Community Health Charities of Florida - August 2011

 A mother’s discussion on the daily challenge of coping with her daughter’s illness.

Jill Canfield, a single mother of two children and a trade association attorney, became concerned when her three-year-old daughter Cassie began to experience episodes of extreme thirst along with frequent trips to the bathroom. Shortly after these episodes began, Jill did some research online and then called Cassie’s pediatrician. On the advice of the pediatrician, Cassie went to the hospital where she was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Over the same weekend that Cassie was diagnosed, Jill was learning how to test Cassie’s blood sugar level and how to monitor her diet. Their lives changed seemingly overnight.

As a result of her child’s diagnosis, Jill added a few more roles to her already busy life – caregiver, volunteer and advocate. Jill  sits down with Health Matters at Work® host Jerry Franz to discuss what that experience was like, as well as the day-to-day challenge of raising a child with diabetes.

Click here on August 15^th to find out how life can change so quickly with the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes and how Jill was able to cope by taking action. She became the primary caregiver for Cassie, as well as her healthcare advocate. She also decided to volunteer and advocate on behalf of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Federation. Viewers will learn that it takes a team of parents, doctors, teachers, volunteers and organizations like JDRF and Community Health Charities to improve the lives of people living with chronic diseases like diabetes.

About JDRF

JDRF is the worldwide leader for research to cure type 1 diabetes. It sets the global agenda for diabetes research, and is the largest charitable funder and advocate of diabetes science worldwide.

The mission of JDRF is to find a cure for diabetes and its complications through the support of research. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that strikes children and adults. People with type 1 diabetes have to test their blood sugar and give themselves insulin injections multiple times or use a pump - each day, every day of their lives. And even with that intensive care, insulin is not a cure for diabetes, nor does it prevent its potential complications, which may include kidney failure, blindness, heart disease, stroke and amputation. JDRF estimates that there are as many as three million people in the United States who have type 1 diabetes.