The faces
of diabetes
A who’s who of people working hard every day
to manage their diabetes. YP :_\cj\X I\pefc[j
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As unlikely as it may
sound, diabetes could be
the next step in building a
career. After losing her marketing
job seven years ago, Riva Greenberg,
PWD type 1, let diabetes become
her muse.
“I saw so many ways in which
diabetes had actually helped my life,”
she says. “I wanted to give other
people a way to create their best life—not despite having diabetes,
but because of it.” Today, Riva is the author of two diabetes books.
Riva wrote and illustrated The ABCs Of Loving Yourself With Diabetes
(SPI Management, 2007). The colorful watercolor-painted pages
are filled with morale-boosting techniques and wellness principles.
“I wrote the ABCs book because emotional management is so
underaddressed. And hardly anybody gets help dealing with the
emotions of diabetes,” Riva says.
Her second book, 50 Diabetes Myths That Can Ruin Your Life—And the
50 Diabetes Truths That Can Save It (Da Capo, 2009), takes a practical
approach to self-care by discerning diabetes facts from fiction. Riva
c onsulted medical specialists to
d ebunk myths like “eating sweets
c auses diabetes” and “diabetes
m edications cause weight gain.”
“I look at every shot of insulin
I take as a blessing. I choose to
l ook at how fortunate I am to have
s omething that keeps me alive
e very day,” Riva says. She hopes
h er books will help readers do
t he same.
You can purchase Riva’s books
o nline atamazon.com.
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For some,
diabetes is
a diagnosis.
For others, it is a
mission. Steven
Edelman, M.D.,
PWD type 1,
endocrinologist,
professor of
medicine, and the American Diabetes
Association’s 2009 Diabetes Educator
of the Year, has made it his life goal
to raise diabetes awareness and
improve education about the disease.
In 1995, after years of teaching and
practicing medicine, Steven launched
a nonprofit education organization,
Taking Control of Your Diabetes.
TCOYD promotes diabetes-focused
learning through conferences, health
fairs, and multimedia approaches.
Since the organization’s inception,
more than 100,000 people have
attended its conferences and
health fairs (see “Diabetes Events,”
oppposite). The events cost TCOYD
about $175 per person to produce.
However, attendees pay only $30
each, and TCOYD provides financial
assistance to those who cannot afford
the fee. “We don’t let money block
anybody from coming,” Steven says.
“Knowledge is
power. Know about
your diabetes.”
—Steven Edelman, M.D., PWD type 1
Steven hopes TCOYD events will
continue to draw PWDs of all types
long into the future. He says that
diabetes education is not limited to
medical professionals. Rather, people
living with diabetes must be at the
forefront of their own care. “The
person living with diabetes needs to
be the most knowledgeable,” he says.
