11,500 SIGN PETITION FOR DIABETES RESEARCH

Vicki Abernathy found collecting signatures for the American Diabetes Association's Petition for the Cure campaign both encouraging and scary.

It was encouraging so many people, 11,500 in Cape Girardeau County, wanted to sign the petition urging Congress to appropriate more money to find a cure for diabetes, a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy needed for daily life.

It was scary that more than a one-third of those Abernathy asked to sign the petition either had or knew someone who had diabetes. That confirmed how widespread a problem diabetes is and why it is so important to increase funding for research, she thinks.

There are 16 million people with diabetes in the United States, according to the ADA, and it is the leading cause of heart disease, kidney disease, stroke, amputations and blindness. Yet, the Diabetes Research Working Group, a panel of experts appointed by the National Institutes of Health, termed funding levels for diabetes as "trivial."

"Diabetes kills four times as many Americans as AIDS and breast cancer combined," said Joseph LaMountain, ADA national director of advocacy. "Yet when it comes to finding a cure, the government spends six times more on AIDS and breast cancer research than diabetes."

The petition, which will be delivered to Congress during a Rally for Diabetes March 21, states that of the $40 billion a year the government spends on diabetes, 99 percent goes toward treatment while only 1 percent goes into research for a cure.

Because a cure could save billions of lives and eventually billions of dollars in treatment costs, the ADA petition urges Congress to follow the Diabetes Research Working Group's recommendation to allocate $1 billion a year for diabetes research.

"When people would sign the petition, they would say, 'You are really trying to find a cure? We thought it was something we'd just have to live with,'" Abernathy said.

More than 2 million signatures have been collected nationwide, including 21,000 signatures in Southeast Missouri, Abernathy said.

People from Cape Girardeau County to attend the March 21 rally, including some who collected more than 2,500 signatures -- Abernathy, Jackson Junior High eighth-grader Justin Gibbs, retiree Sina Kaiser, Southeast Missouri State University student Chrissie Icaza, Gail Howard -- and Janet Stewart, president of the Southeast Area Chapter of ADA. Also attending will be a representative from Sikeston, one from Dexter and two from Patton, making the Southeast Missouri contingent the largest from any area of the country, Stewart said.

Abernathy said the group will be in Washington from March 19 through 21. While there they will talk to legislators, including U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson of Cape Girardeau and Missouri's two U.S. senators, Christopher Bond and John Ashcroft; attend seminars, demonstrations and discussions on diabetes and its treatment; and attend a rally on the Capitol steps. More than 1,500 people are expected to attend the rally.

"It's going to be awesome to see all those people rallying for a cure," Abernathy said.

Locally signatures were collected at tables set up in front of stores, at sporting events, at the SEMO District Fair as well as at diabetes screening and information events, she said.

"Once people found out what the petition was for, they were eager to sign," said Abernathy, who is a diabetic. "So many people have been touched by diabetes, either through having it themselves or knowing someone else who has it."

"We found that most people had a personal connection with diabetes," said Steward, who as a patient educator at Southeast Missouri Hospital often works with diabetic patients. "They either had struggled with diabetes themselves or had seen the struggles others face, struggles that with a cure wouldn't have to be tackled."

Gibbs, who collected a little more than 2,500 signatures, doesn't have diabetes himself, but he knows many diabetics, including Abernathy, who Gibbs said has been an inspiration to him.

Not only did he collect signatures, he's also been busy writing letters to President Clinton and those running for president about the need for more funding for diabetes research.

In his letters, he quotes a statistic from ADA that since 1981, government funding of diabetes research has dropped 30 percent while the number of deaths from diabetes has increased by 30 percent.

Abernathy has suffered many side effects because of diabetes. In fact, just last week, she went into a diabetic coma and had to be hospitalized.

Before being diagnosed with diabetes when she was in her 30s, Abernathy had been a dance instructor and flight attendant. Now at age 51, Abernathy has lost the sensation in her legs because of her diabetes and has trouble walking.

"It's been devastating for me," Abernathy said.

Those with diabetes struggle constantly with the disease, having to watch what they eat, activities they do and keep an eye on their blood sugar levels through testing, Abernathy said.

"And diabetes never goes away," Abernathy said. "Whatever you do, every minute of the day, affects your diabetes."

Stewart said she has seen benefit just from people signing the petition.

"It gives them hope that someday there will be a cure for diabetes, and that hope helps give them the strength to deal with the daily problems the disease brings," she said.

Treatment can help ease the burden of diabetes, she said, "but the ultimate goal is finding a cure so the burden can be lifted completely."