On July 9th 2008 ‘Good Morning America’ did a really stupid and disrespectful thing. They aired a segment on Diabetes. They told millions of Americans how this disease could be prevented. What they failed to do is distinguish between the different types of diabetes. They encompassed it all under one umbrella. This left millions of Type ONE diabetics extremely angry, frustrated, and demanding a retraction. Did they retract? Kind of. They changed the title of the story on their website to say ‘Type 2’. This in no way makes up for their mistake on air. Type 1 diabetics are already type-cast. We always get people saying “You can cure your diabetes if you change the way you eat.” and “If you just exercised more it would go away.” Do you have ANY idea how INFURIATING this is? Type 1 diabetes can NOT be prevented and there is NO cure. It is an auto-immune disease and until they can find a way to replace all of our pancreases we will live with this disease no matter what we do. I am attached to an insulin pump 24/7. Without it…I would die. (Meredith actually autographed my life-saving device a couple of weeks ago when I was in NYC.) I have to test my blood sugar 8 to 15 times a day. Every night when I go to sleep I wonder if I will wake up because I have something called Hypoglycemia Unawareness. Would I prevent this if I COULD? OF COURSE. But I CAN’T. Type 1 diabetes does not ever get the attention that Type 2 does. My reason for this email is this: Will the number ONE morning show PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do a story on type ONE diabetics and what we go through? We are TIRED of the comments we get from people who are misinformed about our disease. Please help us get our story told.
My email will probably be ignored but hey…it made me feel better to write it.