Tour de Cure

Diabetes

Diabetes is a disease which staunches insulin production, and affects 20 million Americans--a quarter of them undiagnosed. But what does that mean?

Well, when you eat simple carbohydrates like sugars and starches, they make their way in to your blood stream, where your body's cells generally metabolize it either by converting it to energy to use presently, or by converting it to storage form for later use.

The hormone insulin is what facilitates the conversion of blood-sugar, by allowing the body's cells to receive the carbohydrates. Diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas, where insulin is not generated, causing sugar to remain in the blood. This is dangerous essentially because sugar is, as we all know, quite sticky. Sticky blood is, as you can imagine, a Very Bad Thing.

So, with diabetes, you have to carefully monitor and maintain your blood sugar, and/or take insulin shots regularly, lest your blood gets too sticky, and stops moving.

Now What?

Well, that was a wild over-simplification. If you want to know more, I'd definitely recommend taking a look at the American Diabetes Association's website. It has solid information for diabetics or friends and family. And with 7% of the American population diabetic, and another 18% pre-diabetic, chances are that means yourself or somebody you know, too.

For my part, I've registered to ride 100 miles on May 4th to support research, education, and awareness of diabetes. If you're interesting in supporting diabetes research, education, and awareness, you can sponsor my ride. My fund raising goal is $500, by May 4th. I'm asking for $50 from friends and family, and $100 from philanthropic entrepreneurs, but any amount is of course welcome.

Sponsorship

You can sponsor under your own name, the name of your company, whatever name you want, or even totally anonymously, if you like. Your name will go up on the sponsor list on my Tour de Cure page. Also, there's a Goal-o-meter, too. Those are always fun. And of course, you'll get a receipt for any donations--they are a tax write-off!

For the next month, I'll be keeping the blog updated with progress in my sponsorship and my training, so keep checking back every Monday/Wednesday/Friday for regular updates!