Chat with PWDs from Diabetes Handprint national campaign

TODAY, @ 3 pm PT (6 pm EST), we will have 3 of the individuals whose submissions of words in their hands (describing how they feel about diabetes) were selected for this national diabetes awareness campaign (with inserts appearing in Time, People and a few other magazines), chatting with the community.

The Diabetes Handprint campaign was inspired our Word In Your Hand program

The special guests for the chat session will be:
Fabian
Fabian is 29 years old. He was born and raised in the deep south of Texas in a town called Edinburg. After 5 years as a practicing pharmacy technician, Fabian decided he wanted to become a pharmacist and is currently attending Pharmacy School at the University of Houston.

Fabian does not have diabetes himself, but has seen how it has affected people he knows, including family members and Hispanics in his community. The desire to help these individuals was a strong influence on his decision to become a pharmacist. It is also the reason that he participated in the Global Diabetes Handprint, submitting the word “FIGHT.”

Fabian is married to his beautiful wife Hilda, a 4th grade teacher at the local elementary school in their town. They are looking forward to returning to their beloved Rio Grande Valley and to helping the Hispanic community.

Joan
Joan and her husband Dave been married for almost 23 years. They have 5 children who are all teenagers and young adults. Joan was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the spring of 2000, when she was having a spinal tap to determine whether she had multiple sclerosis. When the results came in, she was told that she had both MS and diabetes, which “blew her away.”

Joan went through all of the stages one goes through when diagnosed. Sometimes she felt great, sometimes not. She then made the decision to try harder because she wants to be ALIVE (her word) for a long time.

Randi
Randi is 10 years old and lives in West Bloomfield, MI. She was diagnosed with type I diabetes at the age of 4.5, a week after her sister’s Bat Mitzvah. Randi’s mom, Janice, began to notice Randi was drinking a lot and began wetting her bed during the night. Her parents thought that she was seeking attention because her sister was getting all of it! After the festivities, however, Randi went to the pediatrician, where it was confirmed she had diabetes. Randi adapted very well to her condition. She learned very early on how to test her blood and she never complained about her treatment. She takes care of herself at school and changes her own insulin pump infusion set.

Randi is a very active girl. She takes jazz and tap dance lessons, plays softball in the spring and hopes to play volleyball, basketball and tennis on the middle school sports teams.

Asked if there was one word she would use to describe her feelings, Randi said it would be “BRAVE” (her word). People who know Randi always use that word to describe her fight against diabetes. Her friends and classmates watch her as she tests her blood sugar levels and are amazed that she can do it all the time.

These are the five photos selected for the national campaign:

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Comment

Comment by Louis & Patrice Cocco on March 19, 2009 at 4:00pm

I can't figure out why I can't access the chat

Comment by Dr. L.K. Shankhdhar on March 19, 2009 at 3:36am

I will try to attend
Dr. Shankhdhar