SPONSORED WALK TO RAISE FUNDS.
The Fife groups of Diabetes UK come together every year to help organise the local version of “Walk The Extra Mile”, the national fundraising venture to raise money for essential research into the causes, treatment and eventual cure for this condition that affects 224,000 people in Scotland and almost 18,000 Fife children, women and men.
This Spring the gentle stroll will take place in Lochore Meadows, Lochgelly on Sunday May 13th starting at 10.00am. It is a 3.6-mile walk around the loch on a clear and accessible route for all abilities and is suitable for wheelchairs and pushchairs. Dogs on leads are allowed. Everyone completing the walk, which is very suitable for families, receives a medal.
The Fife Diabetes Groups urgently need people to sign up now for the Walk and complete sponsor sheets. If you are willing to give up a couple of hours on a Sunday morning to help the fight against diabetes, please register as soon as possible for the walk by clicking the link on the Diabetes Fife website – www.diabetes-fife.org.uk – or giving Diabetes UK Scotland a phone on 0141 245 6380.
1. One person is diagnosed with diabetes every three minutes in the UK. Diabetes is a serious condition that can lead to heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness and amputation if not managed in the correct way. Diabetes, whether Type 1 or Type 2, is a serious condition. Diabetes costs the NHS £1 million pounds an hour. Almost one in 20 people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes. Diabetes causes more deaths than breast and prostate cancer combined.
2. Type 1 diabetes develops when insulin-producing cells in the pancreas are destroyed. This type of diabetes usually appears before the age of 40 and accounts for around 10 per cent of all people with diabetes. Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, it is not known why it develops and it is not connected with being overweight. People with Type 1 diabetes have to take insulin either via a pump or by injections several times a day to stay alive.
3. Type 2 diabetes develops when the body can still make some insulin, but not enough, or when the insulin that is produced does not work properly. Insulin acts as a key unlocking the cells, so if there is not enough insulin, or it is not working properly, the cells are only partially unlocked (or not at all) and glucose builds up in the blood. Type 2 diabetes usually affects people over 40 (over 25 in people from South Asian and Black backgrounds) and can be treated with a healthy diet and increased physical activity but medication and/or insulin is often required. In around 80 per cent of cases the condition is linked with being overweight and can go undetected for up to ten years.
4. Diabetes UK is the leading charity for over 3.5 million people in the UK with diabetes. In 2012, Diabetes UK aims to spend over £6 million on diabetes research to investigate the causes and prevention of diabetes, to improve care and treatment of diabetes and ultimately to work towards a cure. For more information visit www.diabetes.org.uk. In the UK, there are currently 2.8 million people diagnosed with diabetes and it is estimated that 850,000 people have Type 2 diabetes but don’t know it.
