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2018 SunLife Walk to Cure Diabetes in Grande Prairie. Photo/JDRF/ Facebook
SunLife Walk

Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes takes place in Muskoseepi Park

Jun 2, 2019 | 7:00 AM

Across the country, through the months of May and June, approximately 40,000 Canadians will take part in the Sun Life Walk to Cure Diabetes in support of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, to raise both awareness and funds to help find a cure for type 1 diabetes. Today in Muskoseepi Park begining at 12:30 p.m. a Grande Prairie’s walk is set to take place.

JDRF has been around since 1974. The foundation was established by a group of volunteer parents whose children were diabetic. For over 40 years now, JDRF has become a global leader for type one diabetes research. They are the largest charitable supporter through both research funding and advocacy. Part of their mission is to help make the lives of those living with type one diabetes healthier, easier, and safer.

The 5 kilometer walk has been ongoing for 15 years within the Swan City.

“It’s a chance to get together to fight for the same cause and to be with people who really understand what you’re going through,” says Karen Zabinski, Peer to Peer Fundraising & Community Engagement Manager for JDRF.

This year, the event will feature various activities for adults and children alike. Children can enjoy a bouncing castle, face painting and get their photo taken with Star Wars Troopers characters. Speeches, a pizza lunch and barbeque will take place concluding the walk.

2018 SunLife Walk to Cure Diabetes. Photo/JDRF Grande Prairie/ Facebook

Zabinski explains that, “Type one Diabetes is when the body attacks your pancreas and it no longer produces insulin, so it leaves type one diabetics insulin dependent in order to live.”

In a release JDRF says that in the last decade, “incredible advancements have been made in the areas of encapsulation, transplantation, stem cell therapies and artificial pancreas research,” to help move towards finding a cure.

Statistics from JDRF show that an estimated 300,000 Canadians are currently living with type one diabetes and that number continues to increase at an alarming rate. More concerning, Canada has one of the highest rates of type one diabetes in the world for children under 14 years old.

Zabinski shares that her own daughter is a type one diabetic and that, “living with type one diabetes for most children is kind of a lonely event because nobody’s like you, right. Nobody has to take needles or watch what they eat. On this day, everyone is there for the same cause and they’re all just people.”

An exact reasoning for why the type one rate in children is so high in Canada has yet to be determined.

She says that, “at one point, they were wondering if it had to do with where you are raised or born or lived but the research is so vast and great that it hasn’t all come together and streamlined into the reason that people get it.”

Project goals for JDRF focus on cure therapies, treatment therapies, and preventive therapy research.

Restoring insulin-producing capabilities for individuals, reversing or halting immune attacks on the pancreas, developing new devices and therapeutic treatments, and preventative care measures are all working projects that JDRF supports.

“Right here in Alberta we have encapsulation, which is one of the cure therapies and what their working on is actually making the beta cells work again and start to produce insulin. That’s the hope. It’s got quite a bit of work to do but there are clinical trials happening,” said Zabinski.

The initial year JDRF held walks in Canada was 1994. That year, walks in Toronto, Hamilton, and Ottawa raised $100,000.

Now, 65 walks take place annually from coast- to- coast and JDRF raises $135 million.

Supporters can use #JDRFWalk or #SunLifeWalk to follow along with efforts across Canada.