Local paper covered Walk!

Big crowd gets valley diabetes walk started on the right foot

By PAT STANLEY, Register Staff Writer
Sunday, October 23, 2005 2:53 PM PDT

More than 600 people, from toddlers to seniors, marched in Napa's first-ever Walk to Cure Diabetes at St. Supery Winery in Rutherford Saturday.

"It was a great day," said Heather Haynes, outreach manager for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. She had expected only about 400 would show up for the fundraiser.

Many marchers showed their support for young victims of the disease by sporting T-shirts emblazoned with team names such as Jacob's Crew, Hog Dog'n for Amber, the Needle Squadron and Jack the Bean Stalker.

For an hour before a ribbon was cut signaling the start of the two-mile trek, the crowd was entertained by the Napa High School Jazz Band, Violet the Clown and others.

Francisco Castillo of Vallejo donned a superhero costume and was joined by a young Batman and Superman. He vowed to form a "superhero team" for next year's North Bay walk.

Zachary Lee, 10, of Santa Rosa pulled up his shirt to proudly showed his insulin pump. His mother, Theresa, said, "We're looking for a cure for him."She said the pump device "has made our life better."

"Many people have old and wrong ideas about diabetes," she said. "Some people look down on you as a parent and think you fed your kids wrong (causing the disease)."

Lee's older sibling, Carson, wore a Disney character Goofy costume. "I'm doing it for my brother," he said.

Jack Castleberry of Napa is only 6, but it was his third walk. He was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes at age 3.

Tommy Fox was only 16 months old when diagnosed. "This is our fifth year," his father, Jim Fox, said. The boy has walked in prior events in San Francisco and Sacramento.

"It could happen to anybody," the father said. "Tommy had flu-like symptoms. It turned out it was diabetes. We almost lost him."

Officials said it will be a week or longer before they learn how much was raised by the event. Funds will be used for research that participants hope will someday lead to a cure.

Juvenile diabetes occurs when the body fails to produce insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life. Once diagnosed with the disease, patients must take insulin for the rest of their lives. Juvenile, or type one, diabetes can lead to devastating complications including kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke and amputations. It can be fatal.

The Rutherford walk was one of 11 similar events already held or scheduled before July 2006 in the Bay Area.

For information about the disease, go online to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (Greater Bay Area Chapter) Web site at www.jdrf.org/greaterbay.

The Final Walk Details

It is only days until the first Walk to Cure Diabetes steps off in the Napa Valley! Now is the time to wrap up some last minute details and make a final push to collect those straggling donations. But not to worry: Checks not available on walk day can be mailed to the JDRF Bay Area Chapter until Nov. 21.

Any Team Shelby members who have collected donations but cannot attend the Walk, you may mail your collected checks (all made out to the JDRF) to the Team Shelby HQ for us to turn in for you, or directly to the JDRF Bay Area Chapter with a notation that they were collected on behalf of Team Shelby (Corey).

Below is all the info you'll need to make this a tremendously successful walk day! If you have any questions, please let us know ASAP!

Walk Day Specifics:

• Date: Saturday, October 22nd, 2005
• Location: St. Supery Vineyards & Winery
• Schedule
  10:00 am Check-in Starts
  10:00 am - 11:00 am Music, Food, Entertainment, Kids Corner, Silent Auction
  11:00 am Walk Starts
  11:45 am BBQ Hosted by Saturn at the Vineyard. Team Shelby will tailgate with some extras, so bring items to share!

Turning in Checks, Cash and Matching Gifts:

• For checks over $250, please put the walker's name and team name in the Memo Line of the check.
• For checks under $250, the canceled check is the walker's receipt.
• Please convert all cash into checks made payable to JDRF.
• Please include your Workplace Matching Gifts form in your Collection Envelope.
• To speed the check-in process, every walker should have a FULLY COMPLETED and signed Collection Envelope. If you do not already have a collection envelope, please get one from a check-in volunteer and fill it out completely. DO NOT include online donations on your walk envelope.
• NOTE: Please allow at least 4 weeks for us to process all money turned in on walk day.

Corporate or Family Team Walkers

Check-in tables will be organized alphabetically. Team Shelby will be listed under T, so look for our name on the correct sign.

JDRF T-Shirts & Incentive Prizes

• Walkers turning in a minimum of $100 on Walk day will receive a 2005 Walk to Cure Diabetes T-Shirt, which will only be available on 10/22/05 and JDRF cannot send them to you.
• For donations turned into JDRF before 11/21/05, incentive prizes will be mailed 8 weeks after the Walk & cannot be guaranteed by the holidays.

Directions to St. Supery Vineyards & Winery
8440 St. Helena Hwy (Hwy 29)
Rutherford, CA 94573
*Look for the twin palms

Click for Route Map

From the San Francisco Bay Bridge:

1. Take Interstate 80 east toward Sacramento/Reno. In Vallejo, take the Hwy 29/Marine World Parkway exit toward Napa. Turn right onto Hwy. 29 and follow signs north toward Calistoga.
2. Hwy. 29 is also called the "St. Helena Hwy." St. Supery is located 12 miles north of the town of Napa on Hwy. 29, between Oakville and Rutherford Crossroads. Look right as you head up valley for the tall twin palm trees at St. Supery's entrance.

From Sacramento:

• Take Interstate 80 toward San Francisco. Exit at Hwy. 12 toward Napa, just beyond the Hwy. 680/80 interchange. Follow Hwy. 12 until it ends at Hwy. 29 and turn right. Follow the signs toward Calistoga.
• See # 2 above.

From the Golden Gate Bridge:

• Take Hwy. 101 north past the city of San Rafael. Take the Hwy. 29 exit toward Vallejo (east). Turn left at Hwy. 121/12 and follow signs to Napa. Hwy. 121/12 ends at Hwy. 29 just south of Napa - turn left and proceed up-valley toward the winery.
• See # 2 above.

Parking is VERY limited, so please try to carpool. No bikes.

FREE T-Shirts!

Thanks to the very generous support of Pat Maggard of Valley Dental of Napa and the personal donation of Jazzerciser Natalie Shugart, all Team Shelby walkers can get a FREE Team Shelby T-shirt this year!

Every walker who raises $100 will get a free shirt in the style of their choosing!

All T-shirt orders must be pre-paid this year by Oct. 1!

Click for details!

Our life with diabetes

It’s 3:15 a.m. More than an hour ago I woke up to check Shelby’s blood sugar, my daily 2 a.m. ritual. Her number was 359; way over the 150-200 we like her to be at during the night. I give her insulin and note the information in our logbook in the kitchen. She’s been running high a lot lately during these overnight checks. What did she have for dinner again? Did I miscalculate something? Did the restaurant do something different with the Mexican rice we always get? She had two pieces of quesadilla, not three, right? The past two days, she’s been back in range by breakfast. I head back to bed, stepping over Shelby who sometime between my bedtime and 2 a.m. encamped on our bedroom floor in her Barbie sleeping bag.

Lying in bed, the questions continue to swirl in my head. Why has she been so high at night? Do we need to correct her insulin rates again? They were working great two weeks ago. We just changed them radically to adjust for her new school activities, but that shouldn’t impact her during the night, right? She’s not dipping nearly as low after recess at school, now. Most days she’s even eating her whole snack and lunch before scampering off to play on the swings with her school friends. She said something about a different nurse at school yesterday; I should probably check on that tomorrow. I’m way behind on checking up on my diabetes research news: note to self – check that tomorrow afternoon and update Team Shelby website. Maybe I should have extended her dinner insulin dose; rice kicks in later sometimes. Second note to self – Mention nurse situation to Liz in the morning; have her ask about it if the school calls her at work after checking Shelby for snack. Liz should probably ask at the office after school. Third note to self – remember to take Team Shelby corporate sponsorship pack to the car dealer tomorrow. Maybe I should get caught up on my research reading now.

Our life with diabetes never stops. All parents worry. It’s just that most don’t worry about whether they used the right measuring cup when doling out Cheerios in the morning. Or what to do about a daughter who declares the school snack you packed “took too long to eat” so she didn’t finish it before hitting the playground. No wonder the school reports Shelby’s blood sugar was a perilous 42 before lunch; she blacks out at 35. Normal is 70-100. What snack can I pack that eats fast?

Shelby never complains about her disease. She’s never asked why she has it and other kids don’t. She doesn’t flinch at the shots or finger pricks anymore. She’s even gotten good at running her insulin pump herself. But is it any wonder that studies find parents of children with diabetes display high levels of anxiety, apprehension and worry. What if something I do jeopardizes her ability to have children someday, go off to college, limits her ability to become a veterinarian like she talks about, or causes blindness or organ failure. Dads protect their kids from this stuff, right? I don't want pity; I want a cure.

So one meal, one snack, one quarterly doctor’s visit, one step at a time we’ll just fight this disease and hope beyond all hope that the promise of a cure comes through in her lifetime.

Brand new research information

As we work hard this time of year to increase participation and support for Team Shelby, it is natural that people have more questions. Even long-time supporters wonder what's going on with all the research? And just what does the JDRF fund anyway?

In the latest edition of the JDRF Research Frontline, they carried three short items describing the breadth of the work being done in regard to Type I Diabetes. They include:

• FDA approval of an antibotic to fight the most common form of diabetes-related blindness,
  
• advancements toward a continual blood sugar monitoring system, and
  
• groundbreaking work in the use of adult stem cells.

I've posted the items in the Team Shelby Research Corner. Here's a link that should take you to a pdf of the newsletter, as well.

Printing out Frontline for distribution to potential donors is a great way to express clearly and authoritatively what the JDRF is doing daily to fight this disease.

New Corporate Sponsorship Program

Team Shelby is proud to announce the launch of our inaugural Corporate Sponsorship program. It is the first time we've offered local companies the opportunity to support the work of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

We have established three levels of support allowing participating companies and organizations to have their logos appear on the official Team Shelby T-Shirts, our website and all of our literature.

We're very excited that Team Superstores Chevrolet-Hyundai of Vallejo has stepped forward as our very first Silver Sponsor! The Team Chevrolet sponsorship came about because one of Liz's Jazzercise students who works there asked her boss to get involved. And he said, "Yes."

You may be wondering: Why would we seek corporate support given our three years of tremendous work and the successful donation of more than $25,000 through the extraordinary efforts by our friends, family and co-workers?

It's a fair question. The Answer is simple: We want to reach and exceed our $10,000 annual fund-raising goal, set a new goal, and continue to educate the community about Type I Diabetes and the amazing research going into finding a cure. We hope that because countless people just like you have joined Team Shelby through heart-felt donations ranging from $10 to hundreds of dollars, the business community will be inspired to join our efforts.

We are sending Corporate Sponsorship packets to local businesses we patronize. Please consider joining in.

If you represent a business and want to get involved, please download the information and consider the opportunity. We aren't hard-sell experts. We want individuals and businesses to act from their own sense of what is right. If you are an employee, use the information and our basic Team Shelby fund-raising letter to approach your boss. Remember, many companies also have matching donation programs; usually the HR folks know about those.

For any questions, email us at TeamShelby@yahoo.com.

We look forward to continuing to add the logos of our Inaugural Corporate Sponsors to our website and Team Shelby T-shirts.

As always, thank you all for your support and creative fund-raising ideas.

Liz Gives Kickoff Keynote Speech

Liz was asked to give the personal story at the JDRF kickoff luncheon in August.

We have the pictures and the moving speech, which helps remind us all what Team Shelby is all about.

Cheers.

JDRF Walk Comes to Napa on a Saturday!

The North Bay Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is holding it inaugural Walk to Cure Diabetes this year in Napa County! So far, Team Shelby is one of only two registered family teams that has ever participated in a JDRF Walk.

The Walk is scheduled for Saturday Oct. 22 at St. Supery vineyards. The captain kickoff luncheon is next week so we'll have tons more details after that.

The picture at right is of the main house at St. Supery off Highway 29 in the heart of Napa County wine country. The photo is taken from the top of a two-story wine production facility that offers self-guided tours of the entire wine-making process and a very comfortable tasting room, for those who are interested.

October is just after the main harvest and the grape vines should start turning their fall colors about then.

We decided to participate in the new Napa County walk rather than the East Bay Walk in Walnut Creek that we've been doing for three years for a couple of reasons. First, it's in Napa County where we live and is a much easier highway drive than going to Walnut Creek. Second, the event is on a Saturday, which hopefully will make travel easier for our out-of-town guests and allow our local supporters who may have standing Sunday plans to participate.

Stay tuned for more details of the Oct. 22 Walk. While you're here, take some time to check out some of the recent posts: lots of inspirational stories and research information is on the site.

Hybrid diabetes

We are working on some new ideas for fund-raising and Team activities for the upcoming walk season. Until we have news on that front, here are some of the latest diabetes-related headlines.

A hybrid diabetes?
Doctors think they may have discovered a form of diabetes that presents as Type II in teens then develops into full-blown Type I diabetes. The result is young patients faced with a wide range of both symptoms and multiple treatment regimes. >>Learn more>>

UC San Francisco a leader in stem cell & diabetes research
With stem cell research so much in the news lately with all the debates in Washington, here is a story about the role UCSF has played on an international front in developing new stem cell techniques through private funding sources. Includes a short story on the work to find a cure for diabetes.>>Learn more>>

4-year-old Lobbies Congress
Michigan girl and her mother, who both have diabetes, go to Washingon D.C. to lobby Congress for more funding for diabetes research. The girl, who hopes the trip will cure her disease, is crushed when her mother explains there is no magic cure in the halls of Congress. >>Learn more>>

After-school club for kids with diabetes in Delaware

Here's a great story I recommend everyone read.

There is nothing more nerve-wracking than sending your child with diabetes off to school everyday not knowing for sure whether she is going to the support she needs on campus from the adults there or how the kids are going to treat her.

Here's a story about a school district in Wilmington, Delaware, where they have an afterschool club for kids with diabetes where they learn about giving themselves shots, checking their own blood sugars and not using the disease as a reason to give up. Great story! Send the reporter a note letting her know how much we appreciate her work!

Students help each other cope with disease
Never before had Justin Laznik felt the stab from a shot of insulin he injected himself. Sure, the 9-year-old had pricked his finger for what seemed like zillions of times to test his blood sugar. That's what he learned to do after he was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes last year. He tests his blood four or more times a day.

But it was his mom or dad or, during school, his school nurse, Loretta Newsom, who poked his stomach with the doses of insulin that make up for what isn't made inside his body.

Justin knew his friend, Robert Mixon, a fifth-grader at Cedar Lane Elementary School in Middletown, injected himself. He'd even seem him do it. Robert also talked about how he pays careful attention to his diabetes by checking his blood regularly and carrying a juice box in case his blood sugar runs low.

So, at the last meeting of the Sugar Busters diabetic club, Justin aimed the insulin pen at his stomach and pushed the plunger, administering his first shot. "No big deal," he shrugged when talking about it the next day, though his wide grin betrayed his stoic words.

Learn more

Inspiring story/stem cells and faith

It's been quite some time since we've updated the site. I'm back on top of things and should return to the habit of posting regular updates from the world of diabetes research and happenings as well as fund-raising ideas and information for the upcoming walk in October. Here is some interesting reading:

A Sunday stroll could bring a cure to millions
For Buffalo News columnist Jerry Sullivan, juvenile diabetes became very real after learning that the 9-year-old son of a childhood friend had been recently diagnosed. Sullivan had marveled for years at the sports figures he covered who played while treating themselves for diabetes. With the disease striking so close to home, Sullivan writes about his new motivation to join the Walk to Cure Diabetes.
Learn more

Stem-cell research: A matter of faith?
Advances in medical science can cause troubling conflicts for those holding dear religious beliefs. Stem cell research is the current lightning rod for the debate with many pro-life advocates erroneously linking stem cell work with abortion. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal carried a story about a community of Methodists and Southern Baptists who support stem cell research at a time when many conservative Christians oppose the work of clinicians to find new treatments for a host of chronic illnesses, including Type I Diabetes.
Click the link below for the story of visit the family's Web site at www.pfaith.org.
Learn more

Mid-February update

We've gotten word of several very exciting new research efforts and a very ambitious new initiative by the JDRF we'd like to share with all of you.

The sheer diversity of the approaches and efforts being used to tackle discovery of the causes and cures of Type I diabetes is simply amazing. Clearly, this disease has captured the curiosity of some of the world's best and brightest scientists. We hope that someday their efforts will eradicate this disease or at least make it easily treated so other children won't have to experience life limitations like Shelby does.

$1 billion in 5 years for research
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation has announced it's goal of generating $1 billion in the next five years to take Type I Diabetes research from the laboratory into practical applications to improve the lives of real people. This is a very exciting opportunity.
Learn more

Progress in transplants for diabetes
Doctors believe anti-inflammatory drugs may be useful in increasing the success of islet transplants. These common medications may improve the viability of donor insulin-producing islet cells allowing better success rates in diabetes patients.
Learn more

Improving pancreas-kidney transplant outcomes
Researchers at UC San Francisco are exploring using non-steroid immunosuppressive drugs to improve organ acceptance in one of the most invasive diabetes treatment operations now performed.
Learn more

Gene-disease connections studied
In this pretty technical article, a UC San Francisco researcher talks about his work in decoding part of the genetic mystery that may allow doctors in the future to suppress certain protein interactions to prevent serious diseases, including diabetes.
An exciting part of this article is that the researcher involved relocated his lab from MIT to UCSF, which says a lot about the level of commitment and medical care available locally for us to help Shelby.
Learn more

Fast-tracking beta cell studies
UCSF researchers have joined the national team of scientists working on learning how to produce new beta cells for injection into the pancreas of someone with diabetes. Beta cells are the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas that are destroyed by an autoimmune reaction that leads to diabetes.
Learn more

Can anti-oxidant prevent diabetic complications?
That's the enticing question researchers are bringing to a common anti-oxidant compound know to lesser some of known complications of diabetes. Now, they are running a trial to see if the compound not only treats symptoms, but can actually prevent them. This is new research just starting, so results won't for forthcoming for a while. Still, very exciting!
Learn more

Live donor breakthrough; some inspiration

Successful living islet cell transplant
A daughter with Type I diabetes successfully received insulin-producing islets cells from her mother pancreas, the BBC has reported.

The procedure performed at Kyoto University Hospital in Japan opens new possibilities for a curative surgery for those with diabetes. The report indicated that within minutes of the surgical implant, the cells were producing insulin in the daughter's pancreas.

Previously, islet cells transplants involved deceased donors. The cells were often damaged and there was an increased risk of rejection. Using a live donor reduces these risks.

More research is needed, but this is another exciting breakthrough in battling diabetes.
Learn more

Disease is no barrier to young athlete
One of the aspects of diabetes people tend to focus on is what the patient can't do: Carb intake needs to be monitored; Can't leave the house with a test kit: Can't go on long trips without careful planning.

What we've always emphasized is all the things Shelby CAN do. The sky is the limit, she just has to be more aware of her physical body than other people.

Slam Sports in Canada ran a recent story about Rob Chappell who plays hockey for the University of Nebraska. Not only is ice hockey a major contact sport, it takes lots of stamina and energy.

Yet Chappell has found ways to excel through careful management of his diabetes, which he's had for 12 years. He carbo-loads like crazy before games to keep his blood sugar up while his muscles work.

The best tribute comes from Rob Clarke, an NHL hall of fame player from the 1970s: "If you can put the puck in the net, who cares if you've got diabetes?"
Learn more

Stem cell discovery; New comic book

Here are a couple of new items of interest. It never ceases to amaze me
what's going on out there in the world surrounding diabetes. Medical
science around the globe is focusing on the causes and cures, while
seemingly every child experiencing it for the first time is finding a
unique way to channel the experience.

Doctors use patient's own stem cells to treat diabetes

Doctors in Argentina announced a new procedure that improved the
insulin-producing ability of a man with Type II diabetes whose pancreas
had stopped making insulin, the Inter Press Service news agency reported
Jan. 11, 2005.

By extracting stem cells from the man's bone marrow during a 10-minute
procedure and inserting them into his pancreas, doctors induced his
pancreas to start making insulin. While this was no full cure, the man's
condition improved to that of an average Type II diabetes patient,
meaning it can be controlled with diet, exercise and some oral
medications. A long ways from being dependent on insulin injections

Doctors haven't done broader studies nor do they know whether this
method would help those with Type I diabetes. However, they said there
is little risk in the procedure and no apparent negative implications,
other than it just wouldn't work.

Even lacking a large controlled study, doctors said this could open
whole new avenues in diabetes research.
Learn more

Boy creates diabetes comic book
An 11-year-old boy with diabetes in Kansas City, Kan., has created a
comic book called "Omega Boy," to both express his own anger and
frustration with the disease and to educate others about his condition,
according to the Kansas City Star.

Kamaal Washington and his younger brother Macolm, both of whom are rabid
comics fans, teamed up on the effort.

Kamaal said the idea came to him while he was in the hospital after he
was diagnosed. During what I've come to refer to as 'diabetes boot
camp,' Kamaal was given a lot of pamphlets to read to help him
understand what was going on with his body.

The language was difficult, so he decided to make a comic book to put
all that stuff into language that he and other kids could understand.
In the comic, the recently diagnosed boy become so angry he absorbs a
doctor, becomes 'Doctor Diabetes' and launches on a global effort to
give the disease to as many people as possible so they'll understand
what he's going through. The hero, Omega Boy, finally sets him straight.

No wonder Kamaal was a part of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation
Children's Congress that goes to Washington to lobby legislators on
issues surrounding the impacts of diabetes. What a well-spoken advocate!

Learn more

Happy 2005!

We've redesigned for 2005!

As you can tell, we have a new look for the new year. We've made every attempt to keep everything where you can find it, but bugs may crop up.

We're very excited about 2005! We hope to keep in contact with you all this year and expand our Web presence. We're also working on new fund-raising opportunities to help Team Shelby reach $10,000 in '05!

2004 was a great year. We raised more than $8,000 for the East Bay Walk to Cure Diabetes, our best fund-raising effort yet.

Individual and group efforts driven by many of you made that happen:

• Nicole, daughter of Lori Fischer of the Solano County Public Defender's office, was inspired by her mom's fund-raising. So, she sat down everyone in her law firm one day, passed out our fund-raising letter and asked everyone to consider donating. She raised over $400! Way to go, Nicole!


• Napa Junction Elementary School stepped up this year with a great poster and hand-signs to show their support for Shelby, a new student at the school.


• Members of the car club Mary Reiley, of the West County Times, is a member of spontaneously donated $10 each over coffee when Mary mentioned her support of Team Shelby.


• Van Nuys Elementary School made Team Shelby the center of a classroom section on health. Shelby's grandma Pam headed up a coin drive and collected more than $500 in change the students donated.

Our fund-raising letter also was selected by the Bay Area JDRF Chapter as an example of an excellent letter. It will become part of the team packets for this year.

We've posted some new material, so spend some time with us.

New in Research

• High Blood Sugar Decreases Classroom Performance
  A temporary rise in blood glucose (sugar) levels in people with both types of diabetes can interfere with their ability to think quickly and solve problems, according to a study in the January issue of Diabetes Care.
  
  Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System (UVHS) found that people who had both type 1 and type 2 diabetes performed poorly on math and verbal tests when they became hyperglycemic, a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal. Symptoms of hyperglycemia include high blood glucose, high levels of sugar in the urine, frequent urination, and increased thirst. Roughly 55 percent of the people in the study showed signs of cognitive slowing or increased errors while hyperglycemic, suggesting that the consequences of hyperglycemia vary among individuals. However, among those whose cognitive performance deteriorated when blood sugar levels rose, the negative effects consistently appeared once levels reached or exceeded a threshold of 15 mmol/l or 270 mg/dl. Learn more



• Pregnancy Can Go Well For Women with Type I Diabetes
  Women with type 1 diabetes who monitor their blood glucose daily both before and during pregnancy have better outcomes, Danish researchers report.
  
  In the largest study to date of pregnant women with type 1 diabetes, Dr. Dorte M. Jensen of Odense University Hospital and colleagues found that only one-third of women said they monitored their blood sugar levels every day around the time they conceived.
  
  Daily monitoring and good overall control of blood glucose levels were associated with a lower likelihood of infant mortality and birth defects. Learn more



• Federal Govt., JDRF Launch Resource for Diabetic Kidney Disease Gene Studies
  The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced today the availability of the largest single collection of biosamples and data for research on the genetic causes of kidney disease in type 1 diabetes.
  
  The Genetics of Kidneys in Diabetes (GoKinD) collection has nearly 10,000 DNA, serum, plasma and urine samples, plus genetic and clinical data, from more than 1,700 adults with type 1 diabetes in the United States and Canada. Of those, 818 have had diabetes at least 10 years and have developed kidney disease, a common complication of diabetes. The other 893 have had diabetes at least 15 years but do not have kidney disease. Also in the collection are data and samples from 1,096 parents (548 sets). Learn more

The Latest in News

• Heart drives Illinois legislator's stem-cell convictions
  In the four years since his then-7-year-old daughter Reynolds was diagnosed with type I diabetes, Tom Cross has gotten used to seeing her stick herself with insulin needles a half-dozen times a day.
  
  He's gotten used to the frequent doctor's visits, the strict monitoring of her diet and the constant worries about how the disease might effect her long-term health.
  
  But even after four years, it hasn't gotten any easier.
  
  "As a father, it rips your heart out," said the Oswego Republican, who was elected last month to a second term as House minority leader. "Every time I watch her doing all the things she has to do, it's like getting punched in the stomach." Learn more



• Pittsburgh, Pa., teen a fund-raising phenom
  As part of the local recognition of outstanding local teens, 16-year-old girl recognized for raising $15,125 for her local JDRF walk this year.
  
  She's raised $90,000 so far and hopes to top $100,000 before she leaves for college. Learn more



• Arizona woman seeks living kidney donor
  She was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at age 6. Since then, she's suffered nearly every complication of the disease: vision impairment, amputation, kidney failure.
  
  Now at age 40, she and her family are seeking a live kidney donor to help save her life.
  
  She offers a cautionary. Her struggle also is a vivid reminder why we watch Shelby so closely and are so determined to cure this disease. Learn more



• College student struggles with diabetes.
  Diabetes is a disease affecting more than 210,000 people under the age of 20, including many students at the University of Alabama. It's a disease that not only cripples a person's health, but also his or her schedule -- a battle for any student.
  
  Class, clubs, homework and jobs are enough to keep any student busy. But some students at the University of Alabama must attempt to manage their school activities in addition to frequent trips to the doctor and interruptions during the day to take medicine regulating diabetes. Learn more