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Why support diabetes research?

Last year, I lost my grandpa to a long struggling battle due to type 2 diabetes, which led to kidney failure and eventually heart failure. I started my journey with two questions in mind: What is diabetes? Can it be cured by any medicines?

In my research, I was shocked to find out that 37.3 million people have diabetes in our country. I can't believe that’s 11% of our population! In fact, about 13,000 youth are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year. Simultaneously, the epidemic of childhood obesity has led to a dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes in children, which actually even increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Either type of diabetes is chronic and places pediatric patients at risk for serious long-term complications, including vascular disease, stroke, blindness, loss of limbs, kidney failure, and heart disease.

As a youth ambassador for John Hopkins Children's Center, I want to support their pediatric diabetic research so we can detect it early on and support kids with diabetes.