Victoria Park to host Walk to Cure Diabetes event

The Walk to Cure Diabetes in support of JDRF will be held Sept. 23 in Victoria Park. Registration begins at 9 a.m. with the walk to start at 10 a.m.

The walk usually leaves Victoria Park and does a loop around the downtown core of Truro (3.2 km).

It ends back at the park for a barbecue and refreshments.

Erin Cock started the event in 2007 after her own child was diagnosed with Type 1 (insulin dependent) diabetes. It has grown over the years, adding more families affected by this disease, with children usually being afflicted with Type 1.

So far, the walk has raised more than $100,000 to support JDRF in efforts to find a cure and better treatment for diabetes.

“Most people think that diabetes is easy to manage because we have insulin to treat it, however, this is not the case,” Cock said. “Many diabetics, especially children, will poke fingers and test blood sugars up to 10-15 times/day in addition to injecting insulin either by pump or needle. Diabetes affects over two million Canadians, with 60,000 new cases being diagnosed each year. Insulin is not a cure but merely a life support system.”

Diabetes can strike at any age and has serious complications, including blindness, kidney failure, amputation, heart disease and stroke.

Cock said those complications are the motivation needed every year to never give up in the hunt a the cure.

The walk is open to everyone, and many have joined it in recent years in Truro.