ABOUT LIAM AURICCHIO and DIABETES

On September 27, 2001, Liam was diagnosed with Juvenile (type 1) Diabetes. He was only 3 years old. Initially we were devastated by the news, and later, overwhelmed by the changes we faced. Liam has now been living with type 1 diabetes for almost 10 years.

Since his diagnosis, Liam has received thousands of insulin injections and has pricked his finger over 25,000 times (to monitor his blood glucose levels). Fortunately Liam qualified for insulin pump therapy and as of December 2004 traded in his three shots a day for taking his insulin through the insulin pump. Even with the use of the insulin pump, he still has to endure a needle every two days to install an infusion set. However, the insulin pump allows greater flexibility with meal planning and insulin delivery. Liam is still required to monitor his blood glucose levels at least 6 times a day with a finger prick. Liam faces low and high blood sugar events on a regular basis. Often times he has had to sit out of practice for a sport or gym class and has had to delay taking a test in school due low or high blood sugar. Sometimes he misses school due to illness or doctor visits and is faced with making up work. He has been fortunate to avoid seizure or unconsciousness due to low blood sugar so far. He has also not been hospitalized due to severe high blood sugars (diabetic keto-acidosis). As a 12 year old, he is faced with managing diabetes during puberty when the body is growing rapidly and experiencing surges in hormones. Keeping blood glucose in at acceptable levels during adolescence is especially challenging and frustrating. Even if he follows all his doctors' instructions, type 1 diabetes can lead to many other long term medical problems - like heart disease, blindness, kidney failure, amputations - even premature death. Liam will not outgrow diabetes and insulin is not a cure. He will be dependent on insulin for "life support" until a cure is found!

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What are the symptoms of type 1 diabetes?

Warning signs of type 1 diabetes may occur suddenly and include:

Extreme thirst
Frequent urination
Drowsiness or lethargy
Increased appetite
Sudden weight loss
Sudden vision changes
Sugar in the urine
Fruity odor on the breath
Heavy or labored breathing
Stupor or unconsciousness

How do you get Diabetes?

Type 1 diabetes usually strikes in childhood, adolescence, or young adulthood, and lasts a lifetime. Those diagnosed with type 1 diabetes are born with the predisposition to acquire the disease. For reasons, which have yet to be discovered, the immune system mistakenly attacks the insulin producing “beta” cells in the pancreas, killing them. Insulin is a hormone that enables people to get energy from food. Our bodies must produce insulin to live.

How do you care for type 1 diabetes?

Managing type 1 diabetes requires constant attention. To stay alive, people with type 1 diabetes must take multiple insulin injections daily or continually infuse insulin through a pump. They must also test their blood sugar by pricking their fingers for blood six or more times a day. While trying to balance insulin doses with their food intake and daily activities, people with this form of diabetes still must always be prepared for serious hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) and hyperglycemic (high blood sugar) reactions, both of which can be life-limiting and life threatening. Type 1 Diabetes is difficult to manage. Despite paying rigorous attention to maintaining a meal plan and exercise regimen and always injecting the proper amount of insulin, people with type 1 diabetes face many other factors that can adversely affect efforts to tightly control blood sugar levels. These factors include stress, hormonal changes, periods of growth, physical activity, medications, illness/infection, and fatigue.

How is Type 2 (Adult Onset) Diabetes different?

Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder in which a person's body still produces insulin but is unable to use it effectively. Type 2 is usually diagnosed in adulthood and does not always require insulin injections. In many cases, type 2 diabetes can be controlled through diet and exercise or with oral medications. Increased obesity has led to a recent rise in cases of type 2 diabetes in children and young adults. Taking insulin does not cure any type of diabetes, nor does it prevent the possibility of the disease's devastating effects: kidney failure, blindness, nerve damage, amputation, heart attack, stroke, and pregnancy complications.

The Statistics

Diabetes is one of the costliest chronic diseases.
In 2007, diabetes accounted for $174 billion in health care costs in the U.S.
Diabetes accounts for 32 percent of all Medicare expenditures.
The nation spent $11,700 annually on each person with diabetes in 2007 compared to $4,400 on each person without diabetes.
Americans with diabetes incur medical expenses that are approximately 2.3 times higher than those incurred by Americans without diabetes.
U.S. hospital stays related to diabetes totaled $58.3 billion in 2007.
Nearly 26 million Americans have diabetes (8.3 percent of the population)
Diagnosed: 18.8 million
Undiagnosed: 7 million
As many as three million Americans may have type 1 diabetes.
Diabetes currently affects 285 million people worldwide and is expected to affect 435 million by 2030.
In the U.S., a new case of diabetes is diagnosed every 30 seconds; more than 1.9 million people are diagnosed each year.
As many as three million Americans may have type 1 diabetes.
Each year, more than 15,000 children and 15,000 adults approximately 80 people per day - are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the U.S.

What is new in the treatment of Diabetes?

Glucose Control

This area seeks to identify ways to dramatically improve blood glucose control while avoiding dangerous highs and lows in people at all stages of type 1 diabetes. JDRF is prioritizing the development of a closed loop artificial pancreas, a device combining glucose monitors and insulin pumps, to enable people to achieve tight blood sugar control and reduce their risk of complications. JDRF is also prioritizing the development of novel insulins that are glucose-responsive, faster-acting, easier to use, and more effective.

Complications Therapies

This area focuses on ways to free people from the devastating long-term complications that can accompany diabetes, including diseases of the eyes, nerves, and kidneys. JDRF is prioritizing research in complications protection,or new approaches to assess risk and block complications from developing and progressing.

What about a Cure?

Immune Therapies

This area focuses on ways to stop the immune system attack on the body's insulin-producing beta cells that causes type 1 diabetes. Within this area, JDRF is prioritizing antigen-specific therapies that would reverse the immune attack in type 1 diabetes without suppressing the entire immune system.

Beta Cell Therapies

This area aims to find ways to restore the body's ability to make insulin through the:

Regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells (i.e. triggering the body to re-grow beta cells) and Replacement of the beta cells lost to diabetes.
Replacement of the beta cells lost to diabetes.
JDRF is prioritizing regeneration because of its potential to restore beta cell function in the largest number of people living with type 1 diabetes.

With the help of our many friends, TEAM LIAM is dedicated to:

Raise funds to find a cure.
Increase Public Awareness of Diabetes.
Advocacy

To reach our goals we have partnered with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. JDRF's mission is to find a cure for diabetes through the support of research. JDRF is also committed to developing new and better treatments that improve the lives of people with type 1 diabetes in the near term and keep them healthy while we advance toward a cure. Since its founding in 1970 by parents of children with type 1 diabetes, JDRF has funded more than $1.5 billion in research. In FY2010 alone, JDRF provided more than $107 million for type 1 diabetes research. More than 80 percent of JDRF's expenditures directly support research and research-related education. In FY2010, JDRF funded research projects in 19 countries, including more than 40 human clinical trials.