Where's the cure?

I apologize in advance for this bitchy and bossy post. It came about when I saw Chris using his new insulin pump and he realized that this will be part of his life now. Forever. And it made me sad because he's just 9 years old. He has his whole life ahead of him. Right now the only things that should be on his mind are the upcoming science fair at school and meeting his friends at the park for kick ball, not his blood sugar levels.

Chris has only had diabetes for two years. That’s two years of pricking his fingers, insulin injections, and blood sugars that were really high or really low.

I realize that some kids have had diabetes for a lot longer than my son. I further realize that many adults were kids when they were diagnosed.

And I know that there has been some great strides made medically and technologically regarding how diabetes is managed, treated and lived with.

So excuse me for sounding a little whiny, for complaining and seeming ungrateful when I say, Where’s the cure?

Diabetes has been around for so many years. In all that time, they haven’t found a cure? There’s been hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars, donated, funded and charitably raised for research and development of a cure. Top doctors, scientists and researchers are working on it. And each year Ivy League universities graduate future doctors and scientists. Where is the Jonas Salk of our time?

And each year more money is raised and more research conducted. Insulin is great. The work-in-progress artificial pancreas is fantastic. But where is the cure? The vaccine or pill that will make this disease go away?

If doctors can transplant organs and scientists can clone sheep then there should be a cure for diabetes already. What’s taking so long?

Two years and already I’m sick and tired of this disease. I’m tired of looking into scared eyes and offering reassurances when my son’s blood sugar is scarily low or high. Enough already.

There have been monumental structures built, feats accomplished, and discoveries made. Finding a cure for diabetes should not be so hard. How much longer do we need to wait? Where’s the damn cure?