While we, in Palm Beach County, often associate November with fall, Thanksgiving and the approaching holidays, it is also important to know November is National Diabetes Awareness Month. Many of us know someone who has this chronic illness.  I have two children with Type 1 Diabetes and this is very near and dear to my heart.  National Diabetes Month is "observed every November so individuals, health care professionals, organizations, and communities across the country can bring attention to diabetes and its impact on millions of Americans.”

Each year the National Diabetes Education Program (NDEP) dedicates the month’s awareness to a different theme. The theme for National Diabetes Awareness Month is: . According to NDEP, “This theme highlights the importance of managing diabetes to prevent diabetes-related health problems such as heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, vision loss, and amputation. The theme also serves as a reminder to people who may be struggling with the demands of managing diabetes that they are not alone.” 

Showing your support and awareness for National Diabetes Month is a great way to give back to the community. You can help educate people, support young people and adults with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes and make the month be all about them! As a mother of two kids with Type 1 Diabetes, I personally thank you for your support for a cure and in the meantime , your awareness. Thank you!

No matter how Type 1 diabetes has shown up in your life, you can find success by balancing your medications, and sticking to your daily exercise routine and nutrition plan. But wherever you are with this challenge, you can always reach out for help of any kind—from your caregivers, your family or other people who live with Type 1 diabetes. From fighting for affordable medical care, medication, and supplies to offering life-changing programs that help those living with diabetes learn how to manage it, we are helping improve the lives of the 34 million Americans with diabetes and 88 million with prediabetes.

We must end the diabetes epidemic.  Please donate.  Let us find a cure.  For more information please visit: The American Diabetes Association or Juvenille Diabetes Research Foundation.