This just in from the New Zealand Herald. Titled "Fizzy drink addiction costs diabetes sufferer his sight," this is a cautionary tale if ever there was one. Mr Thomas Ngere says his addiction to sugary fizzy drinks stole his sight. Mr. Ngere is blind--a complication of his Type 2 diabetes. He is also without kidneys and spend 15 hours+ per week hooked up to a dialysis machine.
His diabetes was diagnosed 15 years ago. Now, at 41, his life is bleak indeed.
"The biggest thing is I miss seeing my kids. I know they're there, but it's the visual thing. I'd give anything to see them again. People tell me, 'oh, they're this tall', but I just have to imagine it."
He became addicted to fizzy drinks, which enable people to consume large amounts of sugar in a short space of them. (I'm assuming fizzy drinks are similar to soft drinks such as Coke and Pepsi in America?) Mr. Ngere drank them morning, noon, and night. "I just had to have it all the time. Bu then, I didnt know much about diabetes." Nor did he listen to his doctor as the latter explained the ramifications if Ngere didn't stop his sugar abuse to his body.
The reality of his disease didn't sink in until he "woke up in a ward one morning, with renal failure." Exposure to fellow diabetes patients quickly changed his behavior, he said. "I saw fellow patients losing limbs. Starting from a little blister on the toe, and next thing a foot went. Then the whole leg went."
In America, here's the equally bleak numbers, just in from the American Diabetes Association. Diabetes is a devastating disease that affects nearly 21 million Americans. Of those, nearly 6 million don't know that they have diabetes! An additional 54 million Americans have pre-diabetes, which puts them at greatest risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes Hey, that come to 75 million Americans, folks! That nearly 1/4 of our total population!
