Hundreds walk for JDRF

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Hundreds of people showed up to walk Saturday morning at the Virgina Beach Oceanfront to raise money to help find a cure for Juvenile Diabetes.

Every year more than 13 thousand children are diagnosed with Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes.

Diabetes is the name that is given to disorders in which the body has a problem with regulating its blood glucose, or blood sugar levels.

There are two types of diabetes, Type 1 diabetes is a disorder in the body's immune system, or the system that protects the body from viruses, bacteria and other foreign substances. Type 1 diabetes is also called Juvenile Diabetes or insulin-dependent diabetes.

Type 1 Diabetes is generally diagnosed in children, teenagers and young adults. Scientists and researchers do not know what exactly causes Type 1 Diabetes, but they do believe that autoimmune display definition, genetic and environmental factors are involved with the disease.

Type 1 Diabetes occurs when the body's immune system attacks and destroys certain cells in the pancreas. Beta, the cells in the pancreas, are cells that normally produce insulin, a hormone that helps the body move the glucose contained in food into the appropriate cells throughout the body, for use in energy.

However, when these cells are destroyed, no insulin can be produced, and the glucose stays in the blood instead of going to the appropriate cells. Glucose staying in the blood runs the risk of serious damage of all the organ systems in the body.

With the glucose in the blood, people with Type 1 Diabetes are forced to take insulin in order to stay alive. This means multiple injections daily, or insulin constantly injected though a pump.

Type 1 diabetes patients also have to test their blood sugar, by pricking their fingers for blood six or more times a day. People with diabetes also have to watch everything they eat and their exercise to regulate their blood sugar in an attempt to avoid either low or high blood sugar reactions, which can be life threatening.

Click on the links below to find out more about diabetes:

JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)

American Diabetes Association