The boys and girls at the local bike shop are truly a municipal treasure -empowering, causy about biking without being militant, and a lot of fun, to boot. It turns out that one of them is also a Type 1 Diabetic, and they have established a team for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Ride to Cure Diabetes in Whitefish, Montana.
The four team members are trying to raise $16,000. They are inspired to take on this adventure by a young shop-employee and friend. Alex Bowden has lived with Type 1 Diabetes for most of his life and has worked hard to ensure that his disease is not his disability. He is a junior national champion cyclist and is a member of Team Type 1, a group of elite cyclists living and racing with Type 1 Diabetes.
Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating, often deadly, disease that affects millions of people--a large and growing percentage of them children. Many people think type 1 diabetes can be controlled by insulin. While insulin does keep people with type 1 diabetes alive, it is NOT a cure. Aside from the daily challenges of living with type 1 diabetes, there are many severe, often fatal, complications caused by the disease.
That's the bad news... and yes, it's pretty bad.
The good news, though, is that a cure for type 1 diabetes is within reach. In fact, JDRF funding and leadership is associated with most major scientific breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes research to date. And JDRF funds a major portion of all type 1 diabetes research worldwide, more than any other charity.
One of the team members has established a "ride-page" here, if you'd like to donate on-line or monitor the progress of the donations. Please contribute as generously as you are able.
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