Wanted: cure for diabetes

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The walk for diabetes research is scheduled for Sept. 17 at Buhl Farm Park.

By SARAH WEBER

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

VOLANT, Pa. — It's 8:25 p.m. and Amanda Sojack knows it's coming.

The 15-year-old Wilmington High School student sees her mother, Joannie Garrett, glance at the clock, but Amanda interrupts her before she can say anything.

"I tell her, 'I already did it, Mom,'" Amanda says.

Every night at 8:30, Amanda has to take her 24-hour insulin. She never forgets, and her mom never forgets to remind her.

Amanda is one of 1.3 million Americans living with type one diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes.

She was diagnosed two years ago at the Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital in Youngstown. Though the disease has altered her eating habits, it hasn't kept her from being an average teenager.

"Her life didn't change," Garrett said. "Just things in her life."

Amanda still enjoys going to dirt-track racing events and hanging out with her friends, who she says are understanding about her condition.

"My friends make sure that when I come over, they have diet pop, and they always ask if I can eat this or that," Amanda said.

Garrett said her daughter, who baby-sits a 6-year-old with severe birth defects, has always kept a positive attitude.

"Her attitude from the very beginning was, 'This could be worse,'" Garrett said.

Yet, Amanda and her mom still hope for a cure for a disease that, despite being manageable, still kills one American every three minutes.

Upcoming event

Garrett is the chairwoman of the Mercer County Walk to Cure Diabetes at Buhl Farm Park on Sept. 17.

The walk will raise funds for diabetes research that may some day turn out a cure.

"My doctor is 65 or 70, and he says there will be a cure in his lifetime," Amanda said.

She said she is also optimistic about researchers' curing juvenile diabetes.

Amanda, her mom and her stepfather, Tom, traveled to Erie for a diabetes walk last year.

They took a group of friends and called their team "Amanda's Crew."

After the event, when Garrett discussed having a walk closer to home with Doug White, the executive director of the Northwestern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International, she didn't know she would end up chairing the event.

"I couldn't turn him down," Garrett said.

"It's for my daughter."

Garrett said the walk will be from 9 to 11 a.m. and refreshments will be available.

For more information about signing up for the walk or to donate, call Joannie Garrett at (724) 533-5986 or the foundation chapter at (814) 452-0635.

Sunday, August 13, 2006