Jerry Mathers
April 28th, 2008
Having diabetes came as a big shock to me. When I finished “Leave it to Beaver”, I went to a regular high school. I did a little acting…Lassie, My Three Sons…but I pretty much withdrew from the acting profession. I came back to it later in life, and appeared on a new show called “The New Leave it to Beaver” which I did for 10 years…102 episodes…and those were long hours. I had a fairly young family at the time, two daughters and a son. And, I’d be away from the house for 12-14 hours a day. So when I finished that show I said…”You know, I’m gonna retire now, this is the good life.” I started eating way too much, and not doing a lot of exercise. I put on about 45 or 50 pounds. When I was getting ready to turn 50, a good friend who is a doctor cajoled me into get checked. I finally went in, and she asked me if I wanted to see my kids get married and hold my grandbabies. I said…of course! That’s when she told me that if I didn’t do something about my high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, I’d be dead in three to five years.
Most people would have had some symptoms, but I absolutely didn’t. I knew I was overweight and tired, but I looked around and saw a lot of people like that, and said it can’t be that bad…but it was!
I like to use my celebrity to go out and tell other people about the danger of diabetes. I was so lucky that my doctor cared about me. I care about my fans that much. People that have diabetes have to take care of it. There are so many people that have been diagnosed with diabetes, who say “it’s not bothering me”. We just have to get to those people and tell them to start treating it because by the time it becomes a problem for you, it could be too late.
If you find out that you have diabetes, you have to treat it aggressively. You’ll have a much better quality of life the earlier you treat it. And it can be a long and productive life. You have to take control of the diabetes. You can’t let it take control of you!
Posted in Diabetes | No Comments »
Jerry Mathers
April 28th, 2008
Having diabetes came as a big shock to me. When I finished “Leave it to Beaver”, I went to a regular high school. I did a little acting…Lassie, My Three Sons…but I pretty much withdrew from the acting profession. I came back to it later in life, and appeared on a new show called “The New Leave it to Beaver” which I did for 10 years…102 episodes…and those were long hours. I had a fairly young family at the time, two daughters and a son. And, I’d be away from the house for 12-14 hours a day. So when I finished that show I said…”You know, I’m gonna retire now, this is the good life.” I started eating way too much, and not doing a lot of exercise. I put on about 45 or 50 pounds. When I was getting ready to turn 50, a good friend who is a doctor cajoled me into get checked. I finally went in, and she asked me if I wanted to see my kids get married and hold my grandbabies. I said…of course! That’s when she told me that if I didn’t do something about my high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes, I’d be dead in three to five years.
(more…)
Posted in Diabetes | No Comments »
Renee L. Cruea
March 24th, 2008
I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 14 years old. The most prominent memories I have of that time period include being told I would have to inject insulin every day for the rest of my life. As terrifying as that news may be for a teenager, it was not the most upsetting memory I have. I recall vividly being told I could no longer eat pasta, I should not risk a pregnancy and I was led to believe that my expectations of what I wanted out of life needed to be “tempered.” Try telling a 14 year old Italian girl from New York that she needs to temper her goals in life and do so without pasta, and you have one unhappy child determined to prove them all wrong. Attitude is an important and vital key to success in life. It can be more difficult initially to maintain a positive attitude but it can be done and I am proof of that. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes | 4 Comments »
Dwight Shelton
March 19th, 2008
I’m a 41 year old man who has been living with diabetes since I was 10 years old. Diabetes runs in my family. In fact, I used to help my grandmother fix her needle and to take her shot of insulin many times while growing up. She lived a long life; in fact, she lived to be 85 years old. I also have a sister and a younger brother that have Type 1 diabetes.
Two years ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Being that I’m a commercial driver I was scared that this disease could impact my career. I thought that I wouldn’t be able to do my job, or take care of my family. I was afraid that if I had to take insulin shots, I could lose my license to drive a commercial vehicle. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes | No Comments »
Art Silva
March 7th, 2008
Now in my mid-fifties, I regret that I didn’t take better care of myself when I was younger. I participated in a lot of sports and considered myself quite athletic. I often played softball, flag football, and basketball to keep in shape but admittedly, my weight fluctuated throughout my adulthood. I would diet occasionally but more often than not, I would eat irresponsibly. As I entered my forties, I didn’t exercise as much, and still continued to eat badly. Retired from the military, I no longer had to worry about the strict physical standards the military demanded of me in order to continue to serve. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes, Heart Disease & Stroke | No Comments »
Shirley Sobolewski
February 21st, 2008
In February of 2006 I lost my job, and as a result I also lost my health coverage. My first and foremost concern was my medications. I take 13 medications, mostly for severe diabetes, heart disease, and kidney disease. My meds are what keep me alive. My private physician gave me samples to get me by, but I knew they wouldn’t last forever. So, I started cutting them in half to try to stretch the meds until a solution could be found. I began making phone call after phone call to numerous agencies, asking for help, but got nothing but denial. In the meantime, my health started to deteriorate. I also was seeing the Montel commercial for PPA on TV constantly, but I ignored it. I was totally convinced that NOBODY would give me medication for free without having some kind of gimmick attached…. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes, Heart Disease & Stroke | 1 Comment »
Lois Jenkins
December 21st, 2007
I love spending time with my family, especially my daughter and my grandchildren. Taking care of my family and looking after my own health are major parts of my life.
I suffer from high blood pressure, diabetes and chronic arthritis in my back due to multiple surgeries I have had on my back. My various conditions require me to take more than 12 different mediciations on a monthly basis. Things are even more complicated because some of my medications cannot be taken at the same time due to harmful effects from the combination of the drugs. When I lost my insurance I was unable to afford my medicines and was afraid to ask for help. To make matters worse, my mother passed away around the same time that I lost my coverage. It was truly a difficult period for me.Since I was without coverage, I had to rely on my personal finances to pay for my medications. With some of my prescriptions costing more than $300 a month, budgeting my finances became a major stress in my life. My finances were stretched extremely thin and the stress made me unable to function. (more…)
Posted in Arthritis Diseases, Blood Pressure Disorder, Diabetes | No Comments »
Patricia Stoll
December 14th, 2007
My story isn’t too dramatic, but it’s honest. I have dealt with numerous ailments, including diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. While these things are difficult to deal with alone, I am also clinically depressed. And I’m proud to say I’m no longer embarrassed to talk about it.Talking about it has really been my key to happiness. I started feeling like I was losing control of my life when my mother passed away a few years ago. My husband and I had to move, and everything in my life seemed to be in this phase of change that I could not deal with. I had a breakdown and finally admitted that I couldn’t handle this alone. Admitting that you need help is just the hardest thing to do sometimes, I know. I finally admitted to my family that, yes, I needed some help to learn how to be happy again… (more…)
Posted in Blood Pressure Disorder, Cholesterol Disorder, Diabetes, Mental Illness | No Comments »
Dallas Peterson
October 26th, 2007
I developed diabetes six years ago, and at the time I was still working. I have since then developed high blood pressure too. Within the last two years I had to quit work because of health problems. I now have no insurance. With the help of PPA, I am able to get the medications I need at no cost. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes | No Comments »
Elaine Goldin
October 26th, 2007
I live a quiet life in a senior development, now that my son is all grown up. He son is 32 now and married with a six-year old son, who I just love to pieces. However, in the blink of an eye, I almost left my family all too early, when I had a stroke in 2005. To make matters worse, after the stroke I found out that I have Type II diabetes, cholesterol and high blood pressure. I was devastated and so depressed when leaving the hospital that not only had my life almost been cut short by my stroke, but that my life had been forever changed because I would now also have to cope with additional life-threatening conditions. (more…)
Posted in Blood Pressure Disorder, Cholesterol Disorder, Diabetes, Heart Disease & Stroke | 1 Comment »
Delilah Davis
October 18th, 2007
I was born and raised in Kansas and have never lived anywhere else. And I have never needed to live elsewhere because my whole family is here, and I have a big family. I have four children – two boys and two girls, as well as four grandchildren – three grand boys and one grandbaby girl. I wouldn’t trade living in Kansas for anything.However, I did fall on hard times about five years ago when I was diagnosed with diabetes. I was going to the doctor for a routine check-up and left the doctor’s office knowing that I was a diabetic. The doctor told me that my blood sugar level was at 450. Most non-diabetic persons have an average blood sugar level of 80 to 100. I was so terrified when I was first diagnosed. I didn’t know anything about the disease except the horror stories I had heard from others. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes, Infectious Disease | No Comments »
Katie Carter
October 11th, 2007
I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was 12 years old and have now been living with it for almost 14 years. Diabetes is a hard disease - it is a daily task to manage my blood sugars and I needed to understand my body, which is hard when you are only 12. But you know what? It is a controllable disease and it was in MY hands to be successful at it. I have always been blessed and had treatment options available to me although the options now, versus even just 12 years ago when I was diagnosed, are amazing. It really makes the disease controllable and it is further proof that you can LIVE with a disease; it doesn’t have to be your life. I remember taking just one insulin shot a day and since then I have been through numerous treatment options – 2 different types of shots, 4 times a day, 10 times a day, etc. It becomes a hard thing to manage when all you can think about is when your next shot is or whether you remembered to keep up with testing your blood sugar…. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes | No Comments »
Carmen Rivera
October 11th, 2007
I have always been very active and engaged in my children’s lives whether it was helping them with their homework, cooking dinner for them, or even going to baseball games with my son. Then one day, I got the scare of my life after learning that the joy of caring for my children might be taken away from me prematurely.In 2001, I was diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. The diagnosis was devastating, even though it should not have been a surprise. After all, these illnesses run in my family. My mother also had diabetes, heart and cholesterol problems and eventually died because of them. The prospect that I would not be around to care for my children and eventually their children was so devastating that I fell into a depression. (more…)
Posted in Blood Pressure Disorder, Cholesterol Disorder, Diabetes | No Comments »
Linda Payne
September 21st, 2007
My whole life I have been taking care of other people. I used to be a nurse before I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and ultimately forced to leave my job. This happened in 2005 and was a very difficult situation. Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain illness that causes muscular aches, pain and stiffness, fatigue, and difficulty sleeping. Needless to say, it was difficult for me to wake up every morning and lead a normal life. To be a wife. To be a mother. To continue living out my life’s dream to be a nurse. Not only was I struggling with my disease, but the same year, my husband Vincent got very sick and was diagnosed with diabetes. To make matters worse,… (more…)
Posted in Diabetes, Neurological Disorders | No Comments »
Pradeep Kharel
September 6th, 2007
My name is Pradeep Kharel and I come from Nepal, a small landlocked country between China and India. Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world, is one of our main attractions in the tourism industry. I have spent most of my life as a teacher of Art and hope to pursue this profession here in the USA in some way or the other after I get my green card, which will be in a year or so. Soon after my arrival in the USA, I was diagnosed with diabetes with the blood sugar count of 750!! This was devastating news and the situation was worsened as I had no source of income nor did I have insurance. However , Somerset Medical Center, New Jersey, looked after me in the initial stages and saved my life. I shall be ever grateful to them.As I had no earning I was facing a scary and precarious future when, at times, my wife could not buy me my very expensive medicines and blood testing equipment. Since her meagre income was insufficient to make ends meet I was contemplating leaving my family here and going back to Nepal. I had sacrificed a lot to be here with my loved ones but was soon beginning to give up hope and face a lonesome and bleak future back home. (more…)
Posted in Diabetes | No Comments »
