PUBLISHED: Wednesday, September 26, 2007 Walk to cure
diabetes this
Saturday
By Heidi Berden Editor
KALKASKA -Helen McCoy of Bear Lake Twp. in
Kalkaska County knows, firsthand, why the 6th annual
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes,
this Saturday, Sept. 29, at Sunset Park in Traverse
City, from 8:30 a.m. until noon is so important.
Her late husband, Mike, was diagnosed with type one
diabetes as a two year old. Mike and Helen were married
for more than 30 years when he died from the complications
of diabetes.
Mike endured almost every complication of diabetes in
his lifetime. According to Helen, some of Mike's complications
were:
¥ retinopathy (eye problems);
¥ laser surgery is the usual course to prevent blindness;
¥ neuropathy (nerve ending problems that start in the
lower extremities, e.g., feet, legs, fingers, hands);
¥ high blood pressure;
¥ kidney failure (Mike was on dialysis for 2 1/2 years
before his kidney transplant);
¥ kidney transplant (Helen donated her kidney to Mike
11 years before he died);
¥ heart problems;
¥ multiple amputations, including: both legs below the
knee and fingers on both hands.
Helen said she donated her kidney to Mike in 1990.
"We were the second non-related living donors," she said.
"At the time, it was quite unheard of."
Helen and Mike's oldest son, Matthew, also is a type one
diabetic who was diagnosed at age 11. Matthew, who lives
in Dundee, now is 31 years old.
"People don't understand that the effects on the body
can't be seen until it's too late," Helen said.
See WALK, page 12A
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