Letter to Senators and representatives

Diabetes has changed my life in many ways and here are a few examples why:

How many times do you use your hands and fingers in one day to bring something into your mouth. I bet you don't even realize. But please, after you have read this, try for just one day to count.

Now every time I bring something into my mouth, I need to check what my current blood glucose levels are, count or/and estimate what it is I am taking to my mouth contains, how much fat, how much protein, how much glucose. Because depending on all the other ingredients that make that food, the glucose will react differently in my, not to mention my mood, current health of the day, stress.

Every time, I ask myself, "is it worth the $1 test strip I need in order to test my current blood glucose", and if I do eat that, “is it worth the +$10 of insulin my +$6,000.00 insulin pump and over $400 of insulin pump supplies per months it costs me?”

I have been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on Tuesday, May 6th 2008 at the age of 36.

Type 1 is a genetic disease even though since I have been diagnosed, I keep asking myself; "running 6 miles every other days at lunch time every week, riding 130+ miles per week on my road bike competitively, and eating healthy food with low fats, low cholesterol, low glycemic index and less salt wasn't enough?"

The answer is, I did not do ANYTHING wrong. In fact I did it all right, and have been doing it all right for the past 37 years now, but type 1 diabetes finally got the best of me and decided to tell my pancreas to stop working.

Think about it, feel bad for the millions of us who struggle each day, each time we bring something up to our mouth. Feel bad that the number 1 military power in the entire world can NOT provide a cost efficient way to its citizens to treat our decease, that I need to put the LEGO present for my son on hold in order to make sure I can pay for my diabetes supply my insurance doesn't pay for, some go bankrupt, lose their home, and so many can’t care because they can't purchase any of the supplies to survive.

Diabetes is a survival game, if you have ALL the tools available, you can live with it. If you are missing one tool, you will struggle with consequences and die sooner than later.