Sharon Patterson runs for Diabetes: 2003

The late running guru George Sheehan once wrote, “Everyone is an athlete. The only difference is that some of us are in training, and some are not.”
Sharon Patterson of Saline is one such athlete. But training for her is more than a way to stay in shape. Sharon is on a mission.
Business development director for Process Results in Saline, Sharon lost her father last year to diabetes, and has several other family members with the same chronic disease. In 2000, she participated in the Team Diabetes challenge, walking all 26.2 miles of the Chicago Marathon to raise money for a cure.
Next month, the mother of two will join Team Diabetes in the Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans. The event starts and finishes in the Superdome.
“This is my second marathon, and if I survive this, I’ll be doing pretty good,” Sharon says.
The Team Diabetes program, under the umbrella of the American Diabetes Association, offers its members an opportunity to experience the world’s most beautiful and well-known marathon courses while raising funds to support diabetes research. Many people choose to walk or run a marathon in honor or memory of someone that they love who has diabetes or has died from it.
For Sharon, that person is her father, Ron Dietrich.
“I know, I’m nuts to be training in winter, in Michigan, for a marathon,” Sharon says. “But, it’s for a great cause. We can get rid of diabetes in our lifetime.”
The program is structured so that the participants raise the funds, which cover their individual expenses and a substantial donation to the ADA.
In addition to funding research, contributions also are used by the ADA to assist people living with diabetes, helping them to better manage their health.
“They work to educate people on how to prevent it in the first place, and they provide substantial funding toward a cure,” Sharon says.
Like Sharon, I come from a family with “the sugar,” as it was called when I was a kid. My father, too, died from diabetes; two of my sisters are diabetics, and the sister I lost last month also was a diabetic.
The most recent research has health care practitioners concerned. Diabetes is reaching epidemic proportions in the U.S. More and more young people are exhibiting the symptoms as well. There are many contributing factors to these statistics, but overall a sedentary lifestyle filled with white bread, processed food, and too much sugar is the biggest factor.
Like other chronic disease, there’s plenty that medical science still hasn’t discovered about diabetes. But the experts can tell you how people can develop diabetes and why the diet-exercise connection is so crucial.
Diabetes is the condition in which the body doesn’t produce enough of the hormone insulin to break down food into glucose/glycogen, which is the primary source of fuel for every cell in the body, from the brain to the baby toe. Insulin is produced in the pancreas, and as we consume white bread, refined food, and too much sugar, the pancreas starts to get a little tired. As too much sugar is delivered, the cells’ ability to accept it decreases.
As the system breaks down, insulin has to be introduced into the body, either by oral medication or direct injection.
Our bodies are comprised of millions of tiny, intricate blood vessels in which glucose is transported from cell to cell to provide energy to our brain, our heart, our eyes, our kidneys and the rest of our bodies. When our cells’ sensitivity to insulin is decreased, sugar doesn’t reach the cells to nourish them, and tissue gets damaged or dies.
The more frail tissues—the tiny blood vessels of the eye, heart, brain, sex organs and kidneys—are the first to be damaged, which is why diabetics often suffer from blindness, strokes, renal failure, impotence and heart failure. Frail capillaries also are affected, which is why diabetics are more prone to infections, especially in the extremities, like toes and feet.
Diabetes affects about 6 percent of the population, more than 16 million Americans, and that number is increasing. It is the seventh leading cause of death in the U.S., and in Michigan.
There are almost 800,000 new cases diagnosed each year.
Type II diabetes could account for 90-95 percent of all diagnosed cases of diabetes.
The risk of developing diabetes increases with age and diabetics are 2-4 times more likely to die from heart disease and stroke.
Heart disease is the leading cause of diabetes-related deaths.
Diabetes is the leading cause of end-stage renal disease, the leading cause of new cases of blindness among adults ages 20-74, and 60-70 percent of al people with diabetes show evidence of nerve system damage.
Finally, more than half of lower limb amputations occur among people with diabetes.
If you’ve ever lived with anyone who is a diabetic, or ever watched them die from it, you know how terrible it can be. It’s a slow and horrible death.
Sharon Patterson knows this because she, too, has watched it happen to her father. It helps keep her motivated when the temperatures drop to the single digits and she’s scheduled a long walk/run for that day. It also keeps her going during the week when she uses her lunch hour to do a few laps around the block.
“I’m still short of my $5,000 goal,” she says. “I’d like to encourage anyone who is interested to donate to the cause. I’d be honored to accept any and all contributions, and all contributions are tax deductible.”
If you’re interested in getting involved in Team Diabetes, Sharon extends an invitation to join her in the Disney Marathon next January or the Bermuda Marathon in November 2004.
“I plan to do those marathons with “Team D” too, and it sure would be great to have some company,” she says. “Let me know if you’re interested.”
To reach Sharon or to contribute, mail your check made payable to the ADA to 7417 Steeplechase Ct., Saline, 48176 or visit her Web site at http://events.diabetes.org/memberpages/sharon.
First published in The Saline Reporter Jan. 16, 2003