By Shannon Connelly
When a person is diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, it can be overwhelming for their entire family. Right now, there is no known cause and no cure for the autoimmune disease, in which a person’s pancreas stops producing insulin – a hormone essential for turning food into energy.
Roughly 33,000 people in New Jersey, and 1.25 million people nationally, are living with the disease, which predominantly affects children and young adults. And though it is a chronic, lifelong illness, it is manageable when taking the right precautions.
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is the leading world organization in finding ways to prevent and cure Type 1 diabetes. With Type 1 diabetes – formerly known as juvenile diabetes – a person’s body is no longer able to produce insulin, while with Type 2 diabetes – the most common kind of diabetes – a person’s body does not use insulin properly.
The research JDRF funds can also potentially benefit those living with Type 2 diabetes. For example, the foundation is funding research that could help make glucose responsive insulin a reality, which would require those living with diabetes to inject themselves with insulin only one time per day – no more counting carbohydrates, injecting at every meal, or finger pricking throughout the day.
In total, JDRF currently has 50 clinical trials on the way.
“Research is really progressing, so it’s exciting,” said Jess Backofen, JDRF’s executive director.
JDRF is also heavily involved with community outreach. It holds teen talk meet-ups in Shrewsbury and Princeton each month, where those affected by Type 1 diabetes can come to form friendships and exchange tips. JDRF also runs a mentor program where volunteers are trained on how to reach out to newly diagnosed families to provide support throughout the year. Backofen said it can be over whelming and scary for families to receive the diagnosis, so it helps to have someone there to guide them through the process and provide information.
Another part of JDRF’s efforts is guiding parents of children with Type 1 diabetes through the legal system. Unfortunately, Backofen said, there are many children who do not receive special accommodations for their disease on a day-to-day basis at places such as summer camp, day care and other privately run organizations. JDRF helps parents create a 504 plan to ensure their child receives the necessary accommodations.
This Saturday, June 4, JDRF’s Central New Jersey chapter will be hosting its 15th Annual One Night Gala at Ocean Place Resort and Spa in Long
Branch, where they hope to
raise more than $500,000 for
Type 1 diabetes research.
During the event, JDRF will be honoring Santhosh Eapen, M.D., pediatric endocrinologist with K. Hovnanian Children’s Hospital at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. Eapen and his team will be receiving the Healthcare Hero Award in recognition of their shared commitment to serve patient’s needs more deeply.
Eapen said Type 1 diabetes is now a lot more common than it has been in the past, and it seems to be becoming more common among young children.
Though he said they do not know why Type 1 diabetes occurs, many children have a genetic predisposition to carrying it, such as a sibling or parent that carries the disease. Still many others, he said, do not have any family members with diabetes.
“It can happen at any time, unfortunately,” he said.
Though there are many factors to take into account when it comes to a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis, Eapen said it is important people are aware of foods they eat that could cause their blood sugar to be higher than it should be.
Though doctors are still hoping to find a cure, Eapen said, technology has helped drastically improve the way Type 1 diabetes has been treated over the past few decades. Now, he said, we have the ability to test blood sugar on the fly, much better and more effective insulins and an improved insulin pump.
“The future is actually very bright,” he said. “Even if we don’t have a cure, the most important thing to remember is if we do things how we’re supposed to, we should be able to manage diabetes.”
Eapen said though he is honored to be recognized at this weekend’s gala, it is the children who live with diabetes and their parents who should be honored for the incredible job they do in handling the disease.
Also being honored Saturday night will be Gregg, Debra, Ryan and Justin Terry – a family who has been involved with the foundation for 20 years. Ryan, now 24, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when he was 4. Since then, the Terry family has volunteered their time to JDRF, with Gregg serving as a board member, Debra chairing the annual gala for several years, and Ryan serving as a spokesperson for JDRF since he was a child. Gregg’s company, Educational Resource Systems, has also donated a variety of services pro bono, such as ad journals and marketing materials, Backofen said. The Terrys will be receiving the Family of the Year award.
“By honoring the Terrys, we’re really showing a stellar role model of what it means for a family to be helping cure Type 1 diabetes,” Backofen said.
The One Night Gala will start at 6:30 p.m. this Saturday and will feature live and silent auctions and a performance by Brian Kirk and The Jirks. Individual tickets cost $400 and can be purchased by calling JDRF’s office at 732-219-6654.
