas of Diabetes education and awareness. I have embraced the committment to my health, wellness, and that of others…that it what makes me a Diabetes Champion.

“My oldest son was diagnosed last week at the age of 9 with type 1. I never knew strength until sitting in the hospital watching him take in his new life. He was confident and positive and reassured us everything was going to be okay. That it wasn’t a disease it was something else that made him unique and special. People kept asking me if I was devastated which of course I was at first. But how can you be devastated when the person it is affecting most is positive and calm. Our new family mantra is “things could always be worse”. I think those are wonderful words to live by!”

Dr. Paul Fernyhough has demonstrated that treatment with an anti-inflammatory medication helps repair damaged nerve endings in the skin of rats. Nerve disease severely affects the quality of life of many people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. In diabetes-related nerve disease, nerve endings die, leading to loss of sensation, pain, poor wound healing, ulceration and, in many cases, lower limb amputation. Currently, there is no effective treatment. It is believed that high levels of blood glucose and/or low levels of insulin cause inflammation that ultimately leads to the destruction of the nerve endings. Dr. Fernyhough’s research may lead to the use of anti-inflammatory medications for nerve disease in humans in the near future.

Dr. Brian B. Rodrigues has developed and tested a novel heart-specific drug delivery system that could help protect people with diabetes from heart disease. Dr. Rodrigues demonstrated that when a drug is attached to very small magnetic beads, the drug will localize specifically to the heart when a magnet is placed directly above it. These results show great promise for the development of a new way to deliver drugs to specific places in the body where the drug is most needed, such as the heart or kidney.

Dr. Ron Sigal has found that aerobic exercise (e.g. walking, cycling or jogging) and resistance exercise (i.e., weight training) were each effective in improving blood glucose control in type 2 diabetes, but the combination of both types of exercise was at least twice as effective as either type of exercise alone. The DARE (Diabetes Aerobic and Resistance Exercise) trial has provided the strongest evidence available for the value of both aerobic and resistance exercise for most people with diabetes. The DARE trial and other smaller trials have led to changes in clinical practice guidelines regarding physical activity/exercise from both the Canadian and the American Diabetes Associations. The guidelines now recommend both aerobic and resistance exercise for most people with diabetes, and provide specific recommendations regarding type, intensity and quantity of exercise.