November is internationally recognized as the National Diabetes Awareness Month, a campaign dedicated to helping people who are or could be diagnosed with diabetes. Organizers hope to gain a better understanding of how to prevent, provide treatment, and one day perhaps cure all forms of diabetes
The theme of the 2013 campaign NDAM is "Diabetes by Numbers :. We are all counting on you. "Canada, the number of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes continues to grow each year, as the cost of providing treatment for the condition.
· As many as 300,000 Canadians are living with type 1 diabetes
· Child rate under 14 living with type 1 diabetes to grow 3 percent worldwide
· However, type 1 diabetes can affect both children and adults at any age in life
· people with type 1 diabetes can see their life expectancy reduced by up to 15 years
There are many warning signs of a child or an adult could be living with type 1 diabetes. Extreme thirst, loss of appetite, sudden weight loss, and the relentless urination are physical symptoms of the disease. These warning signs can often cause drowsiness, lethargy, labored breathing, and in some cases loss of consciousness.
The organizers of the campaign NDAM encourage families who have a person diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes to share their stories on social media using the hashtag #countingonu to help raise awareness for the condition.
There are a growing number of treatment options for the condition each year, including cases where patients received umbilical cord blood stem cell transplants. The organizers hope to raise as many donations as possible, with all the money used to support research into other options for the treatment of diabetes.