The founder of Dogs 4 Diabetics, Mark Ruefenacht, gave a little welcoming speech at the graduation on Saturday. He said that when he first started D4D he’d tell people what he was doing and would sometimes get the question “what are you doing that for; the cure for type one diabetes is right around the corner”.
You know, every single person over the age of 15 in that room let out a groan.
We laughed, but I don’t think it was funny. I think it was sad. We had all been duped after being diagnosed into believing we just had to hang on a little while longer with this disease and wait until we got closer to that corner and found the cure.
Just a little while longer.
Yeah.
We all have to hear from our friends and loved ones that they’ve read or seen that some good research is being done on mice, or stem cells, or what have you. We all endure the headlines saying you can cure diabetes by eating blueberries instead of ice cream. We all have to do all of this with a smile on our face and a syringe in our hand. It’s what we do.
Mark said he responded to those who questioned why that he had lived with diabetes for forty some years, and that cure had been just around the corner for forty some years. He wasn’t waiting. He was being proactive and doing something to improve the lives of diabetics NOW. (and wow has he succeeded)
So you know what? I’m making that my cure for diabetes.
I’m going to say I have cured my diabetes; it feels like I have. I’m not fighting why I have it, I’m not fighting when can I get rid of it; I’m just going to say okay, this is what I deal with.
I’m going to say, you know, I understand my feelings of bitterness about my earlier misplaced hope and misdirected energy towards that old cure, right around the corner. But none of those feelings ever actually HELPED me live with my disease. So I’m acknowledging them, and moving forward.
I’ve said this before: if you think you just have to hold off dealing with your disease for a couple years and you’ll no longer have diabetes, no kid or adult is going to deal with their disease. Type 1 diabetes doesn’t get better. It only gets easier to live with after you can realistically fit it into your life, learn to live with it and really move toward a life you love.
So what if that right there is the cure? Maybe then we can act to improve our lives with or without our disease.
Let’s go!!
