Showdown with Diabetes

Wow! I just finished reading Showdown with Diabetes. It is a beautifully researched work and is the first book (I have read many) that tells the truth about diabetes. This is a MUST read for everyone with diabetes. It is full of optimism and is truly an inspiration to all those who love someone with diabetes to get out and advocate for a cure. Thank you Ms. Butterfield!

The truth about Type 1 autoimmune diabetes until now has been smothered in lies and false bravado. The governmental policies and research inititatives have for too long been focused on the management of diabetes. Deb Butterfield tells it like it is. Diabetes is a serious autoimmune disease (not a lifestyle disease) that needs to be CURED. Diabetics need to stop hiding and start speaking out otherwise they will be left behind again and again. We can't afford to let history repeat itself for the economic, emotional and physical toll of diabetes is overwhelming. Showdown with Diabetes is a must read for anyone who wants to know the truth about this grossly underestimated disease. This book makes it clear that we need to stop blaming the diabetic and start holding the disease itself, autoimmune diabetes, accountable for the progressive and unrelenting destruction of human life. Whether you're a parent of a child or yourself a diabetic, you can't afford to choose ignorance over knowledge or convenient platitudes over reality. I wish more people had the courage of Deb Buttefield to simply tell the truth. [...]

Deb tells it like it is, folks. The medical community, even "specialists", have skirted the real seriousness of diabetes for decades. In my personal 35 year battle with Type I diabetes, I have experienced the full gamut of complications in spite of always following the proper care rules. Showdown is a page turner--I read it in one setting and had chills every second. Deb drives home that future generations shall not experience what we have endured.

Reading "Showdown With Diabetes" took me on a rollercoaster of self-examination about my own management of type I diabetes over the past 25 years. Deb's sharing of her experiences with this insidious disease will prompt significant reflection and realizations for diabetics and non-diabetics alike. If you are a diabetic, read it to ground yourself and share experiences with someone who has been there and back. If you are not a diabetic, read it to understand the impact of diabetes beyond insulin injections and finger sticks. But most of all, read it. And then commit yourself to supporting diabetes cure research.

I consider myself privileged to have been allowed to read this extraordinary book while still in galley form. Deb Butterfield has written an achingly candid account of her personal journey with diabetes. She begins with her diagnosis at age 10 and ends with her pancreas transplant some 15 years later; covering all the physical and emotional trauma wrecked by diabetes in between. Unfortunately, the toll diabetes took on her life is all too common. She puts to rest, once and for all, the myth that diabetes is a chronic disease which can be managed if one is simply diligent enough. After reading Ms.Butterfield's book, it becomes crystal clear that diabetes is still a fatal disease which can only be managed by curing it. The book ends on a joyous note with the knowledge that alternatives to continuing with diabetes already exist and that the cure will come sooner rather than later