Researchers hold the answer

MY VIEW l A conference inspires a local teen to begin advocating for a diabetes cure; one way is a fund-raising walk on Saturday

By Allison Blass

The Portland Tribune, Sep 3, 2002, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Diabetes is not an easy disease to care for, and it doesn’t get easier with time.

I was diagnosed when I was 8 years old. Over time, I have learned more about diabetes, but the challenges are always there.

Diabetes is a difficult, 24-hour-a-day disease that never goes away. Not on vacations, not on school holidays, not for sleepovers or camping trips. With diabetes, I test my blood-sugar level several times a day, and I’m attached to a pump that constantly drips insulin, a lifesaving hormone, into my body. The pump is a small pager-sized device that I always wear.

The threat of complications, including kidney failure, strokes and blindness, constantly hangs over my head. Three weeks ago, I turned 17.

But there is a flip side to everything. I’ve been fortunate to meet incredible people and do some amazing things because of my diabetes.

Last summer, when I was 15, I was selected to be one of Oregon’s delegates to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Children’s Congress. Two hundred children from around the country traveled to Washington, D.C., to lobby Congress to increase funding for diabetes research.

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