The Conspiracy

This morning B came out to me in tears. J told him something that upset him and it took a little prodding for B to spill what it was.

I wasn’t too concerned; J likes to get B all riled up about things. I think it might be his way of showing he is older and wiser. (J is just a few inches taller than B, but he is an entire 4 years older.)

So apparently J told B that they have found a cure for diabetes. BUT, the “insulin companies” bought the cure and won’t let anyone use it. He said they are hiding it because they make too much money selling insulin.

When I confronted J with what he said, he was fully convinced that what he was saying was true. After all, so and so at school told him.

“Well,” I said, “So and so is wrong.”

There was a long conversation after, where I had to admit that MAYBE pharmaceutical companies aren’t TRYING to find a cure, because yes, they are making a lot of money off us. But then I promised both the boys, that somewhere in the world, right that minute, there were scientists looking for a cure. I told them I didn’t know how close they were. Maybe next year, maybe in 100 years, but they were trying none the less.

Both the boys seemed satisfied with my answer. I, on the other hand, am not.

I didn’t lie; I do believe there is someone out there tirelessly working to find the cure. But honestly, I wonder how a cure will ever be found when a majority of the world’s population doesn’t even know what Type 1 Diabetes is. The majority of the world has no idea what my/your days are like. NO IDEA.

This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and I just read an article on my Yahoo home page stating that there is a movement from Breast Cancer Survivors to get the pink merchandise to go away. They are tired of the commercialization of Breast Cancer. And although I do see how they feel, I can’t help but wonder what the world would be like with Blue everywhere. Blue cleats on football players, blue Pyrex mixing bowls, blue circles on half of the products at the grocery store. Wouldn’t it be nice to know that people took our disease seriously? Wouldn’t it be nice to know that people were educated on the symptoms and auto-immune causes of Type 1? Wouldn’t it be nice to say, “My child has Juvenile Diabetes,” without having to explain what it is?

Yes, it would be nice. We need to up our game. World Diabetes Day needs to be put in the spotlight. There needs to be a campaign educating the public on what Type 1 Diabetes is. Once people stop confusing Type 1 and Type 2, maybe they will have more empathy for our cause. And maybe, just maybe, they’ll open their pocket books, and we’ll be able to get some serious curing accomplished within our children’s lifetime.

Anyway, my brain is working tirelessly today thinking of what I can do to make a difference...

I have a headache.