Diabetes doesn't guarantee a shorter life

Here's a great little story about people with diabetes living into their 80s. It seems that because of their overall awareness of healthful habits, people with diabetes can actually avoid those medical issues that kill the rest of us early.

Published Sunday, Sept. 26, 2004

Growing old with diabetes
By WILLIAM KATES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

SYRACUSE, New York -- Day in and day out, for seven decades, brothers Robert and Gerald Cleveland have meticulously managed their blood glucose levels, fending off a disease that typically gives its victims just 20 or 30 years. On Thursday, the world's leading diabetes research centre paid tribute to the Clevelands for their longevity and everyday perseverance.

According to the Boston-based Joslin Diabetes Center, they are the first siblings known to have lived with Type 1 diabetes for 50 years or longer.

DIABETES FOR 79 YEARS

Robert, 84, has lived with Type 1 diabetes for 79 years and, according to the centre's Dr. Hillary Keenan, is the longest known survivor. Gerald, 88, has had diabetes for 72 years.

"It's a minor distraction from a normal person's life. It doesn't have to interfere with any activities," said Robert, who believes he is probably in better overall health today because of his meticulously healthful habits.

Diabetes makes people more prone to heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, blindness, kidney disease, nervous system disease and amputations.

"You're not handicapped with diabetes," Gerald said. "You just have a special job to do."

A diabetic doesn't produce or properly use insulin, the hormone needed to convert food into energy. The reason why continues to be a mystery, although genetics and factors such as obesity and lack of exercise appear to play roles, according to the American Diabetes Association.

DIABETES KILLED 69,301 IN 2000

Since the Joslin Center began its 50-year medal awards in 1972, more than 2,200 Americans have been identified as living with diabetes for 50-plus years, said Dr. George King, research director at the centre, which has more than 300 doctors and scientists. Eleven patients have lived 75-plus years with diabetes, he said. In 2000, the disease claimed 69,301 lives.

Over that time, Joslin researchers have studied the group to better understand what biological and genetic factors may contribute to a long life with diabetes, Keenan said.

Today, in the United States, there are 18.2 million diabetics, a third of whom aren't aware they have the disease.

Robert, a retired accountant, was diagnosed at age five in 1925 - three years after insulin was invented. He nearly died. Seven years later, Gerald, a former Syracuse school superintendent, was diagnosed at age 16.