Diabetes Canada held its first national five-kilometre relay on September 25 as part of the organization’s annual Lace Up fundraiser to generate money for research aimed at curing the disease.
Participants in the relay, and the other sports activities promoted during September’s Lace Up fundraiser, were encouraged to put on their track shoes or skates to generate donations.
Those involved were also asked to join Diabetes Canada on Facebook or Instagram at noon in their time zone (12:30 p.m. in Newfoundland) to hear participants’ stories about living with the disease or supporting a family member
This year’s fundraiser was celebrated exactly 100 years after insulin was discovered in 1922 by a University of Toronto research team led by Dr. Fredrick Banting. The Nobel Prize-winning feat, one of the most remarkable medical discoveries in Canadian history, gave diabetics a way to manage their disease and has saved the lives of millions of people around the world.
Diabetes Canada’s Lace Up fundraiser ran from September 1-30. Canadians from British Columbia to the Atlantic provinces worked together to raise money to advance diabetes research, diabetes education, support services and advocacy. Funds are also used to help children with diabetes attend summer “D-Camps.”
Diabetes Canada promoted the event as “boxed” so Canadians can choose how they’d like to run the five-kilometre relay. The fundraising team said participants were invited to walk, run, ride, skate or choose another way to participate.
This year’s fundraiser was celebrated exactly 100 years after insulin was discovered in 1922 by a University of Toronto research team led by Dr. Fredrick Banting.
According to Diabetes Canada, almost 11.7 million Canadians are living with diabetes or pre-diabetes. The autoimmune disease affects one in three people across Canada, and 1 in 2 young adults are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in their remaining lifetime.
Diabetes Canada describes diabetes as a disease in which the body cannot produce insulin at all or cannot properly use the insulin it produces. Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, which is located between the stomach and spine along with the gallbladder, liver, and spleen.
The role of insulin is to regulate the amount of glucose (sugar) in the body’s bloodstream. Blood glucose levels must be carefully regulated to ensure the body functions properly. Excess sugar in the bloodstream, causing high glucose levels, can damage organs, blood vessels and nerves. The body also needs insulin to convert sugar into energy.
There are three main types of diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the most common diagnosis, accounting for around 90% of cases, and usually develops over time based on factors such as body weight and diet. Type 1 diabetes usually develops in childhood as an autoimmune disorder in which the immune-producing cells of the pancreas are damaged.
Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy and is usually temporary. Prediabetes is another important diagnosis, indicating a high risk of developing diabetes, usually type 2.
“When you talk about it in terms of percentages, it’s harder to picture in your head,” said Diabetes Canada fundraiser Megan Spurrell. “But to talk about it (in) terms of one in three” Canadians affected, it’s very shocking, he said.
The rapid-acting insulin aspart solution of the NovoRapid brand is commonly prescribed to diabetics. [Photo © Nicole Beswitherick]
But even with the help of insulin, diabetes can still reduce an individual’s life expectancy by five to 15 years. Laura Syron, president of Diabetes Canada, recently said, “Diabetes is succeeding in outrunning us all and with a new diagnosis every three minutes in Canada, it’s not slowing down.”
The Lace Up event was first scheduled for 2020, but the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced online fundraising activities.
Last year, about 1,000 participants across Canada worked together to raise more than $450,000 for Diabetes Canada. In the summer of 2021, D-Camps provided 95 hours of programming to 218 families, the organization said.
Previously, relay participants had no way to track the distances they had run directly with Diabetes Canada. But this year, a new Lace Up to End Diabetes app was introduced.
“The app is great because it’s the only place through Lace Up where you can track how many miles you’ve run,” Spurrell said.
Spurrell added that individual or team participants in the Lace Up fundraiser have the opportunity to designate their funds to specific causes if participants raise $2,500 or more. This would allow them to use the money they raise for medical research, camps for children with diabetes, or other options.
Diabetes Canada and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation conduct diabetes research and conduct clinical trials. Diabetes Canada has supported research since 1975 and has provided more than $140 million in grants, awards and fellowships to scientists across the country, funding supported by events like Lace Up.
Diabetes Canada promotes the Lace Up event as one of its major annual fundraisers. [Courtesy of Diabetes Canada]
Diabetes Canada research and administration specialist Kelly Lang said the organization holds an annual research funding competition to select the best projects to support each year.
Each application goes through a rigorous peer review process, and funding decisions are based on expert recommendations from Diabetes Canada’s National Research Council, Lang said.
Dr. Erin Mulvihill, a researcher at the University of Ottawa and the Ottawa Heart Institute, is among the recent funding recipients and is currently working on a project titled: “Exploring the Effects of Ketogenic Diets on Type 2 Diabetes 2″. The project is testing the short- and long-term impacts of eating a low-carb diet to improve the health of people with diabetes.
Dr. Mulvihill is a recipient of the End Diabetes: 100 (2021-2024) Award, the Diabetes Canada New Investigator Award, and others.