Mr. Speaker, there are over 200,000 Canadians with juvenile diabetes. To stay alive, diabetics must balance insulin injections with the amount of food intake and must always be prepared for low blood sugar or high blood sugar, either of which could be life threatening.
Juvenile diabetes can also be very costly. One child with diabetes costs a family up to $20,000 per year to manage the disease. Diabetes and its complications cost Canada more than $9 billion a year in health care, absenteeism and lost productivity. These Canadians live with the realization that the results from diabetes are a lifelong problem and could result in serious and permanent complications to their health.
Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic amputations, adult blindness, stroke, heart attacks and is the seventh leading cause of death in Canada.
Let us all work together to find a cure for diabetes.