We consistently write about the importance of support groups for all of us with diabetes or any chronic disease. Here I am writing this article and to tell the truth, my friend called at 5:45 am to make sure I felt well enough to walk before we did our resistance exercises. Walking meant waking up another friend and driving over to her house. Why the call? The cast had been removed from my foot and the x-rays were read yesterday, so it was time to leave the gym and get out into the morning sun rise to enjoy friends. I'm an adult and need that support; children do too.
First let's look at what The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation has to offer. Remember. I am a type 1 diabetic and the JDF is an organization that funds research and education to cure this type of diabetes. You can find information about the JDF on the web at JDRF Kids Online Countdown for Kids Magazine. Countdown for Kids Magazine is a quarterly magazine that will arrive at your home or office for $25.00. The good people at the foundation, knowing teens, has a new magazine just for teens also. You can call to get these magazines at 800-533-CURE. On the web, you can download older articles. Having a membership card means that your child is supporting the research that may one day cure diabetes. If you are not sure, look at who supports research in nationally known research hospitals and labs. Countdown for Kids magazine has articles for those 6-9 years of age, 10-12 years of age and then the separate teen magazine. You can read the names of articles on the site. I thought that I'd go over an article, so you as parents or teens can make an informed choice.
Here is an abstract for an article written for teenagers. What I like about it is that the writer presupposes that the readers know how to read well enough, not to talk down to them. It is not written in jingles or slang, but it gives very good advice in a way that a teen could handle. The article is called Mall Eating. I like that it starts out with a typical Saturday afternoon and the author describes the temptations and peer pressure along with what happens when your teen doesn't eat on time and blood sugars begin to fall. All of this at the same time, and the article tells how to protect oneself and still enjoy a meal at the food court. My very favorite part is the last suggestion. "Spend a little time with your parents learning about which foods are healthier for you than others. Start with the foods listed here, or find a restaurant nutrition site. That way, you'll know before you go how to make a smart choice!" Those three sentences reiterate what we have written here many times and that is to educate yourself and child before they need the information.
If your child really wants information about the nutritional data of foods served in restaurants around the country, there is web site for that also. This is a winner of an enterprise, and is called Ashley's Diabetes Information Center. You can find it at http://206.246.185.85/diabetes/restaurant.html. @? Does this work? It looks fishy, and there's no underline. I think there have to be 4 numbers in a numerical address. This is a site your pre-teen and teen will like to navigate and, to tell the truth, so will you. Just so you know that the articles answer questions your child may have, I will list some from the archives of the magazine. Remember that you can bring up articles by age also.
Routine Changes & Travel
Meeting New People
How to Handle the Holidays
Blood Sugar Basics
Down But Not Out: Handling Hypoglycemia
When Will it End?
Quick Access to Information (for newly diagnosed)
Pen Pals :Find a Friend
The Pros and Cons of Insulin Pumps
Teen Roundtable: "So what do you think about the pump?"
Buy It or Bag It: School lunch dilemmas resolved
Form for Teachers
Telling People You Have Diabetes
Stopping Diabetes Before It Starts
Islet Cell Transplants
Get the idea that these articles answer questions your child may not want to ask about, but needs an answer for to continue to mature into taking total care for him/her as they leave home? Some of my favorite articles are about athletes with diabetes. The magazine interviews these people and asks the questions a younger child with diabetes would need to know if they wanted to participate in school teams. Questions are asked about how they control diabetes and still make the game. I downloaded an article about a basketball player named Chris Dudley who plays for the Knicks. If you want your child to get a shot of motivation, these articles are excellent. The interviews range from Shannon Standridge who is a triathlete and a doctor, to Jay Leeuwenburg of the NFL and baseball pro Dan Reichert and speed skater Crissy Lemons. So have we convinced you that a membership for your child would be a great stocking stuffer, or just a surprise that comes in the mail? We hope so.
Our second recommendation is a membership in the American Diabetes Association. I have to share with you that I have served on the Board of the ADA and it was a pleasure to raise money for local and national use. Being a part of "the cure" made taking care of my diabetes easier and mandatory. We funded a day camp, provided information to professionals in the community and, for those with diabetes, we helped newly diagnosed children while in the hospital by having a mentor visit, and we just pain had fun with our yearly walk, roast dinner and now our Kiss the Pig party. There is good in these organizations and I'm pleased that I'm allowed to help. The ADA has a magazine called Diabetes Forecast which comes out each month and is sent to you when you become a member. It is written for adults, but has a children's section. It also has a listing of pen pals for children and teens as well as games for teaching young children about diabetes. On their web site, the ADA has a children's' section but it may be more difficult to get to than the JDF site. The ADA is an umbrella organization that supports research and education about both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Since there is an epidemic of type 2 diabetes in our country and especially in children and teens, your child will be able to find information about type 2 in this magazine. The good news is that the articles are written at a level that even younger teens will be able to read and understand them.
Both of these organizations provide advocacy for diabetes in state and national press and legislatures. Without them, I would not be able to drive without a letter from my doctor each year. Some of you would not be able to do many things that you take for granted without their good work. Being a member insures that others who come after us will live full lives with few impediments to what they can do. The ADA both educates and supports research at the best research facilities in the country. They fund research in both the causes and cures so that someday your child will be able to throw away that pump, glucometer, syringes, and not have to worry about highs and low, long- and short-term complications and the rest that we have to deal with 24/7. Best of all it motivates us to take care of ourselves, learn more, and support others who need a hand. It gives us ownership of the process of finding those causes, and cures and gives us that maturity to cope with the tedious movement toward an end of another disease. Hopefully, someday, we will go to medical museums and next to the relics of the polio years' Iron Lungs will be those of today like glucometers which serve as reminders of a time when diabetes was epidemic and our child or niece or aunt had to deal with it.
BSP
